Each month thousands of employees move to a new community to start a new job. Moves often are more expensive than anticipated. Not only is there the actual expense of moving but, for a homeowner, there are expenses connected with selling the current home and buying another home.

Some corporations may offer to cover some or all of the relocation costs for employees who are moving at the company’s request. Larger companies usually offer a more elaborate relocation package than smaller firms. These benefits become particularly important when there is a large increase in housing costs.

When interviewing for a job, or considering a transfer, ask whether or not the company has a relocation program and find out as much about it as possible.

Below are listed some of the benefits which may be offered to a relocating employee. Each situation may call for a different bundle of benefits; analyze your own situation carefully. It is always best to negotiate these matters as part of a transfer package, before accepting the new job to avoid surprises to either party after the move has taken place.

• Cost of a familiarization and house hunting trip for the employee, spouse, and family.
• Extra time off (with pay) for traveling and house hunting in the new location.
• Moving expenses, including packing and insurance.
• Travel expenses (lodging, meals, gas, etc.) while traveling to the new location.
• Assistance in the sale of your current home:
  company assumes responsibility for monthly payments, taxes and insurance until the home is sold; price guarantee – if sold by the employee, the company will pay the difference between the net selling price and a specified price; alternative price guarantee - if employee cannot sell the house within a specified period of time, the company will buy it at a specified price; company will pay commissions and other costs of sale.
• Assistance in the purchase of a new home:
  company to pay rent of temporary quarters until a permanent home is located;
  buy down the interest rate; company may offer low or no interest loans. A salary level commensurate with any increase in cost of living between the new location and your old location.

How hard should you push for relocation expenses?

Try to analyze your bargaining position relative to the prospective employer. Does the employer have many options? Are there many qualified local applicants for the same job? Or do you have unique skills unavailable in the local market?

Ask yourself, “If I owned the company would I be willing to pay for my relocation?”

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I figured out the other day that at this point I’ve had more laptops in my life than I’ve had desktops. This is of course because the average lifespan of my desktops is far greater… I’m murder on my laptops. I make no apologies for this, though. My desktop is always there, humming away at home, ready with all the storage space and firepower I’ll ever need. It’s home to my music collection and my photo albums and my games.

But my laptop… that’s my trusty weapon. I unsheathe my laptop every day when I need to GET THINGS DONE. At the office, on the road, in the airport, at meetings… my laptop is the swiss army knife of my business life. It communicates for me, keeps me in the loop, saves me on the fly and keeps me from getting bored all at the same time.

Lifehacker has a great post up today summarizing all their collected knowledge to help you achieve “laptop zen.” Their post covers everything a modern on-the-go laptop Samurai worker needs:

• Get Internet Access Anywhere You’ve Got Your Cell Phone
• Turn Your Laptop into an Anti-Theft Device
• Keep Files in Sync No Matter Where You Are
• Extend Your Battery Life
• Make Your Computer Respond When You Leave and Return
• Laptop DIY Design

The Laptop Lover’s Guide to Productivity On-the-Go (Lifehacker)

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What officially qualifies you as a “road warrior?” I travel for business about 10-15 times a year. I know that’s woefully inadequate compared to other people’s bona fides. One of these days I’ll put up a post outlining my travel tips and strategy. I’d be interested to solicit other people’s techniques.

In the meantime, I found a excellent list of the top 10 Travel Web Tools from MakeUseOf.com. If business travel is a regular part of your work life, you can’t afford not to be aware of these sites. I can’t vouch for all of them, but the ones I’ve used I recommend highly. For example:

• ATMLocator – Global ATM locator
  Absolutely and positively vital. I have this as a favorite on my phone’s web browser. Especially in foreign countries, I hate to load up on cash at the airport. If anyone is going to be watching, it’ll be there, and I’ll be an easy mark when I head for the parking garage/train. Also invaluable when you’ve just dropped all your cash on a client lunch and you need to surreptitiously load up again. A quick check on your phone and you can find the nearest bodega with an ATM.
• MetrO – Public Transport Guide for your mobile phone.
  Another excellent tool for your cell phone. This one’s downloadable.
• They mention Yapta for tracking airline ticket price fluctuations. I’ve never used Yapta, but I am a big fan of FareCast.
• I did a review of TripIt a couple of months ago. I am really excited by this idea (moreso than some of the commenters were) but I haven’t had the chance to test this on an actual trip yet. I’ll let you know.
• SeatGuru – Extensive guide to airplane seating, in-flight amenities etc.
  The old favorite. If you’ve never used this before, it’s a can’t miss tool for deciding which would be the best seat assignment for you based on which type of plane/carrier you’re on.
• I’ve never tried AirlineMeals (directory of airline menus) or TheBathroomDiaries (global rating guide helping you find the cleanest bathrooms around) but I’m especially excited about the latter.

Let me know if there are any other sites out there you can’t travel without.

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In all of the Web 2.0 madness over the last couple of years, we’ve gotten social networks for ferret owners, about two dozens variations on Evite and a million Ajax-y calendar apps.

Finally, we have a decent entry in the organize-your-travel category. If you’re a heavy duty road warrior, then you know that keeping track of your travel details can be a major issue. Which hotel, which confirmation number, which rental car voucher… now you can organize this all in one place.

Their idea is pretty simple: you forward all your miscellaneous confirmation emails (from places like AAA, Expedia, Orbitz, all the major airlines, hotel chains, rental car outfits, and even OpenTable) and they go to work parsing them. Then they take all the info out, arrange it chronologically, and mix in stuff from Eventful, NOAA, Google Maps, and so on.

And you can share this all with interested parties, which is a major plus when everyone from your boss to your mother wants to know where you’re gonna be at 2pm on Thursday.

A Virtual PA for Your Travel Plans (WebWorkerDaily)
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For years now, business travelers have been dreaming of the possibility of wi-fi on airplanes. The argument has always been about possible interference with the plane’s communications transmissions, but many people, including myself, have suspected that this was nothing more than a red herring.

Lo, the clouds have parted this morning, and all of the sudden, it seems like almost everyone is going to start offering some sort of in-flight networking.

On Tuesday, JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its planes, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer broader Web access in coming months, probably at a cost around $10 a flight.

Better yet, CrunchGear is reporting that American Airlines is going to begin testing wi-fi on transatlantic flights… for FREE!

Breaking: American Airlines to offer free Wi-Fi service next year; takes lead as first totally not-crappy airline (CrunchGear)
Web Access and E-Mail on Flights (NYTimes)

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