Location, Location, Location, does it matter anymore?

It used to be a major factor in almost every job seeker’s search process, and some employers showed ‘location bias’ when hiring new staff. 

I know we hear ‘post-covid reality’ far too often, however since the enforced migration of employees away from the office and the resulting uptake of new work arrangements, it has called into question if location really is that important anymore for these types of roles.

Job seekers are now taking on new opportunities that offer more flexibility than ever. For example, some organisations have mandated a minimum or even a maximum of 2 days in the office. This scenario makes a huge difference. Previously a job seeker who would be unwilling to travel more than 30 minutes each way to their workplace 5 days a week, now only must consider the travel for 2 days. We are finding job seekers are now happy to look at commuting for over an hour because ‘if it is only for a few days, the right role is more important’.

For employers, the ‘location bias’ seems to be diminishing, also. In fact, people2people has been briefed on several roles with large organisations with multiple sites, that are happy to consider job seekers from anywhere on the eastern seaboard. Even those organisations with one office, have accepted the reality of the trend of people moving further out of the cities, seeking more space and affordability. With increased flexibility, gone are the days when someone commuting for over an hour, made them a ‘flight risk’.

From either a job seeker or employer’s perspective, location is slowly dropping down the list of factors in the hiring process.