Multinationals shift out of Central Hong Kong to attract talent, and embrace in-office entertainment trend
Soaring office costs are forcing more businesses to eliminate desks and turn their premises into what one leading global facility services firm calls ‘experience arenas’
Multinationals operating in Hong Kong are moving into flexible commercial spaces in its outer suburbs, adapting to the global trend of providing less formal workplaces in cities, especially in such cities with tightening supply and rising costs.
Around the world, firms are increasingly providing in-house entertainment to attract and retain employees, and are moving to larger premises to do so.
In Hong Kong, the market is seeing some major international firms similarly relocating away from Central’s soaring rental prices, and choosing spaces with fewer desks and more creative areas to satisfy workers’ needs and demands.
A good example of this growing trend is GoDaddy, the world’s largest homepage administrator, for instance, operates globally out of a 150,000 square foot global technology centre in Tempe, an inner suburb in the south-western US state of Arizona of around 160,000 people located between the far larger Phoenix and the rest of the state’s East Valley.
Costing US$27 million, the site opened in 2014 and provides employees peddle go-karts, bicycles, outdoor sports courts and on-site chefs. The aim was to attract top talent and give it a competitive advantage, the company said at the time.