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Canadian Employee Relocation Council: Annual conference – Montreal 2024

February 28, 2025
Proposal Management
2 min read
Canadian Employee Relocation Council conference

Back home after the CERC conference and I’m in full reflection mode!

In the spirit of brevity, I’ve chosen 6 key takeaways from the Canadian Employee Relocation Council conference. There were many interesting sessions and lots of qualified people on panels, so here’s what resonated the most with me:

  1. AI & constant change:expect to see more changes when it comes to AI. Have you embraced it yet? Are you testing it out? Do you use it to realize efficiencies? If not, better get on board or risk falling behind. If you can work with AI, you are more likely to be successful in the long run.

  2. Employee-initiated moves: more employees are coming forward and requesting to be relocated. This is particularly more common among Gen Zs, millennials and single young professionals. They want to grow in their careers and seek new experiences with organizations they are aligned with.

  3. DEI journey: many organizations have cut (i.e. Google and Meta), and continue slashing DEI spend, and with that, people are losing their jobs in DEI. The Canadian population is also experiencing an increasingly negative sentiment towards immigration, despite a continuous need for foreign workers. We are experiencing a DEI regression, so these trends are clearly not positive and we need to continue advocating for these efforts.

  4. ROI: remember that word? Forget it. ROI is now talent strategy. In this economy, talent is finite so it’s more important than ever to get it right. Remain flexible, open-minded and employee-focused (not transaction-focused). Sure, some policy standardization is valuable, but determine what can be accommodated – i.e. if your relocating employee is a single parent, there is no value in offering spousal support and if the relocating employee is married with no children, there is no value in offering school search.

  5. Navigating 2025: fail fast, learn fast. Reiterate. Repot. Don’t get stuck – continue trying, exploring and reflecting on your learnings. If you’re not trying, you’re not learning.

  6. Differentiators for RMCs and service providers: in a highly saturated industry, it’s important to EDUCATE your clients, prospects and relocating employees on your value. Don’t expect them to know it – the onus remains on us to spell it out for them and then demonstrate it. Do what you say you’re going to do.

And to wrap it up, here’s a photo of me in the Montreal Underground City. I got an iced latte from Tommy’s and it was delicious!

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