Especially in the digital world, companies have multiple offices — or even locations — across the globe. From a business perspective, it’s important to have an established office. Culture is one of the most important aspects of running any company, and it starts from day one.
If you want to build a strong team and create an environment where people feel valued, then you need to take some time before you even hire them and consider where you are going to base yourself. You want an environment that promotes collaboration and creativity while allowing employees to feel comfortable enough to take risks, try new things at work, and feel valued, respected, and heard — regardless of their position within the hierarchy.
The right location can be critical for getting access to a good workforce. If people travel too far to get to work, they may only be willing to relocate if offered more money or better job security elsewhere. But where you decide to set up an office is vital to the operation of your company and its employees.
Key factors for choosing a tech business location
Andrew Filev, Wrike’s founder, is going to take you through some things he bears in mind when deciding on the locations of new Wrike offices.
1. Time zone coverage and market impact
The first thing to consider when choosing a new office location is whether or not it will provide adequate time zone coverage for your company’s operations. This means that employees in different regions can work at the same time without having to worry about conflicting schedules.
For example, if you work with customers from all over the world, like most businesses do today, it’s important to have offices in different time zones that can be reached at any time. If you don’t have this covered, then you may find yourself losing sales opportunities or upsetting customers because they can’t reach anyone when they need help.
2. Talent pool
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing an office location is available talent. If you’re looking for a software programmer or marketing specialist, for example, you’ll want to find somewhere with a high concentration of qualified people who can do the job well.
3. Talent diversity
Talent diversity is important for any company because it helps create a more inclusive environment that reflects customers’ needs and expectations. The same goes for businesses — they should be located in areas where they can hire a diverse workforce with different backgrounds and experiences who can bring their own unique perspectives into the fold at all levels of the organization.
4. Universities
The world of technology is changing rapidly, and the demand for highly skilled personnel is growing at an exponential rate. To ensure that your business stays competitive, it is vital to have access to the best talent available.
IT companies need employees with strong technical skills and training in order to succeed. The best way to ensure that you have access to this talent pool is through proximity to universities that specialize in computer science, engineering, and mathematics.
Office strategy, the Wrike way
Wrike tackles these challenges by being present in nine physical locations around the world: Prague, Tallinn, Nicosia, Dublin, Tokyo, Melbourne, San Diego, Dallas, and Costa Rica.
The offices are designed in a way that facilitates collaboration, with spaces where a Wriker can take a break or comfortably talk and cooperate with clients and remote-based colleagues. Meanwhile, other Wrikers are working remotely from the comfort of their homes, co-working spaces, or cafés.
In today’s reality, you can’t forget about your digital office “location” — how you design processes to increase employee engagement and productivity. Where does the communication happen? Do your in-office and remote employees have a space that allows them to collaborate effectively, no matter where they are located? At Wrike, we solved this by using the best collaborative work management platform — the one that we’ve built to help you do the best work of your life, no matter where you are: Wrike.
Having offices in the right locations, combined with our values, allows us to increase productivity and boost engagement. Wrike’s culture gives us a strong foundation that helps us interact with one another in an effective way. Our office space, both physical and digital, allows us to collaborate effectively, deliver business outcomes, be better than the competition, move fast, win together, know our customers, and have courage.
Want to know more about Wrike’s culture, strategy, offices, and more? Watch the above interview with Andrew Filev, Wrike’s founder, and find out if he’s an early bird or a night owl, what’s his drink of choice, and how he built a company that was ready for the hybrid work model long before it was cool.
How cool does being a Wriker sound? Check out our job opportunities, both in our global offices and remote.
