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Describing the Boston area: For what it's worth the tech/engineering firms in Cambridge [walkable, dense] generally have a younger workforce than the tech/engineering firms in the SR-128 office park corridor [mostly unwalkable]. There are various historical reasons and a bit of a chicken-egg effect: firms tend to go where their workers are, workers choose to live closer where their jobs.
In reality, firm location is often more influenced by where the top management is. Companies often choose to headquarter themselves near suburbs where the executives. Finance companies that leave Manhattan often tend to go to suburbs in Connecticut, as that's where many of the executives live. A location move to Suffolk County is unlikely, discouraged more since suburban Connecticut already has a cluster of finance. Many of the tech companies in Cambridge are started younger people who already living in the area or the city; the ones in the SR-128 were founded decades ago when less highly educated young people stayed in the city (even in Cambridge) and also tend to be larger engineering firms that need space. Downtown firms often don't have most of their top management living nearby, but there are historical connections: other firms they do business with are right by, or the top management used to work in a company nearby.
This is dead on. From my experience (in financial services in Chicago): nearly 15 years ago my firm was spun off from a giant mother ship of a firm and I was a fairly young worker. Not freshly minted, but I definitely didn't have a big resume at the time. The execs were considering a move from the Loop to a location near O'Hare (closer to their homes). As a group, we told management it wasn't a good idea and that inevitably, many of us would probably leave. We were marketable. We knew it. And we knew that we could go down the street to 4 different competitors and likely find jobs quickly. Needless to say, we didn't move. Another smaller firm tried the same about 6 years later and their recruiting suffered tremendously. I was offered a 30% raise and a promotion to move out there, which I turned down, knowing it would be another year before I would get my raise at my firm and another year after that before my salary would approach what they were offering.
And I'm an Xer which as a group supposedly doesn't value this stuff as much as the Mills do.
This is dead on. From my experience (in financial services in Chicago): nearly 15 years ago my firm was spun off from a giant mother ship of a firm and I was a fairly young worker. Not freshly minted, but I definitely didn't have a big resume at the time. The execs were considering a move from the Loop to a location near O'Hare (closer to their homes). As a group, we told management it wasn't a good idea and that inevitably, many of us would probably leave. We were marketable. We knew it. And we knew that we could go down the street to 4 different competitors and likely find jobs quickly. Needless to say, we didn't move. Another smaller firm tried the same about 6 years later and their recruiting suffered tremendously. I was offered a 30% raise and a promotion to move out there, which I turned down, knowing it would be another year before I would get my raise at my firm and another year after that before my salary would approach what they were offering.
And I'm an Xer which as a group supposedly doesn't value this stuff as much as the Mills do.
Pre-recession. The late 90s were hot. The 2010s are not.
Nothing was hot in 2009. That was the depths of the recession. Denver is the finance center of the Rockies; it wasn't rosy here in 2009 by a long shot.
Nothing was hot in 2009. That was the depths of the recession. Denver is the finance center of the Rockies; it wasn't rosy here in 2009 by a long shot.
What does that have to do with another poster choosing job location over another offer with a 30% increase? I thought we were talking about the value of a walkable urban location to corporate recruiting.
What does that have to do with another poster choosing job location over another offer with a 30% increase? I thought we were talking about the value of a walkable urban location to corporate recruiting.
Apparently you haven't been following the conversation. Chicago76 gave an experience of 15 years ago (1997 or 98), where a group of finance people threatened to leave the company if they relocated to O'Hare International Airport (which is IN the Chicago city limits, BTW) from d/t Chicago. Then he gave anther story of six years later (2003 or 2004) where another firm, apparently also in Chicago, did relocate and it affected their recruiting. I pointed out this was all pre-recession. I said that Denver is the financial center of the Rockies and wasn't doing well in 2009. Capiche?
Apparently you haven't been following the conversation. Chicago76 gave an experience of 15 years ago (1997 or 98), where a group of finance people threatened to leave the company if they relocated to O'Hare International Airport (which is IN the Chicago city limits, BTW) from d/t Chicago. Then he gave anther story of six years later (2003 or 2004) where another firm, apparently also in Chicago, did relocate and it affected their recruiting. I pointed out this was all pre-recession. I said that Denver is the financial center of the Rockies and wasn't doing well in 2009. Capiche?
I understood Chicago76's post, it was very clear. I'm not following why you're bring up the recession.
I understood Chicago76's post, it was very clear. I'm not following why you're bring up the recession.
Because. the. situations. he. described. happened. pre-recession. In fact, they happened at a time when the economy was smoking hot. Employees have less bargaining power during a recession, when there are in some cases hundreds of applicants for a job.
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