Benefits of Being EGQS Certified

Why become EuRA Global Quality Seal Plus accredited?

In 1998, an association was born with the founding principle of raising the standards in the relocation industry; that association was EuRA. Over the past 20 years, EuRA has worked with its 500+ members, the HR community and the EU to develop strategies that would set the delivery of destination services by its members at the very highest level.

This was no mean undertaking as EuRA members come from all over the world and represent two vastly different business models; nationally based destination service suppliers and global relocation management companies. So how could an association representing the entire relocation industry draw these models together to provide a uniform set of quality ideals?

The first step was the implementation of a training qualification aimed at individual relocation professionals. In 2003 EuRA and its partners launched of the European Academy of Relocation Professionals (EARP) to develop and accredit training programmes in mobility.

Today EuRA has three levels of professional qualification, MIM, MIM+ and MIM Fellow.

For full details of the MIM Programmes click here.

Premium Membership

All EGQS Certified members and their offices holding the Seal will benefit from Premium Membership.  The advantages for Premium Members include early access to conference bookings, discounted conference costs and discounted training, as well as a personal invitation to a Premium Members reception at the conference.

We recently sent out a survey asking non-EGQS+ members what the barriers were to them undertaking certification.  It was great to hear that over 75% of respondents had plans to undertake the EGQS+ in the next two years, but predictably the main barrier to starting the process was a lack of internal resources and staff to prepare for the audit.

In order to help, we have developed a Mentoring Programme and Michéle Bramstoft and Åse Löfren Gunsten (both past Presidents of EuRA and long standing EGQS+ holders) are now acting as independent consultants to EuRA and will be providing mentoring services to any members certifying or re-certifying. The process will be free for two hours of mentoring per member company.  The first call will be about how to start preparing the Quality Manual.  The first task is to undertake the “Introduction to the EGQS” training module in the EuRA Academy.  This module takes you through the Quality Standard step by step.  If you follow the training then build your Quality Manual accordingly, you’re done!  Once you have built your Quality Manual, your Mentor will suggest you fill out the Self Assessment questionnaire and send it to them and your second call will be to determine how ready you are.  In the interim your Mentor (and myself, Martina Scharwey and Gordon Kerr if you have any questions about GDPR!) are only a call or email away with answers to any questions you might have.  We also provide you with all of the Policy Templates that you need to build for example your DEI or Environmental Policy.

If you have any questions just get in touch!  The EGQS+ is designed to help members prove what we already know… they’re the best in the business!

The EuRA Global Quality Seal

In 2007, EuRA strengthened its work on a standardisation of relocation service delivery models, with the goal of re-approaching the EU to validate a professional relocation designation for its member companies. But, having brought together 18 expert relocation directors, leaders in their markets from all over the world, the collective knowledge gained became the final step towards a quality standard system.

The benefits of being externally quality audited are well proven, and partnering with both European and Global ISO auditors, gives the EuRA Global Quality Seal Plus an unbeatable pedigree. We have worked hard with our accreditation partners to ensure the EuRA Global Quality Seal Plus represents great value for money and have developed three tiers of fees depending on the turnover of the company.

This means that for as little as €800 a year, relocation providers are able to assert their dedication to quality to the corporate and procurement markets. But more importantly, this investment in the audit gives members a route to an extraordinary level of management consultancy that they may not be able to access elsewhere. The audit process is collaborative, and the expertise of the auditors enables participants to gain extraordinarily valuable business guidance from leaders in the field of process management.

Cost Reduction through Process Management

Streamlined processes reduce costs. EuRA members who have successfully gained the EuRA Global Quality Seal have cited this as one of the main benefits of the programme. A comprehensive and defined methodology for the delivery of relocation services was one of the primary goals in the development of the Quality Seal, and our service delivery manual helps to define the remit of effective, buyable services.

One of the greatest challenges we face in our professional lives is the efficient management of the engines that drive our companies. Whatever we deliver in our businesses, the development and maintenance of the processes that enable us to be the best in our markets are almost more complex than the products we deliver. The EuRA Global Quality Seal Plus delivers solutions for the successful management of running our companies. It’s as simple as that.

Marketing services in relocation, to both the relocation management community and to the corporate client, rely on past and future delivery excellence. Having an external validation of excellence is another way in which the EuRA Quality Seal Plus opens doors and sets a measurable benchmark for successful companies. Having the EuRA Global Quality Seal logo on printed and virtual materials is already working as a marketing tool for the members who have qualified, and helps them to make their presence more keenly felt in an increasingly competitive and stressed marketplace.

Annual Updates

EuRA makes no money from the Global Quality Seal Plus. The only revenue that EuRA gets from the Global Quality Seal Plus, is the €300 fee we charge when members sign up to be sent the Quality Standard. When companies re-certify very two years, we charge €150. This money is ring fenced and goes towards the cost of the annual content management meeting where we review and update the Quality Standard.

This project has been developed to strengthen and preserve the business interests of all those involved in the delivery of relocation services and enables them to reassure the corporate client of the value of professionally managed domestic and international mobility programmes.

In this uncertain economic climate, the value of an externally audited seal of excellence is no longer a luxury; it is a core marketing and value-led technique to retain and grow the provision of relocation services.

Dominic Tidey

EuRA Operations Director LLB, MA, MIM+ Fellow