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UltravioletClearance t1_j5pspq0 wrote

Reply to comment by candidcamerapeepshow in Lego moving its US headquarters to Boston by 2026 by scw

Enfield CT is in the Springfield MA metro area. Yikes. I hope all current and future workers are getting significant pay raises.

Companies insisting on putting their HQs in the most expensive neighborhoods of the most expensive city in the country then refusing to pay workers enough to live anywhere near the office really grinds my gears.

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fireball_jones t1_j5pwlm3 wrote

On the other hand try getting someone to move to Enfield.

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veryverycoolfellow t1_j5pytsn wrote

Exactly. Enfield is trash, Springfield is trash. Boston is expensive but the pay compensate accordingly in the area, especially if you’re willing to live within a 30-40 min commute it’s not that bad. Moving out of Enfield to Boston is the smartest move to make, Boston is expensive yes, but the quality of life out surpasses basically every city in the northeast by a mile.

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spedmunki t1_j5q8mpp wrote

There’s plenty of nice suburbs around there though. I know a lot of people who make bank in Springfield/Hartford area, but live in nice suburbs like Longmeadow, Glastonbury, Avon, Simsbury, etc

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StuckinSuFu t1_j5qlbtl wrote

My Sister in law makes a pretty penny as a doctor in Hartford and she lives out near Avon. Its a lovely area.

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Roszo21 t1_j5qvgpr wrote

Most those suburbs are still close to an hour commute from Enfield but the COL difference is huge. You can get a large 3 bed 2 bath home with a big yard in a really good school district for $600k. Good luck finding that within an hour drive of Boston.

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TakenOverByBots t1_j5rdau4 wrote

My parents' 5 br sold for less than 300K last year in a suburb even closer to Enfield. If people really don't care about being in a wealthy district, you can get really inexpensive houses.

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memeintoshplus t1_j5rloxv wrote

Enfield is a pretty mediocre town, but the adjacent towns Longmeadow, East Windsor, and Suffield are pretty nice. Honestly, I'd be willing to move down there, I'd be living a lot more comfortably than I'd be living here in Boston.

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West_Ernmass t1_j5s6bcr wrote

The Lego facility in Enfield is just over the border of East Longmeadow.

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spedmunki t1_j5r5yng wrote

Try 30 minutes.

The COL still stands. The quality of home and school you get there compared to the same price around Boston is way better.

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veryverycoolfellow t1_j5rh06m wrote

The Boston suburbs school districts are the best in the country you’re literally delusional

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rfuree11 t1_j5rn6zi wrote

The CT towns /u/spedmunki specified all have school districts that could easily hang with those in the metro Boston area. It's not like CT is renowned for shitty schools or anything. I grew up in the Hartford area and went through a highly ranked school district (actually a rival of Glastonbury). The house prices there are literally 50% of what the same house would cost for me here in Wakefield. Property taxes are slightly higher, but not by much.

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veryverycoolfellow t1_j5rguxq wrote

Mansfield is 50 minutes away. Basically everything on 495 is 45 minutes away. Keep justify living in western mass, it’s humorous. Anything besides long meadow and the valley is basically irrelevant.

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veryverycoolfellow t1_j5r014z wrote

Plenty of places within an hour of Boston will give you that.. and actually way better lol. Mansfield, Easton, Arlington… basically any town off the 495 belt. The best western mass towns are mediocre by eastern mass standards, aside from a handful

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dante662 t1_j5qb192 wrote

To make it even worse the Lego facility in Enfield is basically surrounded by CT state prisons.

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elykl12 t1_j5trlt0 wrote

Yeah, I mean what else would you build the prisons out of?

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dante662 t1_j5tw9sp wrote

Line the perimeter with random blocks on the ground, no one would dare tread there to escape.

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Maxpowr9 t1_j5q13fy wrote

It's why many are predicting a lot of rural hospitals are gonna start closing like crazing this decade. What nurse/doctor wants to move to the middle of nowhere for meh pay compared to a major city?

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Novacek_Yourself t1_j5q6dz8 wrote

My wife is a physician in Boston and we have had offers to double her salary to move to remote areas of the mid west.

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Signal_Key_9200 t1_j5r19i7 wrote

You probably know this isn't uncommon in medical professions.

If ya'll take it, I really hope you've spent time there first.

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nukular_iv t1_j5ujudj wrote

The belief that doctors are paid top dollar in Boston is really really wrong. The SUPPLY of doctors in boston is very very high. There is no need to pay top dollar.

They can make more elsewhere. Some in extremely good parts of the country that cost significantly less.

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[deleted] t1_j5q5dtz wrote

[deleted]

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Maxpowr9 t1_j5qdfg5 wrote

It's why traveling nurses skyrocketed last year. It's essentially a last ditch effort to keep the hospital open but a lot of the rural ones are drowning in red ink. It's the equivalent of taking out a payday loan to stay afloat.

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StuckinSuFu t1_j5qlek1 wrote

Locums make a boat load of money doing near permanent contacts in rural areas.

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scolfin t1_j5q1yiy wrote

Better than the popular solution of some random exurb precisely halfway between two spokes of the T.

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3720-To-One t1_j5ptkgn wrote

Why would the executives care?

It’s not like they’ll be affected.

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TightBoysenberry_ t1_j5pt316 wrote

It's not companies. It's the C suite who want to live somewhere better than bumfuck CT, so it's easier for them to catch flights.

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SkiingAway t1_j5ui1p1 wrote

Their current HQ is 10 minutes from BDL/Hartford, which has a pretty solid flight schedule/destination map and is the (very distant) #2 airport in New England for passengers.

That said, it's one weakness beyond "not being Boston" may be the issue for a European company - no great way to fly to Europe without a connection that's basically taking you out of the way besides seasonal flights to Ireland.

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wsdog t1_j5r0upd wrote

Guess why it's expensive. Because it's desirable.

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candidcamerapeepshow t1_j5ptmj9 wrote

I reckon corporations HQing in premier cities is akin to designer brands putting their stores in the cities (sometimes for a loss) for the cosmopolitan marketing appeal.

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UltravioletClearance t1_j5pxnzv wrote

A lot of times companies use these moves to force out their older workers with families and replace them with fresh college grads living with 6 roommates.

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Badtakesingeneral t1_j5q4q88 wrote

If WFH completely untethers companies and employees from the same location, I think big name companies are going to increasingly set up their corporate HQs in premier global cities with favorable corporate taxes.

Plus I think they’re likely going to snag a good deal on lease space - Especially if they’re looking to move downtown.

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asianyo t1_j5qi0wh wrote

COLA adjustments, my friend, COLA adjustments. It’s always better, assuming they are accurately calculated, because you can put more away for retirement into pretax retirement accounts.

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trimtab28 t1_j5rl13j wrote

>Companies insisting on putting their HQs in the most expensive neighborhoods of the most expensive city in the country then refusing to pay workers enough to live anywhere near the office really grinds my gears.

What a relief Lego is dedicated to its humanitarian mission by moving to Boston instead of Manhattan! Truly looking out for the little guy... er... minifigure!

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free_to_muse t1_j5t6bu5 wrote

Companies will pay what employees will accept and not much more. It confuses me when people get irked that a company isn’t operating primarily as a charity for their workers. The job market is a market and employees get the market rate. When you go buy a company’s product for $50, do you throw in an extra $20 as a donation? Then you shouldn’t be surprised that the employer isn’t doing that for you.

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Chimsley99 t1_j5q4wvr wrote

Seems weird that they’d want to move in to Boston and not on the outskirts.

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SphaeraEstVita t1_j5q7grb wrote

Why? Working in Boston vs some random suburb would be huge for recruiting.

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UltravioletClearance t1_j5qz3fm wrote

I guess I have to wonder, who are they trying to recruit? People with experience either got priced out to the exurbs or moved to the suburbs to raise a family. The only "talent" you have in the Boston metro area is recent college grads and juniors living with multiple roommates while saving up to buy a home along 495.

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candidcamerapeepshow t1_j5r1sgw wrote

Maybe the move is mostly just symbolic in nature like GE’s HQ Boston relocation. It only benefits the top executives who probably don’t want to commute from suburban CT to JFK/LGA airport for work travel to Lego Denmark.

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adoucett t1_j5rynda wrote

You have Bradley international right there my dude

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AboyNamedBort t1_j5tvomu wrote

Not sure if serious but Bradley has only one direct flight to Europe and zero to Asia.

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Chimsley99 t1_j5q9r02 wrote

But then they must pay a premium to the employees. In my mind being 20 min outside the city would mean likely an easier commute but you’re still close to Boston so you’re getting that boon to recruiting. Not like I’m saying they should move to north western MA

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man2010 t1_j5qgb60 wrote

It's only an easier commute from the surrounding towns, compared to downtown Boston which offers commuting options from the entire metro. Like, if Lego decided to put their headquarters in Norwood then they're going to struggle to hire someone from Arlington, but putting their headquarters in Boston makes it possible to hire from both.

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Affectionate-Panic-1 t1_j5qo1kt wrote

People underestimate the commuter rail. It's way better to be in downtown Boston and commute via commuter rail than to drive to anything car dependent within 128.

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AccousticMotorboat t1_j5qxbke wrote

Not everyone drives or wants to.

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R_Morley t1_j5todvv wrote

it amazes me that anyone wants to drive in mass

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vhalros t1_j5tqlfj wrote

Well, its the classic Massachusetts compromise: We can't agree how to improve transportation. But we can always come together and make all modes of transportation awful for every one, with bicycle lanes that just randomly stop and throw you into traffic, subway cars thirty years past their expiration dates, and car swallowing pot holes.

Pick your poison.

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AccousticMotorboat t1_j5tol5q wrote

I avoid it whenever possible. I logged nearly as many miles on my bike as I drove this year.

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Hribunos t1_j5tvtlo wrote

I once worked for a tech company that moved from Boston to Framingham. They lost 70% of their engineering staff and it killed the company. A lot of the really desirable staff in the Boston area live in the city and DO NOT want to commute out.

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MazW t1_j5ua1rm wrote

Also it's easier to commute into the city rather from suburb to suburb.

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vhalros t1_j5tqdej wrote

Personally, you'd have to pay me a lot more to work in the "outskirts" where I would probably have a substantial drive to work. The quality of life downgrade would be pretty big.

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