Prudential Relocation European Survey Finds Business Expansion and Muti-Nationalism Spur International Job Assignments

Representatives from 131 European-based companies from 12countries and 30 industries participated in European Mobility Trends:A Best Practices Survey from Prudential Relocation, which examinedshort- and-long term international job assignment trends. The majorityof respondents (57 percent) indicated that the greatest businessdriver for international assignments was the need to support marketexpansion initiatives; and the primary reason (70 percent) specificindividuals are sent on international assignments is to enable thetransfer of knowledge. Tied for second place (23 percent) for keybusiness drivers are merger and acquisition activities and start-upefforts in the destination location..

"Mergers and acquisitions and start-ups are, in actuality, a formof market expansion. Therefore, growing the business in new,high-potential markets is clearly a desired outcome of usinginternational assignments in Europe as a key staffing strategy," saidJohn O'Connell, senior vice president, International Operations,Prudential Relocation.

In addition, companies participating in the survey identifiedglobal service delivery, global pension solutions and improvedassignment management as the top three concerns on which theinternational human resources consulting and the relocation industriesshould focus.

"Multi-nationalism is a major business trend. Therefore, globalservice delivery has become a major focus in the relocation industry.As the intricacies of international mobility continue to increase, itbecomes an absolute imperative to work with service providers likePrudential Relocation that are skilled in breaking down thecomplexities of global assignments," said O'Connell.

Another European mobility trend uncovered in the survey was theincreasing preference for short - rather than long-term internationalassignments, for which respondents forecasted a 70 percent increaseover the next two years. "The increasing use of short-term assignmentsis actually a global trend. Short-term assignments are expected tocontinue at an ever-increasing rate as will an overall mix of othertypes of assignments, such as traditional long-term assignments,permanent international relocations as well as alternatives such ascross-border commuter assignments and rotator assignments," notedO'Connell.

The survey also found that the top three destination countries forassignees in Europe were the United Kingdom, Germany and France.Increases in volume are expected for the Czech Republic, Italy,Russia, Spain, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. "The mostsignificant implication of these findings will be in housing anddestination services," said O'Connell. "Volume increases will meangreater demand and competition for housing and will thus drive marketcosts higher."

O'Connell added that the survey found that housing costs are thefastest rising expense associated with international assignments. "Weare seeing certain markets where housing costs and rents are going upon a monthly basis because of limited inventory, especially indeveloping Eastern European markets and major centers such as London,Paris and Moscow," said O'Connell.

Prudential Relocation is a unit of Prudential Real Estate andRelocation Services, Prudential's integrated real estate brokeragefranchise and relocation services business. Prudential Relocationprovides comprehensive global relocation services in the UnitedStates, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore,Taipei, Tokyo, and Shanghai. It has the global capabilities to offer avariety of services in connection with the relocation of clients'employees, including coordination of intra- and inter-countryrelocations, international assignment management, interculturaltraining, global business consulting, appraisal, inspection and saleof relocating employees' homes, equity advances to relocatingemployees, assistance in locating a home at the relocating employee'sdestination, global household goods moving services and clientcost-tracking and a variety of relocation policy and group moveconsulting services and more.

To download a complete report of the survey findings visitwww.prudential.com/relocation/europesurvey.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $532 billion intotal assets under management as of December 31, 2005, serveindividual and institutional customers worldwide and include ThePrudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest lifeinsurance companies in the United States. These companies offer avariety of products and services, including life insurance, mutualfunds, annuities, pension and retirement related services andadministration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking andtrust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocationservices. For more information, visit www.prudentialrelocation.com.