To the Rescue With KNOWAtlanta’s Relocation Team

By Eddie Childs

On the list of major psychological stressors one may experience within a lifetime, relocating to a new city ranks right alongside divorce or the death of a loved one. Often, when employees are informed their company is relocating, they experience profound feelings of angst, confusion and helplessness in the face of uprooting their families, leaving their lives and moving to an unfamiliar locale.

Enter KNOWAtlanta’s team of relocation consulting experts, which is ready to mobilize in order to ensure a smooth transition for your company and its most important asset—namely, the employees. “We’re real people living in Atlanta who are available to help employees of companies specifically relocating to the metro Atlanta area,” says relocation expert Sherry Gasaway. “[KNOW’s relocation consulting service] helps people by providing the authentic answers they’re looking for and addressing concerns they have about moving their families here.”

Depending on the individual needs of any given company, KNOW’s relocation consulting service can take numerous different approaches. While some companies may find a formal seminar with a meet-and-greet held afterward to be the best option; others may feel a more informal approach is better suited to their particular needs. “The consulting service consists really of whatever you’re thinking,” adds Gasaway. “We’re always open to ideas.”

For instance, members of KNOW’s relocation team recently flew to Houston at the bequest of Express Jet, due to its merger with Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Express Jet is currently in the process of moving its corporate offices to Atlanta. On account of Express Jet’s particular workflow, a seminar/meet-and-greet situ-ation was less than ideal for Express Jet’s unique set of needs. Instead, KNOW’s experts took an informal route, setting up a trade-show-style table in a conference room where the soon-to-be-relocating employees could wander in at their leisure, either between shifts or on breaks. “We were hands-on, one-on-one and personal,” says KNOW publisher Chris Colwell. “We spent the whole day talking with more than 50 employees individually.”

According to Colwell, by far the most valuable component of the magazine’s relocation consulting experience is the personalized interaction it offers relocating individuals. “Part of the benefit under this service is the real, tangible morale booster it provides,” she says. “We help people by reassuring them and their family. There are, indeed, answers to the questions and concerns they have in such a stressful time—not to mention, in the case of Express Jet, the employees were able get personalized answers before they even made their move.”

In fact, KNOW relocation expert Wende Cherry says the consulting service provides a great deal more than simple, personalized interaction. Instead she likens the process to an invaluable tool functioning as an “individual roadmap and cultural guide to the city of Atlanta.”

As the child of a GM division manager when she was growing up, Cherry knows from experience. On numerous occasions, her family underwent the relocation process as her father’s job dictated. In this day and age, though, she says the largest difference among relocating companies is they often lack the logistical and financial resources employed by corporations of yore to ensure a smooth transition for their workers.

“What we’re seeing today is employers are basically having to say ‘you need to be in Atlanta on such-and-such date,’” she explains. “They can’t really hold your hand and pay for interim housing and maybe even buy your house like they once did. I’m sure they would love to be able to do that, of course, but either way it’s up to KNOWAtlanta to fill the void for these companies.”

Overall, Cherry, Colwell and Gasaway emphasize that filling said vacuum is what KNOW’s relocation consulting service does best. All three also agree that putting a compassionate, personalized face on the relocation experience will help your employees get back on their feet and accustomed to their new city far more quickly; translating into better productivity and profit margins for your company. And that’s a win-win situation for everyone involved, isn’t it?

For more information, call 770-650-1102 ext. 121, visit knowatlanta.com or email chris@knowatlanta.com.