A number of years ago a very large Oil & Gas company acquired a major competitor in a hostile take-over. It was a multi-billion dollar transaction and a key objective was to retain and relocate up to 85% of the professional and technical staff from Fort Worth, Texas to Houston, Texas. If you are familiar with these two locations and the people that elect to live in each area, you can appreciate how ambitious this task was and how unlikely it was to be successful. These two locations could not be more different: people who worked and lived in Fort Worth typically had negative views toward Houston (regardless of whether it was based on fact and perception). I was working with the acquirer on this integration and honestly felt that they would be lucky if they had a 50% success rate. However, led by the SVP of HR, the company put on a full court press, focused mainly on the spouse and families of those they wanted to relocate.

The company management worked with the community and local service providers to put together a promotional package of the area. They brought the spouses/families in and showed them where they were going to live, the schools their children would attend, where they would shop, and the various amenities and attractions in the area. They even lined up real estate agents to show them homes and give them local tours. This full court press won the spouses and families over. In parallel though, they also focused on re-recruitment of the top talent: the company, the job, the opportunity, the new corporate headquarters, etc.

Net benefit achieved: they exceeded their goal and actually were able to retain and relocate over 85% of the professional and technical staff. Lesson learned: don’t overlook the value of selling the benefits of the new company direct to the family as well as the individual and also don’t assume you won’t be successful in doing so.

Submitted by Jack Prouty, President of the M&A Leadership Council

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