Relocating software firm Strategic Thought is upgrading its employees’ home broadband and paying their travel costs in a bid to keep them, its HR director has told Personnel Today.
Adrian Farley said the company was hoping to keep almost all its 115 members of staff when it moves the 30 miles from Wimbledon to Maidenhead in September.
Farley joined Strategic Thought in January as the firm began transforming itself from a small consultancy to a much larger company able to distribute its risk management software.
He aims to bring the company’s headcount up to 150 by April, and said recruitment and retention posed equal challenges to him.
“The new offices are bigger, will give our customers and partners easier access, and will give us a better quality of working life,” said Farley.
“Many of our employees are mobile workers, and we hope most of the office-based staff will come with us.”
The firm is encouraging staff to come up with ways of making the move work for them, such as doing fewer, longer shifts, or commuting at more convenient times for them.
“We are also providing the communications to allow people to work from home properly. We have a deal with BT and are upgrading people’s broadband connections.
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“If people are travelling to the office, we will pay any incremental costs associated with that.”
Strategic Thought will hold its regular quarterly meeting in Maidenhead before the move to give staff a feel for the new environment, and will carry out staff surveys before and after the move.
