Atlas Van Lines is out with a new corporate relocation survey that suggests employees are wanting more - and employers are giving more - to convince workers to take new jobs in distant cities.

New items being added to some corporate packages include spousal employment assistance and expenses to help move and care for an elderly parent.

But most companies still frown on moving your boat - although 24 percent said they would - and only 10 percent said they'd pickup the cost of maid service while you're in the process of changing cities.

It is the 33rd year that Atlas, headquartered in Evansville, Ind., has studied the relocation practices of the nation's major corporations and attempted to identify trends.

The survey is posted on the Atlas web site: www.atlasvanlines.com. According to the poll, family ties, personal reasons and spousal employment are the reasons most often given by employees who turn down relocation offers. About 39 percent of the 300 companies surveyed said some employees had turned down job transfers in the past year.

Reasons given for rejecting transfers were:

• Local family ties (named by 87 percent of those who turned down transfers).
• Personal reasons (77 percent).
• No desire to move (77 percent).
• Spousal employment (65 percent).
• Cost of living (40 percent).
• Housing/mortgage concerns (39 percent).
• Could hurt career (22 percent).

Atlas said that 38 percent of companies surveyed now offer to assist spouses in finding new jobs, but only 13 percent of transferring workers actually accept that assistance.

The moving van company also found that only 8 percent of companies polled said they would provide assistance with elder care needs when an employee relocates. Among that 8 percent, however, 68 percent said they would provide a list of nursing homes or day care centers; and 26 percent said they would move an elderly relative if that relative lived with the transferee.

"The elder care issue is one that doesn't seem to be gaining recognition very quickly, but at the same time is becoming a pressing concern as more people become responsible for taking care of their aging parents," said Steve Mumma, Atlas senior vice president of marketing. "I imagine this is one dynamic associated with corporate relocation that many people hope will begin to change in coming years."

In the area of expenses, the report said:

• 78 percent of companies cover expenses to pack all items for the move.
• 74 percent said they cover the cost of moving exercise equipment.
• 73 percent said they cover the cost of moving an automobile.
• 63 percent will move recreational and lawn equipment.

Published: May 10, 2000

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