Evolving Corporate Location Strategies Unlock Staffing Advantages

Employees today are often willing to give less priority to compensation in favor of flexibility and the opportunity to build skill sets, according to a recent report from CBRE. Their employers, rather, focus on retention, attracting talent and building strong workforces.

CBRE counters that companies should rethink their location plans, “replacing a focus on individual countries and specific metropolitan areas with regional, national and global strategies.”

This, it said, can “unlock savings and create advantages for their people and business.”

Key principles companies can follow include prioritizing hiring in lower-cost markets with minimal quality trade-offs; consider remote hiring of small teams in more geographies; move away from “anywhere, everywhere” hiring strategies; consider “hub-and-spoke” arrangements within on metro area and across the country/region; and focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

One example is Ten-X. Its President Steven Jacobs tells GlobeSt.com that while his firm has been in Orange County for over a decade and believes the area offers immense opportunity and a great lifestyle, it recently relocated to a new headquarters in another part of the county at a location that also meets the needs and wants of today’s employees.

“Recognizing that employees crave a more desirable work environment, we prioritized a location that offers indoor-outdoor work options and connectivity, heavy onsite amenities and better access to commuter roads to make the entire work experience more seamless, productive and rejuvenating for our dedicated office workers,” he said.

Christy Pruitt-Haynes, global head of talent management and performance at NeuroLeadership Institute, a global neuroscience-backed consultancy advising on workplace culture, leadership strategies, management skills, and DE&I, tells GlobeSt.com that employees have made it clear that flexibility around work location is important.

“So, hybrid and remote work is here to stay, and we may see things shifting to the metaverse to create a greater sense of real-world connection and interaction in some industries,” she said.

Banks Set Up in Non-Traditional Financial Markets

Vice Chairman Giles Wrench, financial services, JLL, tells GlobeSt.com that the need for banks to grow beyond traditional financial hubs is not a new phenomenon and has been shaping their portfolios for over two decades.

“Our latest research has shown that, in the last 12 months, more than 51% of all financial services employment growth in the US has been in the non-traditional financial centers, including new entrants such as Nashville, Orlando, Seattle and Austin,” he said.

“Looking ahead to 2023, we see no abatement in this trend, as banks continue to search for new pools of technical talent and cost optimization.”