Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
New York-based global asset management firm AllianceBernstein, a publicly traded firm with $549 billion in assets, will move its corporate headquarters and 1,050 jobs from NYC to Nashville.
In a memo to employees, AB President and CEO Seth Bernstein wrote that the firm will move into a new office tower to be ready by 2021. AB officials could not be reached for comment about that destination but there are two clues as to possible options: AB provided about $60 million in financing to Southwest Value Partners, the developer of the now-underway Nashville Yards site on downtown's western edge. And the company also owns a small share of Canadian private-equity firm Brookfield Asset Management, a subsidiary of which recently acquired the assets of OliverMcMillan — a co-developer of the $430 million Fifth + Broadway development.
Bernstein noted Nashville was the “clear winner” of the 30 cities considered. The company considered housing, education, cultural amenities, weather, cost of living, business-friendliness, ability to source talent both locally and nationwide, and diversity/inclusion. He cited Nashville’s manageable commute times and its status as a “magnet city” to which talent is willing to move. Previous reports had Charlotte as one of the front-runner cities.
“These were compelling reasons enough to make Nashville our new corporate headquarters,” Bernstein wrote in the memo. “When we considered as well that Nashville will ultimately be AB’s largest global location by far, with a significant senior leadership presence, in a vibrant and growing city that is committed to developing its infrastructure, supporting local business and attracting new talent, the decision really made sense.”
---
its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
Impressive and great news. I bet Nashville will continue to see moves like this after the fed income tax updates that make expensive places more expensive as some of the state and local taxes are not fully deductible for high tax states like NY and Ca. Congratulations Nashville and to the AB employees who decide to make the move
Nashville continues to be a red-hot destination for companies and residents alike.
A decision like this by AllianceBernstein to move to Nashville, should further bolster the confidence of the potential decision-makers of Amazon HQ2, in order to hopefully choose Nashville later this year...
The official announcement was held at 10am this morning.
A subsidiary of France's AXA, AllianceBernstein provides money management services to institutional investors, individuals and private wealth clients in 22 countries.
“We see Nashville as a game-changer in terms of our ability to source, develop and retain talent, provide a high quality of life for our employees, enhance our competitive edge in an increasingly challenging marketplace and make a lasting impact on our new community,” [CEO Seth] Bernstein said.
The new office headquarters will include finance, IT, operations, legal, compliance, internal audit human resources, sales and marketing.
---
its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
I honestly read this as being a diss to nashville to be honest. If I ran nashville economic development, I would demand that the 'front office' functions move to nashville as well.
Now come 2020+ (when the ceo is reported to move to nashville) that might be the case but it doesn't sound like it for now. If you work in finance you know it is driven by hierarchy and status. The roles coming over are all considered 'back office' or 'middle office' for the most part. Support staff (well paid, but still support) if you will.
According to bloomberg, front office jobs - portfolio management, sell-side research and trading, and private wealth management -- will stay in New York.
Now come 2020+ (when the ceo is reported to move to nashville) that might be the case but it doesn't sound like it for now. If you work in finance you know it is driven by hierarchy and status. The roles coming over are all considered 'back office' or 'middle office' for the most part. Support staff (well paid, but still support) if you will.
According to bloomberg, front office jobs - portfolio management, sell-side research and trading, and private wealth management -- will stay in New York.
That leaves a bad taste in my mouth - as if Nashville isn't 'good enough' to have those jobs move en masse to nashville.
The support roles are the easiest to find in any mid-size metro. The firm has been struggling to adapt to changing market conditions and stay competitive, so cost cutting is usually the next move. You don't need to be in NYC to find HR, corporate accounting, cost finance, compliance, accounts payable, communications, social media, etc.... These are easy roles to cut 10% of their salary by being in another state and still find good talent. Also, these less important roles to the firm are taking up NYC Manhattan real estate where the cost of having them sit there is about $70 per square foot per year. Assuming you need 100 square feet of space per employee, an accountant or social media employee is costing them $7,000 per year to sit in NYC instead of somewhere else where it could be closer to $3,000.
The portfolio managers, sell side research, traders, wealth managers, etc... make the money to live in NYC, want to be there, and if you offered them a pay cut to move... they probably wouldn't take it because their ego is everything and they would never take a pay cut so it isn't worth moving them since it is a cost cutting relocation. If you moved them, you'd just end up with a hugely expensive relocation package for them to make the same amount of money.
The firm also probably has their fingers crossed a good amount of the mid level employees don't take the relocation package. They might offer relocating employees a 10% salary decrease, but feel like they could get a new hire in Nashville for 20% less annually and avoid paying relocation. Most companies in a cost-cutting relocation try to target that sweet spot of keeping about 40% so you have continuity and experience, where the other 60% get hired to replace people who don't move at hopefully ~20%+ less annually.
Median salary of Senior Accountant:
Nashville metro: $64,500
New York metro: $77,256
Median salary of Marketing Communications Specialist:
Nashville metro: $49,660
New York metro: $59,900
Median salary of HR Generalist:
Nashville metro: $54,780
New York metro: $68,799
The support roles are the easiest to find in any mid-size metro. The firm has been struggling to adapt to changing market conditions and stay competitive, so cost cutting is usually the next move. You don't need to be in NYC to find HR, corporate accounting, cost finance, compliance, accounts payable, communications, social media, etc.... These are easy roles to cut 10% of their salary by being in another state and still find good talent. Also, these less important roles to the firm are taking up NYC Manhattan real estate where the cost of having them sit there is about $70 per square foot per year. Assuming you need 100 square feet of space per employee, an accountant or social media employee is costing them $7,000 per year to sit in NYC instead of somewhere else where it could be closer to $3,000.
The portfolio managers, sell side research, traders, wealth managers, etc... make the money to live in NYC, want to be there, and if you offered them a pay cut to move... they probably wouldn't take it because their ego is everything and they would never take a pay cut so it isn't worth moving them since it is a cost cutting relocation. If you moved them, you'd just end up with a hugely expensive relocation package for them to make the same amount of money.
The firm also probably has their fingers crossed a good amount of the mid level employees don't take the relocation package. They might offer relocating employees a 10% salary decrease, but feel like they could get a new hire in Nashville for 20% less annually and avoid paying relocation. Most companies in a cost-cutting relocation try to target that sweet spot of keeping about 40% so you have continuity and experience, where the other 60% get hired to replace people who don't move at hopefully ~20%+ less annually.
Median salary of Senior Accountant:
Nashville metro: $64,500
New York metro: $77,256
Median salary of Marketing Communications Specialist:
Nashville metro: $49,660
New York metro: $59,900
Median salary of HR Generalist:
Nashville metro: $54,780
New York metro: $68,799
The problem with your hypothesis is getting staff up to speed is costly. Toyota moved all of its North American operations last year to suburban Dallas, TX - from Torrance CA (HQ), NY state, and Tennessee. They assumed 50% open to moving but got over 70%. It was 4 to 5x the size of the move AllianceBernstein has announced (2 million square ft campus I can see from my building). Maybe not as many go to Nashville because its a significantly smaller metro area than Toyota (Los Angeles - 13 million) moved to (DFW 7.3 million). NYC (17 million) to Nashville (1.75 million).
The support roles are the easiest to find in any mid-size metro.
But finding good people used to a NY type of work environment, not as easy. Nor, is it easy if you have any type of specialized jobs (know this from hard experience). You are spot on the real estate cost issues though.
It will be interesting to see just how many take the offer. We only had 17% move and of those people, over half have returned to the coasts (east and west).
But finding good people used to a NY type of work environment, not as easy. Nor, is it easy if you have any type of specialized jobs (know this from hard experience). You are spot on the real estate cost issues though.
It will be interesting to see just how many take the offer. We only had 17% move and of those people, over half have returned to the coasts (east and west).
What industry and from where was your corp move from?
The support roles are the easiest to find in any mid-size metro. The firm has been struggling to adapt to changing market conditions and stay competitive, so cost cutting is usually the next move. You don't need to be in NYC to find HR, corporate accounting, cost finance, compliance, accounts payable, communications, social media, etc.... These are easy roles to cut 10% of their salary by being in another state and still find good talent. Also, these less important roles to the firm are taking up NYC Manhattan real estate where the cost of having them sit there is about $70 per square foot per year. Assuming you need 100 square feet of space per employee, an accountant or social media employee is costing them $7,000 per year to sit in NYC instead of somewhere else where it could be closer to $3,000.
The portfolio managers, sell side research, traders, wealth managers, etc... make the money to live in NYC, want to be there, and if you offered them a pay cut to move... they probably wouldn't take it because their ego is everything and they would never take a pay cut so it isn't worth moving them since it is a cost cutting relocation. If you moved them, you'd just end up with a hugely expensive relocation package for them to make the same amount of money.
The firm also probably has their fingers crossed a good amount of the mid level employees don't take the relocation package. They might offer relocating employees a 10% salary decrease, but feel like they could get a new hire in Nashville for 20% less annually and avoid paying relocation. Most companies in a cost-cutting relocation try to target that sweet spot of keeping about 40% so you have continuity and experience, where the other 60% get hired to replace people who don't move at hopefully ~20%+ less annually.
Median salary of Senior Accountant:
Nashville metro: $64,500
New York metro: $77,256
Median salary of Marketing Communications Specialist:
Nashville metro: $49,660
New York metro: $59,900
Median salary of HR Generalist:
Nashville metro: $54,780
New York metro: $68,799
Given that the firm will realize huge savings on real estate/energy costs, looking at this as a salary saving exercise on top of that doesn't sit well with me. I find it distasteful they are looking at Nashville like a 'discount' shopping center a la when a family goes to walmart.
Why not maintain the same wages but move them to nashville. AB would become a huge 'destination' employer that people would clamor to work for.
I want firms to make moves like this for positive reasons, not for negative ones. "we're going to nashville because of the amazing benefits it has when it comes lifestyle, culture, weather, etc. Plus our employees will get to keep more take home pay and we'll pay nyc market wages with the savings we accrue from spending less on real estate/energy/etc"
That sounds better than "we are moving to lower our labor costs for the section of our firm that is more disposable. what third tier city can we parachute into to realize these savings".
The former is an affirmative reason to move whereas the latter is a defensive move.
When firms also split back office from the front office geographically I think it affects firm morale. as if it is huxley's brave new world and alphas stay in nyc while the gammas and deltas are shipped off so they don't offend the alphas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
