Who is the Client in Relocation?

As the world becomes a more global place, the relocation industry has also become more global. Multi-national companies hold global relocation contracts with "3rd Party Relocation" companies or what we commonly call in the industry "Relocation Management Companies" or RMCs.
Our business receives quite a large amount of business through RMCs to provide relocation services in Japan; Tokyo and Nagoya.
However, recently the way RMCs are handling this global business is getting out of hand and on the ground here in Japan, we see the client being forgotten.
For us, when an RMC is involved, we can have up to 5 clients for each relocating person.

1. The RMC is our client. Regularly they have their head office in the US, and we maintain communication with this US Office.

2. The RMC will often have another office in Asia, to manage business on the same time zone as us. We have to maintain communication with this office. Naturally, they are also our client.

3. The Global HR Department of the Multi-National company is our client. The RMC will often dictate this relationship and not want us involved, but ultimately we do need to communicate with them.

4. The local HR Department of the Multi-National company is our client, as they are responsible for the person once he relocates to Japan. We have to maintain this relationship.

5. The relocating person, often called a "transferee" or an "assignee" in our industry is also naturally our client. We have to manage their expectations, make them happy with their relocation to Japan and make sure that their life is set up smoothly here.

Increasingly, we find we are placed in a very awkward positions between our 5 clients. The RMC on paper is our direct client, so they like to push us around. Often the communication between the RMCs offices is not up to scratch, so we take the burden of mixed messages that contradict each other. The RMC in the US tells us one thing, but the RMC in Asia tells us something else. The RMC is the client, so we do our best to get things done, while the RMC offices take days to sort out their message into a consistent one.

Communication between Global HR and Local HR in Japan is often poor. Often the Japan Office is playing off the Global Office because they don't agree with policies that don't fit Japan, and we become the scape goat for anything that gets missed in between their power battle. The RMC tries to ignore that this power struggle exists, and conducts their business with no consideration of the local HR (which is also their client) and tries to push global policy through us onto the local HR and the transferee, and we get blamed for anything that doesn't work inbetween.

In the middle of all this, all of the parties lose focus of who their client actually is. We lose focus, because we receive demands for all 5 clients, not just one. The RMCs are completely missing clients 4 and 5 on my list above. They appear to forget that our job in relocation is to manage employee expectations, make them happy with their relocation to their destination and make sure that their life is set up smoothly in that location.

I highly recommend that everyone in our industry steps back and thinks a bit harder about who the client actually is in our industry. Ladies and Gentleman, the client is the person who is moving country, moving their family, moving their home, moving their office. Let's not lose focus of what we are all working for in this industry.