More and more Wall Street firms are realizing the importance of having their headquarters in areas where it is easy to find and retain talent. Less than a month after Amazon (AMZN) announced its new twin-headquarters, industrial conglomerate Honeywell International Inc. (HON) is shifting its base from New Jersey to Charlotte in North Carolina.
The management believes the new location would give the company more exposure while making employee recruitment more efficient. It goes without saying that proper accessibility is a key factor when it comes to retaining talent.
It is expected that the new headquarters will have around 500 new jobs in the next five years, in addition to the 200-odd senior executives to be moved from the current headquarters. Around 100 job positions of the Safety and Productivity Solutions segment will also be shifted.
The management believes the new location would give more exposure while making employee recruitment more efficient
As per the plan, some of the main activities will continue in New Jersey where approximately 1,000 employees will be retained in multiple locations. The formalities in this regard are expected to be completed by next week. By retaining the workforce in New Jersey, Honeywell remains eligible for incentives offered by the state authorities under an existing agreement.
While it is bad news for the state of New Jersey, a Honeywell spokesperson made it clear that the location change was not due to any issues with the authorities.
Earlier, General Electric (GE) had shifted its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston so as to escape the high living costs and the corporate tax levied by the state authorities.
Honeywell shares lost about 2% since the beginning of the year. The stock, which hit a record high in September, traded slightly higher Friday.