For those attending ERC's Global Workforce Symposium in Dallas, we offer the following transportation tips:

• When arriving at DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport), the transportation guide on the DFW website provides links to information on rental cars, limousines, taxis and much more.
• The transportation section on the website for Dallas Love Field has similar information for travelers that are using this airport.

Lastly, attached attached a brief guide with additional tips including driving directions from both airports to the conference hotel (Hilton Anatole).

RH

In keeping with our motto "Full Circle: A Valuable Resource", we are pleased to offer our 4th Annual Restaurant Guide.  Intended for attendees to ERC's Global Workforce Symposium the guide provides a selection of restaurants in the city that is hosting the conference.

For your enjoyment, attached the 2006 Dallas Restaurant Guide 2006.

RH

On February 22nd, ReloBlogger reported live from the Northwest International Conference in Portland - see posts in February Archive.  International Expatriate Consulting, the host of the conference, conveniently put the PowerPoint presentations of the various sessions on their Web site.  The links to the presentations immediately follow the session titles.

IE Consulting is already planning next year's event which will take place on Friday February 9th, 2007. 

RH

Beth Archibald, Chairman of the Board with the Employee Relocation Council (ERC), kicked off the opening session for the 2006 Northwest International Conference with a high level overview of relocation trends.

Some highlights:

• The number of female transferees has more than doubled since the early 90's
• 67% of corporations have a tiered relocation policy (up from only 15% in 1991)
• Relocations into China are expected to increase 89%
• Worldwide, short-term assignments are expected to increase between 69-81%
• Cost containment tops the list of challenges for HR in the Asia-Pacific region
• For the EMEA region pension portability ranks as the most challenging
• 80% of international companies admit to having "stealth expats"

Data derived from surveys by Prudential Relocation and ERC.

RH

Earlier this month ReloBlogger added an events calendar listing both national and regional relocation conferences.  This page will continue to be updated throughout the year.  Feel free to submit events to us that you think should be listed.

To highlight one upcoming event: on February 22nd, International Expatriate Consulting will host the 2006 Northwest International Conference in Portland, Oregon.   This one-day conference has a great roster of speakers with relevant topics about global mobility.

NOTE: ReloBlogger will be blogging live from this conference.

RH

Following its annual conference in Niagara Falls in late October, the CERC, together with the Canadian American Border Trade Alliance and the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, announced it is lending its support to a proposal from the Task Force on the Future of North America.  This proposal calls for "full labor mobility between Canada and the United States" by 2010.

Under NAFTA it is possible to move goods between the two countries with relative ease in a matter of hours.  Meanwhile the movement of human capital is still burdened with cumbersome regulations and long delays.  Aware of the need to address (border) security issues, the coalition argues that both U.S. and Canadian businesses will benefit greatly from improvements in mobility of people across our border.

RH

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thank you for visiting again.  It's been a month now since we went live during ERC's Global Workforce Symposium in Chicago and we have received a lot of enthusiastic feedback from frequent readers.  Thank you for that!  We will continue to post relevant information for those assisting international assignees with their relocation to the U.S.

First time visitor? - It is our pleasure to introduce ReloBlogger to the community of Human Resources and Relocation Professionals that work with international assignees. 

Do you really need another source?  Yes, you do.

ReloBlogger is not a newsletter, another deletable item in your inbox or a magazine that you can't find anymore.  We also don't do advertising or annoy you with pop-ups or other stuff that moves. 

By making use of the latest technology, we simply serve you solid information that is timely and to the point.  We will continue to publish items on this weblog and implement new features so you will have relevant information about U.S. inbound relocations at your fingertips.

Don't be scared. Just take a look around, read a few postings and come back for more.

RH

Shortly following ERC's 2005 Global Workforce Symposium, the Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) is holding its annual event October 23-25.  The conference, Shaping the Future of Workforce Mobility, will be hosted in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Full details and registration information can be found at CERC's web site.

RH

Continuing reporting from ERC' Global Workforce Symposium in Chicago...

Session: A Global Outlook (Round Table Discussion)

Panel speakers included representatives from U.S. Department of Commerce, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Primacy Relocation and Philips Electronics.

On the topic of security all panelists agree that a critical component of dealing with security threats is having contingency and evacuation plans in place.  Security threats include: terrorist attacks, medical crisis, kidnapping and natural disasters. 

Regardless of the security issue, it is vital to know where the assignees are at the time of the "threat".  This may seem obvious, but with the mobility of international assignees this isn't always easy.  An example of a system to reach out to assignees is the one Philips deployed.  They use a SMS text messaging system to broadcast warnings and helpful information to assignees in the affected region.

RH

Good crowd at the conference, with over 1,500 professionals from 37 different countries in attendance at ERC's 2005 Global Workforce Symposium.

Opening Session: After a round of thank you's to past ERC Presidents the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Robert Genetski, was introduced.  Dr. Genetski is an economist, financial analyst and forecaster (and a self-described optimist).  He  talked about economic trends, principles and globalization.

During the Q&A round he was asked to share his thoughts about the "housing bubble".

Genetski does not believe this a concern in the U.S.  In fact, he claims housing prices will continue to grow and disagrees with publications like The Economist who predict a bursting of the bubble.  According to Genetski, in the U.S., a significant reason for the increase in home prices is the rising cost of building new homes.  He contributes that rise to the fact that we are building both "bigger houses" and "homes with more bells and whistles".  He believes this is distorting the numbers and said that the increases in home prices are more or less in sync with increases in construction costs.

Another well reported factor that has led to increasing home prices is the availability of(relatively) low mortgage rates over the past years.  This turned many renters into home owners, thus increasing demand and driving up prices.

As stated earlier: Genetski is a self-proclaimed optimist.  For all of us involved with relocation; let's hope he is right.

RH