Business executives and entrepreneurs looking to relocate their companies to greener pastures are increasingly making the prospective community’s quality of life a major — and even deciding — component of the decision-making process.
This plays directly into Sarasota County’s primary natural strengths. In addition to being in the Sunshine State and boasting some of the world’s top beaches, the county possesses a nationally recognized arts community, a thriving downtown attracting young people, a popular and growing biking/walking trail system and one of the best school districts in the state.
“Quality of life has become very important,” said Angela Grace, principal at Atlanta-based Blackshaw Partners. “If there are several competing locations, it can be the ultimate deciding issue at the end of the day. What is the differentiator? It’s the quality of life.”
In the past, a community’s quality of life was more of an afterthought for corporate relocation decisions, which have focused mostly on location and costs. That’s changing as corporate culture and workforce requirements become more central for companies. Certainly, the nuts and bolts of a deal are still driving forces. But, increasingly, when those are similar, community quality of life becomes the determining factor. And sometimes it so important it is one of the nuts and bolts.
“There are times when quality of life will be more important than the incentives,” Grace said, noting that it is not a majority of the time but is a growing trend.
A recent Land Policy Institute report found that quality of life such as “green infrastructure" — parks, trails, water, weather, etc. — are major elements in attracting the coveted demographic of 25- to 34-year-old people with college degrees who make up much of the creative class. These are existing and relatively outstanding strengths in Sarasota County because of its bays, Legacy Trail and beautiful weather year round.
National media organizations make the case most potently:
• Sarasota is ranked the No. 1 best place to live in Florida by U.S. News and World Report.
• Sarasota-Manatee is ranked No. 1 in Florida for young entrepreneurs by Moneyrates.com.
• The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area is ranked the 14th happiest region in the country by National Geographic.
• Sarasota is still ranked the No. 1 place to retire in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
The importance of quality of life is growing in part because of the emphasis placed on life outside of work by the millennial generation, which is maturing and gaining influence on companies' decisions. This suggests the trend may accelerate in coming years as that large generation exerts more clout.
The reality facing companies is that attracting and retaining talented millennials means that companies must consider what type of lifestyle their younger workers will enjoy.
Sarasota-based S-One Holdings Corp. sees that right now. S-One is a global holding company headquartered in Sarasota that oversees subsidiaries, including ABAQA, Avatrex, Brand Management Group, LexJet and Utopia Digital Technologies.
Art Lambert, president and CEO of S-One, said the company markets jobs nationally and emphasizes the area's quality of life extensively to attract the types of employees it needs.
“We have a fairly young workforce. With that, quality of life plays a big part. It’s a closer for us,” Lambert said.
His company sets up prospective hires with young employees and lets them go to the beaches, explore downtown, maybe take in a play, go out to eat — giving them the full experience of what Sarasota offers outside of work.
“We call it ‘the power of the palm.’ Palm trees make a huge difference,” Lambert said. “Downtown is also a huge draw and it’s getting better every year.”
S-One is headquartered downtown and most employees live within 15 minutes of its offices.
“That’s an important part of quality of life. Kids today want to live near work,” Lambert said.
So for both attracting companies and keeping companies that need a young, innovative workforce, a location's quality of life is an essential consideration — and Sarasota County offers one of the best.
Contact Mark Huey, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County, at mhuey@edcsarasotacounty.com. The EDC is the public/private partnership leading economic diversification efforts in Sarasota County by working with community and regional partners.