Women Strongly Factor Family Issues When Assessing Relocation Assignments; Worldwide ERC(R)/Prudential Relocation Survey Reveals Gender Divergence

According to the Relocating Women in the U.S.: Trends andComparisons survey, 66 percent of women and 81 percent of mentypically accept an offer to permanently relocate within the U.S. Thesurvey revealed that at present, the largest proportion of relocatedemployees for permanent (47 percent), short-term (34 percent) andcommuter (36 percent) assignments within the United States are marriedmen.

Survey respondents noted that women appear even less likely toaccept short-term assignments, which may last from one month to oneyear. The survey noted that 80 percent of men, and only 60 percent ofwomen typically accept such temporary assignments. The survey wasconducted in June and July 2005, and reflects responses from 136companies that participated in the survey.

"We have been tracking the incidence of female transferees fornearly two decades," said Worldwide ERC(R) Executive Vice PresidentCris Collie, CAE. "We know that relocation opportunities areincreasing for women, because we've seen the percentage of femaletransferees grow from 11 percent of transferees in 1986 to over 30percent in 2003. Continuing to identify the issues that createobstacles to relocation gives companies solid data to design moreeffective and competitive relocation policies."

A majority of survey respondents indicated that they userelocation as a tool to groom employees for more demanding leadershiproles. Nearly 75 percent said employees who wish to advance intosenior positions need to relocate with the company at some pointduring their careers.

When survey participants cited the top three reasons they believeemployees accept relocations, the responses focused on increasedcompensation, professional development, and an advanced job title. Inaddition, they said that women place much more emphasis on familyissues than men and weigh such positives as "moving closer torelatives," "improved opportunities for spouse's job," and "betteropportunities for children" more heavily in their decision-makingprocess. Collie notes that "with the greater incidence of dual careercouples and women in the workforce, these results are to be expected.In today's business environment, family issues necessarily come to theforefront and transferees must evaluate these needs when offered arelocation."

For both men and women, the high cost of housing is one of the topreasons they would be reluctant to accept a transfer. Surveyrespondents also noted that men and women strongly agree on"employee/family resistance to the move" and "undesirable location" asmajor factors in reluctance to relocate. However, while men'sreluctance issues are prioritized largely from a financialorientation, women again place a higher value on familyconsiderations.

"The results of the Relocating Women in the U.S.: Trends andComparisons survey are important when we consider the impending laborcrisis, the more significant role and percentage of women in theworkforce, and the need for companies to keep at least part of theirworkforce mobile in order to maintain a competitive edge. Therefore,addressing the reasons that employees - and women in particular - maybe reluctant to accept a relocation is critical," said PrudentialRelocation President Margery Marshall.

She urged companies to immediately begin to shape policies andprograms that will help them attract and retain the people they needto be competitive in the future. She also recommended three stepsemployers can take now to make relocation more attractive to currentand prospective employees.

"Employers should recognize and communicate about the toprelocation motivators - higher pay, enhancing or developing skillsets, and promotions. They also must develop programs that speakdirectly to the family-focused issues that concern women. Finally,employers must ensure that their relocation policies and programs haveflexibility and choice that address family issues and family needs,"said Marshall.

Worldwide ERC(R) provides leadership, advocacy, education andnetworking to global workforce mobility professionals and stakeholdersthrough specialized training, credentialing, meeting events andinformation exchange. It is the membership association of choice formore than 12,000 corporate and government relocation managers, realestate companies, appraisers, and a range of service firms andindividuals from industries that address relocation-related workforceissues. To learn about Worldwide ERC(R) membership opportunities,products and services, call 202 857-0857, or visit www.erc.org.

Prudential Relocation, which also operates as Pricoa Relocation inEurope and Asia, has the global capabilities to offer clients avariety of services in connection with the relocation of theiremployees, including coordination of intra- and inter-countryrelocations, intercultural training, global business consulting,assistance in locating a home at the relocating employee'sdestination, global household goods moving services and a variety ofrelocation policy and group move consulting services.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $522 billion intotal assets under management as of September 30, 2005, serveindividual and institutional customers worldwide and include ThePrudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest lifeinsurance companies in the United States. These companies offer avariety of products and services, including life insurance, mutualfunds, annuities, pension and retirement related services andadministration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking andtrust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocationservices. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

The Relocating Women in the U.S.: Trends and Comparisons survey isavailable from Prudential Relocation at www.prudential.com/wir andfrom Worldwide ERC(R) at http://www.erc.org/pdf/pru-erc_wirsurvey.pdf.To arrange interviews about survey content, contact Prudential throughKaren Howell, karen.howell@prudential.com, 973 802 8533, or WorldwideERC(R) through Anita Brienza, abrienza@erc.org, 301 847 3772.