Try opening a base outside the M25 to find great staff - Sunday Times

It takes courage for entrepreneurs to step outside their comfort zone, but a new office in a well-chosen location can attract both a bigger pool of skilled staff and more customers

Each January, I ask the same questions of myself and every leader I work with: have we got the right talent in place, and how can we recruit the best of the best over the coming year? Success and a sustainable recruitment strategy depend on each other. That’s why so much focus is on Gen Z — those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s — who, according to a recent survey, will make up about 27 per cent of the world’s workforce by the end of next year.

So how best to attract them? A better work-life balance, investment in new technology and demonstrating “purpose beyond profit” are all near the top of the list — but one thing that often gets overlooked is the office, especially in our new hybrid world. Indeed, one of Microsoft’s key insights in its recent Work Trend Index is that “leaders need to make the office worth the commute”.

Much as I agree, I don’t think that goes far enough, because in my experience one office is just the start. If you truly want to supercharge your business and unlock growth opportunities, you need to open satellite offices to create opportunities in different regions, galvanise teams, build credibility and attract that talent. That’s why, next month, my Checkatrade.com business is opening a big new London office for more than 200 staff, a satellite to our main campus in Portsmouth Harbour where 400 colleagues work. It will enable us to grow quicker by attracting talent in two key locations.

A satellite will help develop a more agile business. You can start small — testing, pivoting and figuring out the landscape. If you are London-based and looking to push further afield, or a company based elsewhere but trying to connect with new partners in the capital, smaller hubs allow you to explore in a relatively risk-free and low-cost way.

A satellite builds credibility, especially if you’re operating abroad. But it needs to be in the right place, where the action is. As soon as we secured an East Coast office during HomeServe USA expansion, relocating from Miami to the more metropolitan Norwalk in Connecticut, we were able to hire stellar senior management. They knew the markets far better than us and helped us evolve at a rapid pace, separating our management office from our call centre, which went on to be based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

A satellite also has the power to attract far more diverse talent, because you can move to where the skills are. One initiative in last year’s budget from the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt was the £1 billion in extra funding to build new technology hubs around English universities. Instead of relocating, companies that, for instance, need to recruit the best tech graduates can now open small offices close to regional campuses, attracting those people without compelling them to settle near a London HQ. Ideas such as these make levelling-up feel like far more than a tired slogan.

Speaking as a proud Yorkshireman, there is enormous untapped talent far outside the M25 — places where costs are lower and the quality of life often higher. IWG, the temporary-offices operator, recently published a report showing that commuter towns are being transformed by smaller offices set up by larger companies seeking to get closer to their customers. The trend could, the report said, “increase the number of white-collar workers in selected commuter towns by 84 to 175 per cent by 2043”.

Satellite offices that help #entrepreneurs expand beyond the borders of a metropolitan hub can also uncover new growth opportunities, because they will get closer to their customers. One of the businesses I have invested in is Teesside-based Additional Lengths, which specialises in hair extensions. It is thinking of opening a salon, training centre and office near London to gain access to senior talent in the southeast and to pick up more customers throughout the south.

A good satellite office can also help strengthen your business culture — as long as you don’t make the same mistake I did. When one of my first companies, Professional Properties, was beginning to grow as a lettings firm in Newcastle, we established our office in the apartment of the manager of that business. In hindsight, we would have grown faster by having the courage to take a proper office with a shop window for our properties to let. Once we did, we started to fly and our culture grew stronger every day. A physical address gave us the kind of credibility and customer loyalty that working from home never could.

A satellite is also a vital fail-safe. If there’s a sudden flood, fire or IT disaster, your whole business won’t suffer so much, and recovery will be faster. And with so much space available at the moment, the costs need not be too onerous. Estimates from Workthere, the flexible-office branch of estate agency Savills, put the average monthly cost per desk in the UK at just over £600, and just under £700 in London.

Finally, opening a satellite will help you grow as a leader. It takes courage to step outside your comfort zone — literally so — but the braver you are, the more credible you will become. That’s when you will be able to attract the best talent to take your business to the next level. Because it’s not just an office — it’s about the kind of leader you want to be.