Prudential Relocation North American Survey Finds Labor, Real Estate Markets Impact Programs.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Businesses participating in a survey by Prudential Relocation, a Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) business, indicated that two factors are likely to have a major impact on relocation programs: the North American labor market and the real estate market.

More than 150 respondents participated in North American Mobility Trends: A Best Practices Survey from Prudential Relocation, which focused on four areas of employee deployment trends and initiatives, including: recruiting, retention and reluctance to relocate; policy and program parameters; outsourcing, program and supply chain management; and cross-border relocations. To download a complete report of survey findings, visit www.prudential.com/relocation/nasurvey.

Organizations are now (or will soon be) facing difficulties when recruiting and retaining top employees due to a predicted shortage of qualified workers: 46.71 percent of respondents say that their organizations have found recruiting new employees more difficult in 2006.

"Recruiting and retaining top employees, some employees' reluctance to move and companies' financial constraints with relocation incentives all will be potential challenges with broad impacts on the economy and relocation," said Margery Marshall, Prudential Relocation president. "This makes it that much more important that mobility professionals deliver exceptional service."

In light of today's changing real estate market (longer selling times and higher interest rates), it was surprising to see that 60 percent of respondents reported that they were making no changes to their policy. This is most likely a result of organizations having already developed policies designed to respond to market volatility.

"A well-structured home sale assistance program should employ many of the proven drivers of employee-generated sales as possible, regardless of market conditions," Marshall said.

The majority of respondents (90 percent) report that future relocation volume will stay the same or increase. Throughout the survey results, a trend toward the "I Want It All" philosophy was noted. Seventy-seven percent of organizations strive to find an effective balance between premium customer service and cost containment, with neither taking priority.

"The question becomes how do you get it all for the employee, while protecting the organization and its investment," Marshall said. "Organizations must strike an effective balance between policy provisions that attract and retain the most sought after employees and cost containment procedures that keep budgets in check."

Prudential Relocation provides comprehensive global relocation services to corporations worldwide. With locations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and China, Prudential Relocation -- which operates as Pricoa Relocation in Asia and Europe -- offers a broad menu of services critical to the relocation of clients' employees, including coordination of intra- and inter-country relocations, international assignment management, intercultural training, global business consulting, appraisal, inspection and sale of relocating employees' homes, equity advances to relocating employees, assistance in locating a home at the relocating employee's destination, global household goods moving services and client cost-tracking and a variety of relocation policy and group move consulting services, and more.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $568 billion in total assets under management as of June 30, 2006, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises, relocation services and, through a joint venture, retail securities brokerage services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.