Location Strategies for Today's Workforce Using Labor Analytics

Location strategy amidst the transformative shifts in working models, offers insights into key considerations that leverage workforce and labor analytics to optimize location-related decisions. These strategies present inherent trade-offs between access to the right kind of labor, cost efficiencies that come with easier access to skill sets, and the potential implications of regional competitors.

Consideration for location-based strategies is key in gaining a clear understanding of these factors which can be the make or break of new organizational planning.

Some companies locate their offices or operations near urban areas known for specific expertise, such as cloud computing in the Pacific Northwest or financial technology in New York. A lack of skilled labor drives businesses to locate in an area with high taxes and a high cost of living, which seems counterintuitive but actually it’s quite the opposite. The workforce comes first.

Horsefly Analytics delivers the precise location-based insights organizations need to make these informed decisions based on talent availability, regional salary benchmarks, and demand trends. Horsefly enables businesses to identify the best locations to tap into the desired skill sets while optimizing costs and staying competitive.

As an example when Amazon were selecting a location for their new offices they discovered they needed to set up two specific locations based on talent because no single market would have the capacity to fulfill the anticipated need for 50,000 workers. This is exactly the data driven approach Horsefly Analytics supports.

Three Core Location Strategies

• Workforce Quality: Secure the talent required to run and grow the business.

• Profitability: Understand structural labor and real estate costs.

• Competitive Landscape: Clarify if any locations may have any competitive advantages .

Within this article, we will focus on ‘Workforce Quality’ as part of a future-proofed location strategy using labor analytics.

Organizations exploring ideal workforce environments and location-based strategies will need to tailor their approach, balancing these symbiotic elements to provide a holistic understanding of the forces shaping the future of work.

For Talent

Your WORKFORCE of the future.

People are an organization’s most valuable asset, and preparing for the future involves understanding both the current workforce ‘supply’ and the needed workforce ‘demand’.

Understanding both can expose skill pools where you are either long or short on talent, and enable you to take action before the talent gap becomes a competitive liability.

Furthermore, preparing the business for the needs of these talent groups will ensure longevity and protect the organization from dangerous churn. Therefore, when acquiring talent, it's crucial to be very clear in the description and entirely transparent about location, key skills, and culture. Getting it right is essential, as nearly 1 in 10 employees leave a job within 90 days of joining, which incurs significant costs.

Utilize labor data to determine future workforce through:

• Location Search: Identify industry-specific skilled workers by location - where they are and where to focus the search budget.

• Transferable Skills & Diversity: Assess transferable skill sets that may be abundant and meet diversity goals by region.

• Regional Variables: Understand salary expectations for different positions.

• Regional Housing Prices: Consider housing costs, which are crucial in calculating compensation levels.

• Beating the Competition: Explore local business benefits and amenities being provided.

For Organizations

Your WORKFORCE of the future.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, leading to a reduction in workplace density with remote work and virtual meetings becoming standard practice. In the past, companies typically centralized work but in recent years we have witnessed a shift that brings roles to the workforce. The era of remote, hybrid, and evolving workplaces is here to stay. Interestingly, recent data indicates that remote workers, on average, earn $19,000 more than in-office workers.

Additionally, organizations save an average of $11,000 per year per part-time remote worker or 21% higher profitability. Furthermore, this data has shown an increase in productivity of 77% given employees tend to work longer days. These are all important statistics to understand as a business designs its location-based strategy.

To hear how Chapter 2 benefitted from Horsefly's data to inform where their clients should relocate and expand to, take a look at this client story video.

Winning the Best Talent

Benefit & Culture Led Strategies

Employees working for Cisco cited autonomy, trust, and flexibility as key reasons for the positivity they felt towards their employer. Cisco uses labor analytics to ensure they establish award-winning workplace standards in these ways highlighted by their workforce:

• Flexible work arrangements and a culture that encourages open communication.

• Freedom to “get on with my work without management looking over my shoulder.”

• Health first: “always been encouraged to put health first when they have been unwell.”

• Development: They also commended their leaders for helping individuals to reach their full potential.

Using Labor Analytics

HR departments need to ensure their organizations become as agile as possible by breaking down traditional models and using a data-first mindset. Therefore, drawing on findings using location-based labor analytics is key as part. Horsefly Analytics is working with Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning Teams to do exactly this, using real-time data from the broadest and most accurate sources across 60+ countries and 170,000+ cities identifying talent pools by granular role and skills.

Using Horsefly Location Analytics: Case Study

In a recent project, we demonstrated our expertise in labor data by assessing global markets for sales professionals with experience in SaaS.

• By analyzing 50 towns and cities worldwide, we identified locations with a low cost of living and a favorable supply and demand ratio for talent.

• Leveraging these insights, we developed a go-to-market strategy for talent acquisition, resulting in a shorter time to hire and cost savings of £450k over a three-year period by focusing on lower-cost locations.

For more client stories, take a look at this Sanderson video which talks of how data analytics helped to transform location intelligence in tech hub planning. Also, this Robert Walters video can offer you insights into how data can help you to identify the best location for supply and best ratios for cost, with the lowest demand.

• The Brief & Ad: Use labor analytics to ensure talent briefs and subsequent ads are correctly written to manage expectations and promote cultural benefits.

• The Package & Diversity: Get remuneration packages right by region first time and meet your diversity goals for each location.

• Skills, Channel & Roles: Target your ‘skills-first’ talent on their preferred channels, with the correct role titles by region.

• The Workplace: Ensure the workplace demands of your preferred talent are established and communicated, pre-application.

• Reporting & Ongoing Utilization: Move to a data-first approach in HR and talent acquisition by using labor analytics to design your location strategies and monitor successes.

  • Track reduction in attrition rates due to ‘best-match’ talent

  • Survey hiring manager ratings on the quality of the new recruits

  • Confirm the successes of the process by tracking ‘Speed to hire’

  
  

   

Some of the top ways to utilize Horsefly Analytics to establish a talent-first location strategy are to:

• Leverage our platform’s talent supply and demand data to identify the ideal location for sourcing critical talent, as well as assessing whether current sources of talent are still meeting the needs of the business.

• Utilize our platform’s salary information to inform internal compensation practices and build a competitive advantage.

• Assess our demographic composition of specific talent pools to support organizational diversity and inclusion goals.

Look into the future of hiring with the most accurate labor market data and analytics available. Click here to get a free labor market consultation today! Supercharge your talent acquisition strategy with Horsefly Analytics.

Our teams can provide full and comprehensive solutions for developing location strategies for today's workforce using labor analytics in collaboration with your organization.

Sources: Forbes, Horsefly Analytics, cushmanwakefield.com, Cisco & Best Workplaces 2024, greatplacetowork.com, gethownow.com, Amazon, Apollo Technical.