If you are a CEO or business owner in Southern California, you know the business climate in California is changing, and providing many new challenges.

These challenges include:

• Rising taxes
• Complex regulations and red-tape
• High cost of living for employees
• Competitive labor market and labor shortage
• High labor and healthcare costs

For these reasons many business owners are considering moving their Corporate HQ or establishing a satellite location outside of California

Businesses commonly cite five main reasons for moving:

• Labor and work force issues
• The desire to reach new markets
• The need to upgrade facilities or equipment
• The desire to lower costs or increase cash flow
• Considerations about quality of life.

Employees also have their own reasons for considering leaving California. In fact, many employees in Southern California are actively looking for jobs out of state.

If you are considering moving your business out of California, one of your biggest concerns may be retaining your key employees and ensuring they are on-board with the move. By communicating and providing a full-spectrum of relocation services to your employees, you are helping them to “buy-in” to your vision, and helping to make their family’s decision an easier one. The good news is, you don’t have to have an in-house relocation department, or task your HR director with the details. By partnering with LeavingSoCal.com, you can now offer these relocation services to your employees:

• Discovery consultation
• Area tour and home finding trip
• School location assistance
• Home selling and home buying services
• Mortgage financing assistance
• Moving/Transportation services
• Pack/Unpack/Storage services
• Utility and connection services (cable, electrical, gas, internet, phone, home security, etc)
• Mail forwarding

There are several ways to handle relocation assistance funds for your employees. Here are a few common ones:

• Lump Sum
  A predetermined amount of money for relocation expenses given directly to the employee. Since this can be counted as income, employers usually “gross up” this amount to adjust for taxes

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• Reimbursement
  Employee pays upfront costs and is reimbursed. Amount is capped, and expense reporting is done by employee

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• Direct Billing
  Employer directly pays service providers to cover relocation-related expenses