There’s Something Happening Here

Competing for the coveted remote worker pool

Historically talent has moved to the larger cities, but the pandemic has accelerated a trend already underway - remote working. Someone who helped launch a program in Tulsa, Oklahoma that sought to create a "thriving remote ecosystem," offered his advice in a session hosted about a month ago by Get 2 Know Noke, an arm of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. The executive director of Tulsa Remote is Aaron Bolzle. The Tulsa native (his last name is pronounced Belz-Lee) did what many young people do in smaller urban areas - he left home, went to college in the big city (Boston in this case), interned in New York City and spent a decade on the West Coast.

Then he came home and launched Tulsa Remote, which offers free desk space, exclusive perks and events for remote workers - part of that "thriving eco-system" that also includes a welcoming community: “the opportunity is really to create more economic mobility for individuals, and then provide the ecosystem that encourages them to stay. Nobody wants to feel stuck.”

Those working remotely away from the corporate headquarter city need to be supported by a program that includes the opportunity to meetup with others working remotely - perhaps with free desk space initially - even a cash incentive like the one offered by Tulsa Remote says Bolzle. “How do we provide that ecosystem that allows them to feel supported and nourished, so they ultimately continue to flourish?”

Bolzle also created Next Here, a consulting firm helping cities prepare for the remote worker movement. “You take these incredible individuals from all over the country, with diverse backgrounds and put them together. Collaboration and innovation collisions are bound to happen. There have been companies and startups that have been born out of simply having these individuals in the same pond, simply interacting with each other.” Speaking of that pond - and being a big fish in a smaller one: “in Tulsa you can come in and immediately get connected and lend your skills to that initiative in a way that you potentially couldn’t in other [much larger] communities. That can be an extremely attractive draw for individuals.”

Bolzle came back to his hometown of Tulsa after living in high-cost San Francisco for a decade. The Roanoke Regional Partnership webinar was funded by a GO Virginia grant. Food for thought? Are we doing enough in this region to attract the remote worker who may enjoy the quality of life and less hectic pace here? No doubt other regions with similar amenities and attractive lifestyles are having the same types of conversations.

THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE

By Gene Marrano

Executive Summary:

Are we doing enough in this region to attract talented remote workers?