Tessa Iversen· Compensation Manager, Lumen Biosciences
Asked in Global & Mobility ·
We are a financial technology company with about 800 employees. We are moving six product managers from Warsaw to Dublin for 18 months to build a new team, after which they are expected to return. Most are in their late twenties or early thirties, two have partners, none have children.
Our long-term policy uses a relocation provider for household goods, temporary housing and home search, and costs around EUR 38,000 a move. That feels heavy for this group. The alternative on the table is a lump sum of EUR 12,000 and let them sort it out.
Has anyone run lump sums for moves of this length, and what went wrong?
0 reactions · 4 replies · 9 views · 7 following
Accepted answer· by Amara Larsen
A lump sum is right for shipping and travel, but do not leave them alone on housing in Dublin. Finding a rental there is very hard and landlords prefer tenants with local references. Our first group of lump-sum movers spent up to 11 weeks in short-term lets at their own expense, and two went home. What we do now is a core-plus-cash design: the company provides 60 days of temporary accommodation and a home-finding service, about EUR 7,000 in all, and the employee gets EUR 8,000 for everything else. Check also whether the lump sum is taxable in either country; ours was partly, and we grossed up that part.
Read in the conversation ↓
Total Rewards Manager, Meridian Health Systems
Think about the return leg now. Eighteen months later nobody remembers what was promised. We put the return payment, 50% of the outbound amount, into the original letter along with what happens if they resign while in Dublin.
Benefits Analyst, Silverline Media
Accepted answer
A lump sum is right for shipping and travel, but do not leave them alone on housing in Dublin. Finding a rental there is very hard and landlords prefer tenants with local references. Our first group of lump-sum movers spent up to 11 weeks in short-term lets at their own expense, and two went home.
What we do now is a core-plus-cash design: the company provides 60 days of temporary accommodation and a home-finding service, about EUR 7,000 in all, and the employee gets EUR 8,000 for everything else. Check also whether the lump sum is taxable in either country; ours was partly, and we grossed up that part.
Director of Benefits, Lumen Biosciences
We use lump sums for anything under two years and satisfaction is higher than on the managed programme. People in that age group do not have a container of furniture. They want cash and a furnished flat. Ours is EUR 10,000 single, EUR 14,000 with a partner.
Tessa IversenCBS, CEP
Compensation Manager, Lumen Biosciences
Thank you. Core plus cash it is. I had not appreciated how bad the Dublin rental position was for newcomers, and the return leg was missing from my draft entirely.
