Hybrid office location - city centre, or out of town?

[blutterfly]

You work in consulting. Most of your job is on email/teams calls but your company want you in the office 1-2 days a week to build team relationships and to host client meetings, do interviews, collaborate etc. Rest of the week you can work anywhere.

Would you rather

A - an office that had parking, easy road/bus access, but not good rail connections and no local shops/cafes/sandwiches (BYO lunch)

B - an office in busy city centre and all its amenities, good rail and bus connections but limited parking and hideous traffic

C - a rural out of town office with no rail connections but ample parking, outdoor space, away from hustle of city but no shops/cafes within 2 miles (BYO lunch)

Am about to launch a new office and struggling with where to locate it. I figure if we are hoping to encourage people in 2 days they might want a ‘destination’ eg shops and cafes nearby, but does that outweigh transport ease?

I don't drive for medical reasons and I ride a bike.

I don't want to rely on a private, mini bus.

B is the best choice.

Town planning is moving towards density and 15 minute cities. You'll be left behind if you hide out in the sticks.

My employer has their office out of town in some random business park with scant busses. It's a 20minute drive, for me, but I no longer have a car and buses are making the journey 1.5hrs as I need to make multiple changes due to the odd location.

What about town centre rather than city centre? Usually more parking options (or could arrange a validation service with a local multistory).

do you have current staff you are wanting or retain or do you want it to be attractive to new staff? If it’s the former then I think you need to look at your staff on an individual basis to assist your decision. I work in an office that has some limited parking but if they upped and moved to a city based location with good public transport but no parking options I would have to leave, as due to my particular circumstances public transport wouldn’t work for me. Also I think it depends on the exact area you are in, outside London public transport is very variable to say the least

B. Especially if it's London as public transport is great so no need to drive in. Amenities are important and somewhere to socialise after work or at lunchtimes.

City centre offices are also more attractive as it's easier for clients to visit or vice versa. It makes the organisation more prominent.

Why is B limited to able bodied people?

Some disabled people can’t drive and will be better off with somewhere accessible by public transport - it’s not as clear cut as you imply

Without a doubt, city centre. Check there are park and ride or similar options for those determined to live in the middle of nowhere but the sustainable future is public transport. I have to visit one of our regional offices that involves a 1-2 hour motorway journey to its out of town location, I dread it.

B if you don't pay loads and will be reliant on finding lots of people just starting their careers.
A for everyone else - and you think the person you will be hiring is likely to be able to drive.
C pointless as you'll be in an office so no point being in a field.

B. Though any of those options are not ideal. Lack of parking is very difficult. Our company changes premises , nearer train station ( we’re not that far from it no), but with no parking. It’ll be a nightmare for a lot of people, who live in places without train connections at their hometowns. This “green living” idea is great, if you live in the city, but if you not, you’re stuck and it costs you.

B

I had to quit a job because it moved to an office that was in the middle of nowhere.

B 100%

Currently go into an office similar to A once a week, luckily I drive - for people who don't it's a train to the nearest city, then a 30+ minute taxi depending on traffic at their own expense. Nothing nearby for food at all, just one of those lunch vans (uninspired and often stale).

Go to an office close in description to B once a week too, much better. People can get to work easier, we can all pop out at lunch to walk about or get food (so many choices!) and it's easier for clients to come to. Clients don't visit office A unless transport is put on and even then that's very rare.

Not sure about the age being skewed by location B - our workforce is 16-70 at site B so seems very diverse!

@hopefulsquirrel

It's not. Disabled people are often used to justify excessive general traffic. It's a fig leave.

Most city centers have dispensations for those with mobility issues.

I turned down a job in tech that wanted me to go to an out of town office. Opted for a city centre company.

I do the school run and head into the city on my bike, on office days. Loads of patents do the same were I live.

It's the future! 🚴‍♀️

Also, moving an existing workforce is different to setting up new. People who have already organised their life with school runs, nursery etc around an out of town location will be stuck if the business moves to the city centre, but they would have had a different set up if the office had been in the city from the outset.

So to answer a few comments/questions;

There isn’t an existing team in this location, i am opening up a new office for a company with an office in another region who are looking to expand. So I will need to attract staff in a sector where there is a skills shortage, so attracting talent is important.

The city location for B is not London. It’s a smallish city with a good train station and some buses but still lots of car drivers on the roads making traffic awful. Parking near the proposed office is £8 a day.

The team from the other existing office will be heading over to me from time to time and have said train would be easier, cheaper and greener for them so I think B might be the best option.

Those who need to drive for logistical purposes will need to factor in traffic and cough up for multi-storey car park twice a week. There is no P&R, the city desperately needs one but so far hasn’t got one.

My office is contemplating a move from A to B (though we do have a snack van that comes round). Most people are not particularly keen - they think the proximity to public transport is not strong enough to mean that people will use it rather than drive, parking is expensive and many people actually walk/cycle to A and would not be able to do that for B (this last not being an issue for a new office I guess).

My observation for teams that only come in once a week is that having amenities about is not that crucial as they tend to spend most of the time catching up. I'd say that would be more attractive for full time workers. I work at A full time and it's sometimes frustrating that there is nowhere to go at lunchtime so I just end up eating my sandwiches with a book.

If it's a completey new office, why not D which is a town with a station AND a P&R. You'd have to move maybe, but it sounds a lot less stressful

Yes there is an option D which could be considered but it’s more expensive for office space there (presumably due to better transport and P&R) and less of an easy train connection for the sister office colleagues, but not impossible.

I am going to be the office director, and so will be setting the culture and ethos for our team as I grow it.

I was also considering if we went for B (which incidentally is more of a PITA for me with childcare) but set core office hours of maybe 9.30-4.30 that might help? So come into the office, but hopefully miss rush hour one end of the day. Then subject to client meetings if you need to head off early to get back and finish off an hour from home you can.

As this is brand new and we will be growing a team from ground up, I was also thinking of getting a serviced office/flexible rent space in location B initially, then if we decide after 3 months it’s not right for us we can leave easily.

Our company moved from A to B about a year ago and it has made going into the office more attractive. Lots more options for people who want to buy lunch / socialize but it's also really handy being in the middle of town to do shopping at lunchtime (I have a toddler, nipping to the shop in a lunch break makes it easier to actually look at things without said toddler getting bored).

Most people at our office cycle or use public transport to get to work. If rail links are good this might be better for clients coming from out of town. Can you do something like have flexible work hours to give drivers the option of avoiding the worst traffic? This can be attractive to everyone (public transport frequently has delays, some employees might be trying to fit around childcare, people might want an extended lunch break to socialise or get things done in town etc).

Have you plotted where your staff live relative to the office locations, and looked at public transport options?

DH's company lost about 40% of their staff when they moved offices to an "A". In my experience, retention and recruitment is easier for "B".

B. If it's at all difficult to get to, people just won't make the effort, and they'll blame it on the transport connections.

I work in consulting, and we've found the people who are losing out the most from WFH are the younger/more junior staff. So I'd say whichever option facilitates them coming in, which is probably B.

B but I don't have a car.

I've worked on business parks where there is only a sandwich van or a newsagents with a meal deal. It drives you mad and people would take very long lunches driving offsite to get food/do a shop etc.

And in more rural location (long walk from the station) with the choice of the co-op to at the top of the hill or the co-op at the bottom. Great for those who were very local loads of parking. Bad when it snowed but these days with home working it wouldn't be so bad.
Rubbish for me in the rain.

B. I commute by train and wouldn't want to buy a second car to commute.

B

Option to go out to lunch with colleagues/ other friends, do some shopping etc.
Greener option.

Missed this paragraph before I posted:

I was also considering if we went for B (which incidentally is more of a PITA for me with childcare) but set core office hours of maybe 9.30-4.30 that might help? So come into the office, but hopefully miss rush hour one end of the day. Then subject to client meetings if you need to head off early to get back and finish off an hour from home you can.

My office moved from a C to a B when I was on mat leave 10 years ago. Although it doesn't suit me well (I'm a rural car driver with childcare needs and poor public transport), this is mitigated hugely by flexi working with core hours, and work paid a displacement allowance (based on additional mileage) to anyone with longer journeys for 3 yeaes. They also paid for 100 parking spaces a day at a nearby car park, but stopped that completely when it was pointed out that that method massively favoured people without caring responsibilities.

Is there anyway you could negotiate corporate rates for local car parking to your new office? Is all the available parking stuff you need to pay for, or is there street parking within say 15 mins?

If you're recruiting into a sector that is already difficult to recruit to, none of the options you're suggesting are going to work.

You need a location that's going to appeal to a broader range of requirements, otherwise you're going to struggle to recruit or retain staff. The more expensive cost of an option D location will offset the cost of constant recruitment.