For the majority of businesses, the best way to recruit staff is to locate close to a large pool of labour. However, available labour in any given location must be of the appropriate 'type'. So what are the factors that attract potential employees?

In a Savills and YouGov survey, we asked respondents if prospective employers offered them exactly the same financial package, with the same career opportunities, how would workplace location, internal design and external design determine their final decision.

As the results below show, location was deemed the most important factor overall, though it proved less important for younger respondents. Internal and external building design and fit-out, on the other hand, was more important for respondents in the 18 to 24 age group.

When it came to rating the importance of having shops and leisure facilities nearby, we noted a marked difference between the youngest age group and the other groups. More than 25 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds put a ‘very important’ rating on proximity to shops and 15 per cent cited leisure facilities as 'very important', In the 55+ age group the figures dropped to 10 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

We also asked respondents whether they would prefer a location within a cluster of similar businesses and the ability to network. The chart below shows those that said it was ‘not at all’ important and, again, it was the younger age groups who deemed it most important.

While proximity to shops and retail implies younger age groups want to work in a conurbation, the fact that location is less important to them means they don't necessarily want to work in only the largest cities where living costs are high, as are the costs for employers, in terms of rents, rates and service charges. Might we therefore see a shift to smaller cities away from the south east, as the next generation looks to balance wage levels and living costs with amenity/social/retail provision?

Equally, do our results mean that town/city centre locations are required to attract and retain younger workforce? This may be true to some extent, but Savills Research has also found that certain business sectors still prefer out-of-town/edge-of-town locations, perhaps driven by access to the motorway for on-the-road sales.

Further information

Contact Savills Commercial or view investment sales & acquisitions.