Should Your Company Offer a Relocation Package?

Indeed found that there are currently only 1.7 unemployed job seekers for every vacancy, compared with 6.2 in 2009. And, despite the fact that 71% of people are actively looking for, or open to, a new job, 32% of employers are having difficulty filling jobs. Offering a relocation package can help you expand your talent pool and close your top choice candidates.

Expand your Talent Pool

Opening a search beyond local candidates and those actively looking to relocate can open up a world of possibilities (literally). If you’re having difficultly filling a position, try expanding your search nationwide or even worldwide to tap into new talent pools.

In The Talent Driven Economy, Indeed shares its findings about where specific candidates may be concentrated, as well as which positions are hardest to fill and where there may be more candidates in coming years. Armed with this data, you can strategically offer relocation benefits to recruit and close top-tier talent.

For instance, the data shows that computer and mathematical occupations are difficult to fill because the demand outweighs the supply of candidates. However, we can see that candidate job searches for Java Developer positions in the Atlanta metro area grew 44% from 2013 to 2014, Network Engineer grew 32%, and Software Engineer grew 28% (see page 26 of the Indeed report).

If you’re having difficulty filling those types of positions, opening up your search to candidates in Atlanta and offering a relocation package to top candidates could be worth your while.

Close your Top Choice Candidates

Top-tier candidates have choices about where they work, and a strong offer – including a relocation package – can help them choose your opportunity.

While it’s assumed that active candidates are pursuing multiple opportunities, employers may not realize that passive candidates are doing the same. Indeed’s Talent Attraction Study found that 78% of candidates who are proactively sourced by a recruiter or referred by a friend would consider other available jobs as well.

Indeed also found that salary, location and work flexibility are the top three factors when deciding on an offer – 77% said good compensation attracted them to a job opportunity, 54% said a good location, and 51% said flexible hours.

This data suggests that, while location is important to candidates, it may be negotiable with better compensation and work flexibility. Offering a relocation package to your top choice candidate can be the deciding factor between your opportunity and another – but increasing compensation on top of that can be the deciding factor between your opportunity and their current job.

It’s important to note, however, that 51% of candidates contacted by a recruiter expect a 15% or higher salary increase if the job requires relocation. Offering a relocation package can be expensive, but so can leaving your position open or, worse, making a bad hire. To avoid unnecessarily high recruitment costs, use your relocation package strategically to recruit and close only the most in-demand candidates. (An alternative to this, of course, is offering remote work – but that’s a topic for another post.)