Group moves can be quite a stressfull and daunting process. Sometimes the entire group arrives around the same day; sometimes group members arrive spread over a number of weeks/months. Smooth guidance is vital.
Our experience with group moves
We have gained extensive experience in group moves, by assisting several companies during some challenging group moves. A few examples:
- 250 young employees, mostly singles, who come to the Netherlands to get 1 year of training in the company;
- 35 experienced managers and their families move to the Netherlands after their company was acquired by a Dutch company from the same industry;
- 100 sales people, some with their family, move to the Netherlands, from where the sales for the EU will be coordinated;
- 50 employees and their families move with the company.
These are a few ‘real life’ examples from group moves in which we have assisted the group members. In some cases, we combined a number of services. For example, the welcome meeting, during which information about the Netherlands is shared and questions are answered. In the largest group move mentioned above, we even had the local community visiting the company for the registrations. However, some services are better to offer on an individual basis, such as home finding (except when properties are shared) or a visit to the bank to open a bank account.
Setting up the programme for a group move requires the input of both customer and Anywr Netherlands. We always enjoy this process very much, as it gives us the chance to ‘deepen’ our cooperation.
How we manage a group move
The first and most important step we take is to do an inventory of the expected move. We discuss the group size, the financial budget for our services, housing requirements, and of course the employees and their personal situations. Once we gathered all the required information, we will set up a project team consisting of a project manager, a project team leader and a number of relocation coordinators and consultants. We will discuss the service packages and define which third parties will meet the demands of most people. We also make agreements on the reporting with the company. Regular evaluation meetings are important, so that the company’s HR managers are fully informed and we are all on the same page.
Then the real work starts. We start by contacting the employees who move to the Netherlands, so we can discuss and manage their expectations. The agreed services are set up, individual plannings are made, appointments set, etc. We ask the employees for their opinion about our services on a regular basis. This gives us the chance to keep adjusting along the process, if necessary.
At the end of the programme, we will request the employees for an evaluation of our services. We honestly appreciate it that many people (around 65%) take the time to let us know how they have experienced our assistance. The excellent and good evaluations (currently on average 95%) will tell us that we are on the good way, whereas the more critical feedback will help us to adapt and increase our level of service.
Please contact us if your company is planning a group move.
Anywr Netherlands; making moves so you don’t have to.
