Dive Brief:

• Companies that focus talent in one location may miss out on market opportunities, according to a new LinkedIn-EY report, “Right People, Wrong Place?”
• The report, which looked at 659 companies across 11 industries, shows that many firms concentrate staffing at headquarters or other hubs. But when a company branches out and puts its workforce in target markets, financial outcomes improve.
• To recruit for better talent-to-market alignment, the report recommends that companies: start the discussion with a clear vision of the market; review all hiring options in expanding the staff, instead of sourcing talent only in legacy or headquarter markets; and recruit in markets that are less well-known as they may prove more cost-effective and less competitive.

Dive Insight:

The report highlights the need for HR professionals to take a strategic approach to recruitment, complete with analytics to help find market opportunities. 

And as employers struggle to find the right talent, they've started looking in some unlikely places: untapped talent pools, current employees and even customers. Perhaps HR should now add new markets to that list.

While it may have been necessary to have certain employees at headquarters in the past, technology is making it possible for workforces to spread out, even without satellite offices. Flexible work programs, including remote work, are proving critical to engaging talent from a broader spectrum.