The grass is always greener on the other side of the business industrial park. Companies both new and old may think that relocating corporate headquarters to a new location is the best possible way to solve their business problems. This may be true, but it’s often difficult to know if a move will solve all of a company’s problems, or just create new ones.
If you’re seeing these signs below, it might be time to consider relocating your business.
1. Struggling To Find Workers
It used to be true that to find elite workers, especially in fields like tech and marketing, a company had to be located in the coastal cities, particularly in New York and San Francisco or Los Angeles. With the way Millennials are moving (and not moving) around the country, as well as the growing popularity of gig working and remote work, that’s just not true anymore.
CBRE, a research investment firm, took a deep look recently into which cities had the deepest talent pools for tech. While many of the usual culprits were on the list, some big surprises were there as well.
But even if a company isn’t looking for the best programmer or app developer, moving to a new location can still allow companies to access a bigger talent pool, especially if they’re moving closer to a public transportation line.
2. Cost Of Operation
Companies don’t always consider where it is economically feasible to set up a company. Many businesses are founded where someone lives, which makes perfect sense. But as this study from Savills shows, some areas are much more expensive than others to start and operate a business. A business might get its start in one area, but as it grows, realize that a neighboring city, or even crossing state lines, will be advantageous over time.
When your cost of operation is inhibiting your business’s ability to grow and thrive, it might be time to consider a move.
3. Cost Of Living
Just like some areas are more expensive to run businesses, some urban areas have dramatically lower costs of living compared to other cities. Niche looked at which cities are the most affordable. When businesses are operating in an area with a lower cost of living, the city usually has lower rents to go along with it, making it less expensive to have a physical office or retail location. Businesses can also offer lower salaries since employees need less money to live well.
Business and income tax may also be lower in these areas. All of these factors can make a business less expensive to operate.
4. Physically Running Out Of Space
If your office can literally not contain your workforce, or your retail location is overflowing, you may need to consider relocating or expanding. Finding a fresh new office space may not be ideal, however. In many cases, expanding into an attached empty space is possible, especially if your business is located in a mall or business park. Speak to a landlord to get information about whether any nearby spaces with more square feet will be available in the near future.
Before you do that, however, consider if you could make better use of your office space by allowing for remote work. If your employees are interested in working from home, you could adjust your office space to be more focused on communal work space while allowing employees to rotate days that are in the office and outside of it.
5. Remote Locations No Longer Enough
On the other hand, if you start to find that you’re spending too much time managing remote workers, you might be considering pulling the entire staff into a centralized location. While this is certainly one option, remember that you can also rent a conference room for weekly meetings, set up visual calls to reconnect, or invest in remote management software to allow you to better connect with employees.
While expanding or relocating your business is sometimes necessary, modern connection tools have made it less necessary. In many cases, remote work and cloud storage can help businesses do the things they need to do in their current space.
That said, if your business does need to relocate, make sure to do it carefully and with a plan; this will keep you from running into unexpected costs or making organizational headaches for yourself. Hire professional movers and make sure to insure your items before transit, just in case.
Just like every other business decision you make, take the time to examine your options and make sure that you’re making the right choice for yourself. Talk to mentors and friends in the business community to ensure that you’ve thought through all your options.
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