Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / How an Internal Transfer Can Help You Relocate Without Losing Tenure
Transcript
- Lucas: So you want to move cities without leaving your company. That's the scenario today. And it's one of the least-exploited leverage plays in a career — because most people assume relocation means a new job search, a new employer, a new everything. Luna: Right. And lose all that accumulated tenure, the vesting schedule, the relationships you've built. It's a huge hidden cost. Lucas: Exactly. So let's talk about how an internal transfer can be your vehicle for geographic relocation — and how to do it without resetting your clock. I want to anchor on a real case: a marketing manager at a Fortune 500 industrial firm. Let's call her Jen. She was based in Chicago, and her company had a growing hub in Austin. Luna: Austin's a popular move. Lower cost of living, no state income tax. But how do you get your company to say yes? Lucas: Well, Jen's approach was methodical. She didn't just go to her manager and say 'I want to move.' She came prepared with three things. First, she checked the company's official relocation policy — if one exists. Some firms have a formal internal mobility document that outlines what they'll cover: moving expenses, temporary housing, even a cost of living adjustment. Luna: And if there's no policy? Then you're negotiating from scratch. Lucas: Right. And that's what Jen discovered. Her company had no written policy for internal relocation. So she created her own proposal. That's the second piece: a transfer request template that included a business case for why moving her to Austin benefited the company, not just her. Luna: So she framed it as a win for the firm. What was her angle? Lucas: She pointed out that the Austin office was understaffed in marketing, and she could bring institutional knowledge from Chicago — six years of brand strategy, relationships with key agencies. Hiring externally would take three to four months and cost recruiting fees. Moving her would take six weeks and cost moving expenses. Luna: That's smart. She's making the economic argument for them. Lucas: Exactly. And the third thing she prepared was a compensation recalculation spreadsheet. She modeled what her salary should be in Austin based on the cost of living differential. Chicago's cost of living is about 10 percent higher than Austin's, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research. So she proposed a 5 percent reduction in base salary — not the full 10 percent — because she argued her performance and tenure justified a premium. Luna: She volunteered to take a pay cut? That's gutsy. I think most people would try to keep their Chicago salary. Lucas: And they'd likely get a no. By proactively offering a reasonable adjustment, Jen showed she was being realistic. Her manager appreciated that. And she protected her long-term incentives: her stock vesting schedule, her bonus target, her 401k match. Those stayed intact because she remained an employee of the same legal entity. Luna: That's the critical piece people overlook. If you leave for a new company, your unvested stock typically disappears. But with an internal transfer, you keep the vesting clock running. Lucas: Right. And in Jen's case, she had about 80,000 dollars in unvested restricted stock units scheduled to vest over the next two years. If she'd quit and joined a new company in Austin, she'd have lost that. By transferring internally, she kept every share. Luna: So that alone could be worth more than any signing bonus a new employer might offer. Let's talk about the numbers from a broader view. LinkedIn published a report in 2025 on internal mobility, and one stat jumped out: internal transfers have a 20 percent higher two-year retention rate than external hires. Lucas: Twenty percent — that's significant. And it makes sense. When you transfer internally, you already know the culture, the systems, the key stakeholders. Your ramp-up time is shorter. You're productive faster. The company saves money on onboarding and recruiting. Luna: So it's a win-win. But the process still requires careful negotiation. One thing Jen did that I think was smart: she looped in HR early. Not to ask permission, but to get clarity on policy. Lucas: Yes. She scheduled a confidential call with an HR business partner and said, 'I'm exploring a potential move to Austin. Can you walk me through what the company has done in the past for internal relocations?' That gave her ammunition. She learned that two people had done internal moves in the last three years — one from New York to Denver, one from San Francisco to Phoenix. Both had kept their tenure and gotten relocation assistance. Luna: So precedent existed. That made her ask easier. What about the manager conversation itself? How did she open it? Lucas: She started with her contribution to the team. 'I've been here six years, I've led three product launches, and I want to keep doing that. But my family situation is changing, and Austin is the right place for us. I'd like to explore transferring to the Austin office. Here's why it makes sense for the business.' She didn't lead with what she wanted — she led with what she'd continue to deliver. Luna: That's a masterclass in framing. And the manager agreed? Lucas: He did, but with conditions. He wanted her to stay in Chicago for three months to transition her responsibilities. She accepted that. Then she had to get the Austin office manager to sign off. That required a separate conversation. Luna: So there's a dual sell: your current manager has to let you go, and the new manager has to want you. That's harder than a typical external interview. Lucas: Absolutely. But Jen had an advantage: she already knew the Austin team from cross-functional projects. She'd worked with the Austin marketing director on a national campaign the year before. So when she reached out, he already saw her as a known quantity. Luna: That's why networking inside your company matters, even if you're not planning to move. You never know when a connection will become your ticket to a new city. Lucas: Exactly. And I think this applies beyond Fortune 500 companies. Even at smaller firms, the same principles hold. You need a business case, you need to understand the compensation implications, and you need to preserve your tenure-based benefits. Luna: One thing I'd add: don't forget about your performance history. If you've had strong reviews, those travel with you internally. An external hire walks in with zero track record. You walk in with a reputation. Lucas: That's a huge intangible. And it's why internal transfers often get faster promotions. You're not starting from zero credibility. But let's be honest — not every company is set up for this. Some cultures actively discourage internal mobility because managers hoard talent. Luna: If your manager blocks you, that's a red flag about the culture. But you can sometimes go around them through a formal internal jobs board or HR. It's riskier, but possible. Lucas: Right. And if that fails, it might be a sign that the company doesn't value retention. Then you're back to the external job search. But at least you tried the internal route first. Luna: And that's a philosophy we really believe in on this show. We want to give you practical strategies that help you make better career moves — without the noise of ads or sponsored content. That's actually core to how we operate. Lucas: It is. We deliberately don't run ads on these episodes. If that kind of value matters to you and you'd like to support the show staying ad-free, there's a simple way. It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a way to keep this resource independent. Luna: And we really appreciate everyone who does. It lets us focus on what matters: giving you one concrete strategy per episode. Lucas: Alright. So back to the relocation playbook. Jen's move went through. She transferred to Austin, took a 5 percent salary cut, kept her unvested stock, kept her bonus structure, and got 10,000 dollars in relocation reimbursement. She's now been in the Austin office for 18 months and was just promoted to senior manager. Luna: So it worked. But what about the tax implications? Moving from Illinois to Texas means no state income tax. That effectively offsets the salary cut and then some. Lucas: Great point. Illinois has a flat state income tax of 4.95 percent. Texas has none. So Jen's 5 percent pay cut was almost exactly neutralized by the tax savings. Her after-tax income stayed roughly the same, but her cost of living dropped by about 10 percent for housing and other goods. Luna: So she effectively got a raise in purchasing power. That's a big win. Lucas: Exactly. And she didn't have to worry about benefits continuity — health insurance, 401k, everything stayed the same. That's often a headache with external moves. Luna: One final thing: what if you're moving to a higher cost of living area? Like from Austin to San Francisco. Should you ask for a raise? Lucas: Absolutely. Use the same logic in reverse. Come with data — the cost of living differential from a source like the C2ER index. Show that a 15 percent increase would maintain your purchasing power. And again, tie it to your performance. If you're a top performer, the company has an incentive to keep you. Luna: So the framework works both ways. It's about being prepared, not just asking. Lucas: Right. And that's really the takeaway. An internal transfer for relocation isn't just possible — it's often the smartest move. You preserve tenure, benefits, and relationships. You just have to build the case. Luna: And you have to ask. Which is the hardest part for most people. Lucas: It is. But as Jen showed, a well-prepared ask can open doors you didn't know existed. Next episode, we'll talk about how to use an internal transfer to switch functions entirely — moving from marketing to product, for example. Luna: That's a great one. See you then.