How an Employee Relocation Program Can Boost Healthcare Hiring

Oftentimes, when the executive search team at Summit Talent Group works with hospitals and healthcare firms to fill a C-suite or leadership vacancy, the best talent suited for the position is not in the same geographical area as the vacancy. When this is the case, having an effective relocation program can help to both woo talent and retain them once they have accepted your offer. When our team works on an engagement, we work with leadership to create, put into place, and oversee relocation programs.  Today we will discuss how your healthcare organization can begin to prepare for the creation of an effective relocation program

Why Prepare an Employee Relocation Program

Talent management is one of the most common concerns for healthcare organizations. There is currently a lack of qualified talent and current leadership is preparing for retirement. If your hospital or healthcare system wants to ensure that its newly hired talent force stays, then human resources leaders must work to reduce turnover. A competitive relocation package will not only attract talent, but help to retain them by making their transition smooth, and outlining their career growth opportunities. Having strong and effective relocation practices and policies will directly benefit your talent management program.

Besides the time wasted finding a replacement when there is a vacancy in healthcare leadership, there are many other costs associated with a vacant healthcare position. The cost of a vacant healthcare position can cost up to $14,000 per day. Vacant leadership positions cause chaos, lower the quality of care, and reduce patient and team satisfaction.

By investing in your talent before they begin their contract, you will strengthen their loyalty, become a more competitive employer, and make it easier to always have the best talent at hand.

Moves are high-stress situations for anyone, so an unsuccessful relocation can threaten your ability to retain the newfound talent and puts you at risk of losing the talent you have just spent time and money to find, attract, develop and hire. If your new employee adapts well and adjusts easily to their new location, the chances of them being more committed to your organization will significantly increase.

How Summit Talent Group Can Help

As a part of the executive search services that we provide for our healthcare clients, the Summit Talent Group team works with leaders at your organization to not only make sure you have a robust relocation package in place, we are also there throughout the process to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. We will collaborate with both your Human Resources, Business, and Finance leaders to ensure that the relocation program is in-line with your growth strategy. Our goal is to validate that employee relocations are managed consistently.

We understand just how important it is for organizations to offer relocation packages to executives, C-suite leaders, and high-level employees. And as such, our team is fully prepared to assist you in creating and putting your relocation package into action.  Here are some of the items our team will assist with when working on an engagement:

Sign on Bonuses

A strong sign-on bonus can make the difference when it comes to convincing talent to make the move. The sign-on bonus should assist with cost-of-living adjustments and have a little extra to make your offer seem more attractive.

Site Visits

Including site visits into your relocation package will allow the newly hired talent and their spouse or partner to visit the new office, get acquainted with the community, get information on local schools, work with realtors, and much more.

Real Estate Assistance

Your relocation package should include help with making real estate choices and assisting with either the purchase or rental process as well as the selling process in their original city. To offer a truly robust package, offer legal and financial assistance.

Moving Expenses

Moving is expensive. If you are asking someone to move across the country to work for your organization, it makes sense to include moving expenses as part of your relocation package. This can include temporary living costs while your new hire is house-hunting. The moving expenses can either be done as a reimbursement or, to keep things simple – a lump sum given up-front to cover said expenses. Oftentimes, the lump sum will save time and money since there is no need to go back and forth going through records and cutting expense checks. It is important to set these up properly and to work with Finance leaders to consider tax issues that could arise.

Family Programs

Whenever you bring on a new team member, you are relocating not just them, but their family. Setting up support for the family structure can really help you shine above the rest. If your newfound talent’s family settles in easily, they will be better able to jump into their new responsibilities.

There are many ways your healthcare organization can stand above the rest. Create a package to help spouses with job searches. If the new hire has a family with children, your relocation package should include introductions to daycare, a list of the best schools in the area and information about after-school programs.

In cases where there is an older family member, helping with elder care resources can make a big impact. Your elder care relocation resources should include information on assisted-living centers, adult day care centers and in-home providers, as well as support groups for caregivers.

It is also helpful to think about cultural differences that arise from moving to a different geographical area, so consider setting up family-focused events where your talent’s family members can meet like people and grow their network.

As you can see, employee relocation is a complicated task. If you are currently working to fill a c-suite or leadership position and would like a lending hand from experts in the field, contact us. Our boutique executive search firm is made up of leaders who have extensive experience in healthcare. As such, we understand the nuances of the industry which assists us in identifying talent that is more than qualified on paper. We look for those people who will be the right cultural fit and who are ready to make the commitment to your organization and its mission. Because we are a boutique firm, we take on a limited number of engagements. This makes it possible for our leadership team to spearhead the search unlike other types of firms who will delegate tasks to less experienced team members. If you would like to speak to our team about your needs and learn how we can help with your healthcare vacancies, contact us.

We look forward to speaking with you.