Touring services support temporary assignment growth

Temporary assignments continue to grow in lieu of permanent employee relocations as companies adjust their talent management strategies to reflect the difficulties employees have selling a home in a sluggish housing market. Companies are deploying employees on strategic initiatives for assignments often lasting 18 months or longer including new market start-ups, facilities expansions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, disaster recovery and stimulus projects.

CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company and the only national provider of furniture rental, is supporting the growth in temporary assignments with the most comprehensive suite of relocation services developed specifically for renters. Local market touring services, in which an area expert assesses the needs of prospective renters and then literally drives them into different apartment communities that match those needs, are a cornerstone of the program. The number of tours given is rapidly growing due to the rise in temporary assignments.

"This is not simply an internet lead or phone reference," says Jeff Rowe, CORT's Vice President of ApartmentSearch.com. "No other company in our industry literally drives relocating employees into apartment communities thousands of times each month, and savvy property managers realize these residents are unlikely to be reached by traditional marketing efforts."

The number of tours given by CORT is up by 55 percent so far this year compared to last year, and has more than doubled in recent months, up 109 percent in April and 155 percent in May. CORT is averaging more than 300 tours a month and the average person visits about eight properties on each tour.

This growth is the result of the increasing number of agreements that CORT has signed with corporations, including the more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 companies that CORT has supported through the years, to help relocating employees find the ideal rental home in their new community.

CORT's touring services simplify employee relocation for companies, ease the transition for relocating employees and their families and drive potential renters into thousands of apartment communities nationwide. This allows CORT to leverage its core strengths in the rapid deployment and management of rental furniture, rental housing locating and providing destination-area services to empower the world's mobile workforce.

CORT utilizes touring experts that know the area and have relationships with apartments in the community. Local experts save the relocating employee's time and their employer's money by only taking employees to apartment communities that suit their specific renting needs.

Touring experts consider proximity to the employee's job site as well as neighborhood and amenities preferences when conducting community tours. CORT has developed longstanding relationships with apartment communities over the past four decades that allow them to deliver this local expertise to employees working on assignment, or to companies managing temporary assignments for groups of employees.

In addition to finding the right rental home, relocating employees face many challenges in their new location. CORT offers a suite of destination services that help simplify the transition for relocating employees and their families. These services include help with many inconveniences that employees encounter when relocating, such as furnishing their apartment and setting up utility connections. In addition, CORT offers services for relocating international assignees, such as English-language classes or assistance obtaining a social security card.

Employee relocation remains a key talent management strategy for organizations and often requires employee deployment to locations for an extended period of time. While this is often required to achieve company goals and complete projects, the rising costs of relocation and the uncertain business environment mean that companies will continue to look toward alternative employee mobility approaches.

CORT recognized the opportunity to create a mutually beneficial relationship between companies and apartment communities through local market touring services. The result? Relocation is simplified for employees and their employers.

Biography

Mark Koepsell, Senior Vice President of Field Sales developed CORT's National Accounts, Federal Sales and Global Furniture Rental teams. Koepsell first became involved in 1998 with the Employee Relocation Council, and was among the first to receive the association's Certified Relocation Professional designation.