Relocation (personal)

A moving truck

Relocation, also known as moving, is the process of vacating a fixed location (such as a residence or business) and settling in a different one. A move can be to a nearby location within the same neighborhood, a much farther location in a different city, or sometimes a different country. It usually includes packing up all belongings, transferring to the new home, and unpacking, as well as administrative or bureaucratic tasks, such as changing registration data, change of insurance, services etc.[1]

On the Holmes and Rahe stress scale for adults, "change of residence" is considered a stressful activity, assigned 20 points (with death of spouse being ranked the highest at 100),[2] although other changes on the scale (e.g. "change in living conditions", "change in social activities") often occur as a result of relocating, making the overall stress level potentially higher.

Various studies have found that moving house is often particularly stressful for children and is sometimes associated with long-term problems.[3][4][5][6]Moving can differ in its effects for toddlers, preschool-age kids, or school-age kids. Communicating with children to help them process the move is crucial to making the move as seamless as possible.[7]

Expatriates

Often big corporations relocate their employees for short-term to long-term assignments abroad. Quite often, such relocation is supported by a relocation service, which assists internationally assigned personnel in finding and/or moving into a new house, organizing school for children, conducting local culture training and in general terms, supporting integration into the new location and/or culture.

Individual members of skilled professions may also independently find work in countries to which they are not native. In these cases, the support systems mentioned above may have to be found by themselves. Meanwhile, such relocation services companies for both corporations and individuals have become more and more accompanied with the internationalization.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Schau, Max. "The Change of Address Checklist". Fantastic-Removals.co.uk.
  2. ↑ The Holmes-Rahe Scale
  3. ↑ Sheppard, Caroline H.; William Steele (2003). "Moving Can Become Traumatic". Trauma and Loss: Research and Interventions. Nat'l Inst for Trauma and Loss in Children. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Pettit, Becky (March 2000). "Moving and Children's Social Connections: the critical importance of context". Center for Research on Child Wellbeing Working Papers. CRCW, Princeton University. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  5. ↑ Oesterreich, Lesia (April 2004). "Understanding children: moving to a new home". Iowa State University. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  6. ↑ Roman, Beverly D. "Relocating Our Smallest Movers". Families in Global Transition. Families in Global Transition.
  7. ↑ Howard, Alyssa. "Emotional Adjustment of Moving for Young Kids". Moveboxer.com.

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