Posts Tagged ‘Unipack Global Relocation’

Moving Isn’t Always the Right Decision

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Although a fresh start may sound nice for a large number of individuals, it doesn’t mean that it is right for everyone, like you or your family. Relocating Internationally may be difficult or even impossible for you to do if you have a spouse who is currently employed or if you have a teenager is satisfied with their current school and friends. These are all factors to consider. With that in mind, relocation isn’t a decision that you should make on your own, especially if you have a family. It is a decision that should involve everyone who would be impacted, in one way or another, with relocation.

The cost of relocation is another disadvantage or downside to doing so. With that in mind, it is advised that you speak with your employer about assistance. If you aren’t given a choice or if your employer wants to keep you on their team, you may be able to get financial assistance for relocating. This financial assistance, if it is offered, will likely vary, but you should be able to get assistance with the hiring of a moving company, as well as the cost of gasoline or airline tickets to your new destination. Even if financial assistance for relocating is not offered, it would not hurt for you to at least inquire about it.

The above mentioned factors are just a few of the many factors that you will want to take into consideration if you are ever given the opportunity to move overseas. As a reminder, the decision to relocate is one that should be made in conjunction with you, your employer, as well as your family.

Quick Tips for Transporting Your Vehicle

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Transporting a vehicle domestically or internationally can be a real chore. There’s a lot of things to consider when moving your car, truck, or motorcycle around the world. In order to make your vehicle transportation go as smoothly as possible, consider the following items:

Make sure your fuel tank is almost empty. Gasoline adds a lot of weight to a vehicle. In order for the transport of a vehicle to be as efficient as possible, it is important to make sure that the vehicle weighs as little as possible when it’s being moved.

What kind of vehicle are you moving? There are different rates for bikes, regular cars, SUVs, and trucks. Prices not only depend on weight but on how much volume the vehicle takes up. Consider this when getting price quotes.

Don’t leave loose items inside your car. Many companies will say that they are not liable for any missing items in a transported vehicle. Make sure you take any important items with you personally or in a different type of transport.

Timing is everything. Auto transport companies may need a day to several weeks to transport your vehicle. Make sure to provide adequate time windows for pickup and delivery when getting your vehicle moved.

Make sure you use a reputable transport company. It is important that the transport service you use is properly licensed and insured in order to give you the best vehicle transportation experience possible.

Relocating to Puerto Rico

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Puerto Rico is a beautiful place, but relocating a business or household there can still offer many challenges and obstacles. The main challenges come from Puerto Rico being an island in the Caribbean Sea, which means cargo, goods, and vehicles need to be transported their by either boat or aircraft. Most customers will find that transporting their goods by boat will be the most cost effective option, but for those who need to expedite their relocation, Unipack offers expedited transport through aircraft.

Puerto Rico is a United States territory, so many of the laws and regulations are the same as in the continental states. Movers will find that things like voting and driving a vehicle are nearly identical to the systems found in states like California and New York. Puerto Rico does have it’s own tax system, but it is based on the U.S. Tax system. There is a sales tax of 5.5% and local municipalities have the option of adding up to an additional 1.5%.

Movers also need to be aware that Puerto Rico can impose taxes on goods entering the territory. Merchandise or articles arriving from the U.S. to be be sold, consumed, given away, or remain in Puerto Rico are subject to a 6.6% Puerto Rico excise tax that is calculated from the commercial invoice value. This is payable upon entry to Puerto Rico. Get a quote or contact Unipack associates to find out more information on your relocation to to this wonderful territory.

Global Relocation Services: Your Way

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Most companies bear the expenses of relocating their new employees or existing ones to new international locations. This is normally a package when employing people for their overseas branches or people from other countries for work in the United States. People, who relocate to a foreign country, do so mostly because their job requires them to do so. If the company does not have an existing agent who helps them with their moving, then you should look for and hire one well in advance so that all the preliminary requirements could be done in an orderly manner and not as a last minute rush.

Get an international moving service to relocate you

There are not many international companies who have branches all over the world to help you to move. So for global relocation you will have to do some research and find the appropriate firm to get your relocation done without any problems, both for physically moving and for all the legalities that are involved. This company should have good recommendations and also a high quality of work for international moving. They should be capable of handling all the customs issues and get you stuff safely to the new country without loosing anything or damaging it either.

Packing for international moving

There is a special way to pack for international moving and the international movers will know how to handle this. They will even let you know the best way to send the stuff to the new destination. This will have to be done either by air freight or sea. There will be issues with customs checks that will have to be handled and also the cost of shipping the goods.

Top Company Concerns for Relocating Employees over the Next Decade – Continued

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Cross-Border Commuters

North America, Europe and Asia have had so-called “cross-border” commuters for years–employees who regularly move back and forth between countries because it is geographically expedient to do so. In the last 10 years or so, commuter assignments as an alternative to short-term (and even long-term) assignments have begun to take a larger role, primarily in Europe.

In the next decade, the report concludes, more companies will see cross-border commuter assignments as a viable component of their mobility program. Companies interviewed acknowledge that there will be a significant focus on this assignment type over the next decade.

Emerging Markets

Perhaps even more so than talent management and commuter assignments, the arena of emerging markets is set to expand significantly in the coming decade.

The term “emerging market” has traditionally referred to the new destinations where companies are transferring their employees. Top destinations vary by industry, company business objectives and global reach. Brookfield GRS’ 2010 Global Relocation Trends survey notes that emerging locations run the spectrum of countries–from those that are long-time assignment destinations to those that are just this year appearing as locations for expatriate assignments. The latter category includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Hungary and Sweden, among others.

Top Company Concerns for Relocating Employees over the Next Decade

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

According to a new report from Brookfield Global Relocation Services published in RISMedia concludes that the coming decade will be a critical one for companies with international workforces, as they grapple with several key issues, including the changing nature of temporary assignments, so-called “cross-border” commuters and emerging markets.

Titled “Employee Mobility in the New Decade,” the research report was released at the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) annual conference in San Diego. During the first quarter of this year, Brookfield Global Relocation Services surveyed senior mobility managers from multinational firms to determine their top concerns over the next five to 10 years.

“Our report is the first of its kind to take a detailed look at what challenges global relocation companies will be facing with their international mobility strategies during the next decade,” said Scott Sullivan, executive vice president of Brookfield Global Relocation Services. “This report validates research from our 2010 Global Relocation Trends Report, which found that emerging markets such as China, India and Russia, pose huge challenges to both expatriates and human resources executives.”

Specifically, mobility leaders point to challenges involving:Linking Talent Management and Employee Mobility:

Topping nearly every company’s list of challenges was linking talent management and employee mobility, in one form or another. The report points out that, as the nature of temporary assignments continues to evolve, it is causing companies and employees alike to take a measured look at the perceived benefits of the assignments. For their part, companies–faced with significant investments of money and time required for successful expatriate activities–are asking why, in fact, they are sending employees on international assignments and are increasingly attempting to quantify the returns on investment.

Facts and Industry Statistics: Part One

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

U.S. domestic transfers: Relocation statistics

Worldwide ERC members represent the large majority of organizations that manage significant relocation programs. 2009 U.S. domestic relocation statistics: 

  • $25 Billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation
  • $15 Billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation by Worldwide ERC® member corporations
  • $16,110,641: average annual amount each company spends to transfer its employees.
  • 287,000: annual number of U.S. domestic transfers from Worldwide ERC® member companies
  • Of the 287,000, approximately 1/3 are new hires (94,710) and 2/3 are current employees (192,290).
  • Of the 287,000, approximately 50% are homeowners and 50% are renters.

Costs of U.S. domestic transfers*:

Current Employee Homeowner          $90,017
New Hire Homeowner                       $66,610
Current Employee Renter                  $20,750
New Hire Renter                              $17,877
Based on 2009 data

U.S. domestic transfers: Cost of shipping household goods:

2009 – $11,900

2007 – $11,680
2006 – $10,342
2005 – $9,514
2004 – $10,387
2003 – $9,745
2002 – $9,658

These costs vary by family size (bigger families typically have more household good to move) and homeowner status (homeowners typically have more household goods vs. renters).

Accent Modification Training: Part Three

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Linguistics Plays a Part

Accent and grammar are usually established by ages six and twelve respectively. In order to help someone change their accent, an instructor needs to be a linguistics specialist and have the knowledge of a speech therapist.

A language school may claim to provide this training, but beware, a language instructor will not have the skills and training of a linguistics professional.

Accents are influenced by the tongue, lip position, vocal cords and air movement through the mouth or nose; instructors must be able to show students how to manipulate these in order to limit mispronunciations as a result of their accent.

Many companies offer language training to international global relocation transferees, though few offer accent modification training which is often required more than traditional language training.

Companies often dismiss accent modification as being too expensive, or because they feel there is little that can be done to correct the problems caused by accents. In fact, there is much that can be done to correct accent-related problems, and as companies research the various options available they will find that it is surprisingly cost effective and beneficial.

Accent-Modification Training: Part Two

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Improving Accent Through Training

A foreign national’s accent may impede their communication ability, even though they are fluent in English. Recent associated research shows that accents are caused mostly through differences in rhythm and stress, as well as difficulty in making certain sounds linguistically. A common example is putting an emphasis on the wrong syllable.


Accent is almost impossible to improve without training. Speakers seldom can hear what they are mispronouncing and even if a listener points it out to them, they are unlikely to know how to correct it. For example, certain regions mix up L and R sounds because they cannot hear the difference, they may not notice a mispronunciation, but others may not be able to understand what they trying to communicate.

Accent-modification training is provided by universities, global relocation companies and private training companies where individuals are trained how to identify incorrect pronunciations and how to exercise their mouth and tongue to correct the problem. Other teaching methods include mimicry, which helps students correct pronunciation, rhythm and stress by watching videos of native language speakers, then mimicking what they hear and see, including body language.

Typically, most training programs incorporate individualized programs developed as a result of a comprehensive speech analysis. These programs usually last between ten and 20 sessions. For some, improvement can be seen immediately, but it can also take between three and six months for others.

Most programs can be provided one-on-one or in a classroom setting. Classroom programs generally take longer and are less expensive than one-on-one tutoring but one-on-one tutoring is more effective and quicker.

Global Compensation Management: Part One

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Being able to accurately manage and measure a company’s global relocation and mobility costs in real-time is EXTREMELY important. If not managed properly, it can increase in complexity as a company increases in size and expands its international operations.

Today, many Global Relocation companies are becoming antiquated in managing global mobility financial reporting, which can ultimately require significant resources.  Reimbursements, payments, cost estimates and compensation balance sheets are often processed manually, and the resulting data isn’t always fully-captured, analyzed, and reported on.  As a result, Corporate International Movers could be opening themselves up to unintended compliance and data risk, as well as world-wide payroll reconciliation issues.

In the era of compliance and regulation, a company’s global mobility program is greatly affected by its ability to effectively manage compensation. Ideally, companies should be in a situation where they can control costs and manage payroll to do what it is intended to do on a world-wide basis—accurately pay and record salaries and all associated assignee benefits.

What can companies do to leverage technology in order to reduce cost, increase accuracy, compliance and reporting capabilities in the global mobility space?