Mobile Society Puts Down Roots

After eleven years as a missile engineer on the Minuteman test program at Cape Kennedy, Carl Eichhorn was ordered by his employer TRW to go to California to work on a new project. "It was go or else," he recalls. He refused.

After working his way up to a senior vice presidency at an Interpublic advertising branch in Atlanta, Charles Sherry was told that the office was being closed down. But he was not to worry; a job was waiting for him in Manhattan. No thanks, said Sherry.

The cases are by no means atypical.

More and more executives and their families are refusing to be uprooted, even if the transfer means higher rank and salary. Merrill Lynch Relocation Management, Inc., which specializes in moving executives, estimates that 200,000 to 300,000 of them will be asked by their employers this year to move to new locations and one-third to one-half will object; only a decade ago, the refusal rate was no more than 10%. Says James E. Wall, vice president of Celanese Corp.: "The balance has definitely shifted away from saluting the company and marching off to Timbuctu toward a greater emphasis on family and life-style."

The change represents a fundamental shift in American values. Many executives, especially those in their 40s and 50s, still march to the company drum and accept transfers as a means of rising. But younger executives--and their spouses --are revolting against the stress and insecurity of the mobile society. Their rejection of the onward and upward American work ethic echoes Pop Star Billy Joel's hit: "If that's movin' up/ Then I'm movin' out." Or, as TRW Vice President James Dunlap says, "There's a feeling that work isn't everything these days. You've got to stop and smell the flowers along the way."

American executives are becoming increasingly interested in things money cannot buy, notably a stable home life, a safe environment, a wholesome community, sun, fun and culture. For example, Mark Burns, 42, a fast-rising IBM executive in Chicago, turned down three transfers in order to raise his three children in one place. But Burns is aware that his refusals limited his possibilities at IBM, whose initials, many employees joke, stand for I've Been Moved. Hence, Burns came to the conclusion he must switch careers and now is president of a small bank on Chicago's South Side.

Roughly 40% of all American women now hold jobs, a substantial change in the past two decades. Naturally, a two-paycheck family faces more complications in moving, especially if one spouse's raise might be offset by the other taking a cut. When an electronics executive was asked to shift from Boston to Maine, his wife, a nurse, could find nothing to match her present job. Their decision: to remain in Boston. Having diligently worked up to assistant vice president at Bank of America's home office in San Francisco, Richard Easley, 33, was offered a reward: the No. 2 spot in a big Bank of America branch in San Mateo, only 20 miles away. Dreading commuting and unwilling to relocate his family, Easley simply decided that he did not, under those conditions, desire the promotion.

The soaring price of homes is also inhibiting many moves. A New Jersey engineer, asked to relocate to California, learned that while his present home would fetch only $80,000, a comparable house within reasonable commuting distance of Los Angeles would cost at least $150,000. Rather than go into debt for a new home, the engineer quit.

Some companies still consider a refusal to transfer to be an act of disloyalty that can ruin a promising career. But most firms are becoming more understanding, and some are willing to make special arrangements. After Jo Anne Kaiser, 28, a former Bonwit Teller buyer, refused to leave her new home in Orlando, Fla., for a headquarters job in Miami, Burdine's, a big department-store chain, agreed to a setup by which she spends only two days a week in Miami and goes to New York on buying trips every six weeks. Says Celanese's Wall: "A lot of guys refuse one move, but if you refuse two in a row, that's bad. And if you refuse three in a row, you may really be sticking yourself in the job you're in." Adds Ross Anderson, chairman of I. Magnin department stores: "We would never fire someone for turning down a move, but we don't make another offer unless he tells us that he has changed his mind." In response to the move resisters, Bank of America is concentrating on promoting people in their present locations rather than switching executives around so much. BOA's Easley, for example, was promoted May 1, with higher rank and salary in the home office even though he refused the transfer to the San Mateo branch.

Since some transfers are inevitable, companies are trying to make the moves as painless as possible. Many companies use elaborate relocation services that take care of all arrangements, including the sale of the old house and the purchase of the new one--at no loss to the transferred executive. Raises are generally fattened, particularly if the move is to an unattractive or expensive area such as New York City or Cleveland. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. automatically raises the base pay of managers sent to areas where living costs are higher than the national averages. The cost of living allowances: Anchorage 37%, Honolulu 27%, New York City 26%, Boston 24%, San Francisco 9%, and Los Angeles 3%. Chicago, Cleveland and Hartford are zero.

In the long term, the trend away from corporate nomadism may benefit the companies as much as executives and their families. For one thing, the cost of moving is huge; the average bill for a transfer is $16,000--and rising. More important, an executive who wants to stay put will probably work harder just to qualify for promotion on the spot --rather than having to move elsewhere for advancement.

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