How to boost the employee relocation experience after attracting global talent

According to LinkedIn, 96% of talent professionals say that employee experience is becoming more significant. EX, the shorthand for employee experience, considers how your company will work for your employees, and not just the other way round. At Lengoo, this is innate, and it starts from the first encounter with a new joiner. You might have acquired the brightest global talent from the other end of the world, but how do you assure they get the warm welcome essential to their transition? Following best practices for employee relocation builds trusting, empathetic, and lasting relationships integral to a thriving workplace.

Read on to explore our toolkit for building connections with an in-house strategy, designing a door-to-door experience for your new joiner, and, of course, how to anticipate external factors like, oh, you know, a global pandemic.

Keep your strategy in-house

Lengoo doubled its team size in 2020—and 25% of members came from outside Germany. We had engineers and developers from Pakistan to Cuba, all anxious and excited to move to the colorful landscape of Berlin. The beauty of these distant and diverse hires is the potential for rich new relationships. And to grow rapport and genuine trust, you need to provide a personal, one-on-one experience. Employees who feel safe and open to new challenges can start their professional and personal life with confidence.

Top tip:

To develop rapport, consider managing your relocation system in-house. Try to avoid outsourcing to agencies and focus your efforts on building relationships with local authorities, such as the immigration office. Then work out clear-cut processes to integrate your joiner into their new home and work culture.

Make relocating a door-to-door experience

The way to harness the skills of your in-house relocation team is to have meaningful touchpoints from end-to-end. It’s the feeling upon joining that your new employee will remember, so make it an overwhelmingly positive one.

For Lengoo, this starts with the humble phone call. We reach out to the new joiner’s family to see how we can support and then walk our employee through the game plan to get them over here. This involves taking the stress out of logistics; we arrange and cover their flight and accommodation for the first two weeks and manage visa and permit applications. When they hop off the plane, we’re there to greet them at the airport with a welcome basket and help register their residence once they’ve had a chance to settle in. Come starting date, we tee them up with a buddy who is on call for all questions—like how to sign up for our language classes—and put them through a structured onboarding including coffee dates with new faces, tips for happenings in Berlin, and intercultural awareness training.

Top tip:

Many companies will have a similar strategy in place but can let momentum dwindle after the new joiner starts working. We insist you keep the support going. A great way to improve your processes is to hold regular feedback rounds with your joiner to learn how to enhance their employee experience.

Storm-proof your relocation strategy

By now, we know we’ve got to be prepared for the unthinkable. Employee relocation is relatively smooth sailing in an ideal, open-border world, but amid a global pandemic?

Well, it’s all in your flexibility. The more flexible your relocation policy, the less need for exceptions. However, it’s always wise to allow leeway for more case-by-case kinks.

The most important thing your new joiner needs to know is how to get to your destination safely. It’s on HR experts to do the research and keep joiners up to date from the moment they’ve committed to moving. This includes sharing information about the latest quarantine requirements, producing detailed travel safety guidelines and care kits, shedding light on the local rules, and providing guidance with any legal or administrative aspects of the move. Maybe it’ll involve delaying starting dates or choosing the flight route with the best chances of success as borders open and close.

Top tip:

When the employee arrives, ensure they have the right equipment in their new home. Outline your company’s work from home policy and what measures are in place in response to the external factor at play. Like Lengoo, you could offer a complimentary return Uber trip to the office as a safe commuting alternative. Ultimately, we always want to do right by our new joiners, regardless of circumstance.

It’s no secret now that a great work environment and culture is the magnet that attracts the brightest global talent. And to exceed your new joiner’s expectations and support a trusting, empathetic, and lasting relationship, you need to be following the best practices for employee relocation.

Scan our jobs page to see if your (or a friend’s) next adventure could be a hop, skip, or flight away: lengoo.jobs.personio.de