There I was, lying on the floor in my new but mostly empty apartment, exhausted after carrying heavy boxes up steep and dangerous stairs, thinking about all the reasons that led me to pack up my stuff and move all the way across the country. You see, for relocating employees it's in those little moments that often catch you unaware where the real challenges lie. Because it's rarely anything major that can cause an already stressed out employee (Starting a new job and moving to a new area? Yeah, that's a lot of stress) to question their choices, most often it's a collection of little moments and culture shock. I don't care how good the opportunity, how great the company is, or even how wonderful a place it is to live, relocation takes its toll. Add in a family that probably left friends/jobs/school and the comfort of the known behind and it's a wonder anyone relocates at all.
Personally, I feel I'm in an ideal position for successful relocation. I'm relatively young, no children, no house to try to sell in a bad market, family scattered throughout the country, friends in the area, and I'm an Army brat so I'm used to moving frequently. Sure, I had been living in Minnesota for the last 18 years but moving is like riding a bike, right? And yet, for a few seconds anyway, I found myself wondering just what did I get myself into? Because at that moment, all those little stressful events caught up with me. The bad hotel, the huge bugs, the heat, the delay moving into the apartment, not knowing where anything was, feeling alone, feeling different, adjusting to different food/accents/mindsets/cultural norms. It's down right overwhelming. I mean, one morning I woke up to the news warning me about an escaped pig on the highway. Apparently, it was a big one. How am I supposed to deal with that? But these stressors are the exact same thing anyone who has relocated to a new area goes through. Except for the pig, I'm sure that's just around here. The problem occurs when there aren't enough positive moments happening that serve to counteract all the bad.
Personally, the key to dealing with the stress of relocation is simply to seek out the familiar and the exciting. And hopefully the funny. Moving across the United States might as well be the same as moving to a different country, but there are always things that we share as a nation. I may not care for fried okra or sweet tea, but these days you can find good Chinese/Japanese/Mexican/etc. almost anywhere and sometimes, even better than I had before. Most malls share the same major stores and now I get to find new ones. This is both a good thing for me and a bad thing for my wallet. A new home means new places to explore and new activites to try. I've spent the last couple of weekends driving around Birmingham, getting to know the area, enjoying the beautiful scenary, and looking at the pretty homes. I have quite enjoyed getting lost in Mountain Brook and roaming around Old Leeds Rd. It's also to important to stay connected with the family and friends I left behind at the same time I try to make new ones. Finally, as an HR professional, if you have an employee who just relocated to your company, go out of your way to check in on them. Sometimes a freindly, open, and fun workplace is the only thing keeping a stressed out employee sane, engaged, and sticking around.
Shauna Moerke is an HR professional with a diverse work history, a Master’s degree and a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification. As she continues to build her social media empire she finds herself serving as the current Ringmistress of the Carnival of HR, one of the Co-Founders of the Women of HR site, as well as the Co-Host of the HR Happy Hour, an online radio show which discusses current topics in Human Resources with leaders and experts in the field. Shauna blogs at the HR Minion. You can connect with Shauna on Twitter as @HR_Minion and on LinkedIn.
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