Summary
Further, a leading administrator of health savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement accounts (HRA), and flexible spending accounts (FSA) expanded to Orlando with its new Service Center. Further considered a number of locations in its search, eventually narrowing its selection down to Las Vegas and Orlando. The company expects to create 100 new jobs in the region by 2022.
Company Need
Headquartered in Minnesota, Further has been helping people manage their money, health and life since its founding in 1991. The company offers a suite of products related to health care spending and saving for both employers and individuals.
In 2019, Chief Operating Officer Chris Kent identified a need for an additional office space for its growing employee count. The company was looking for a location with high-quality talent pool, a different time zone that Minnesota and a location that was far enough away from its headquarters to prevent weather related disruption.
Solution
While Vegas and Orlando both checked the box for better weather and a different time zone than the company’s headquarters, Orlando scored higher in Further’s assessment of the talent pool and available real estate options.
Further evaluated eight office locations in the region and found five that could be a good fit for the company. The building manager gave the company a majority of the build out of the office space pro bono for moving into the space, and the company was able to lease and build out the new space within four months of its decision to occupy the building.
Results
Further’s new office was completed in December 2019 and the company has hired 35 new employees in Orlando to date. During the hiring process, the Orlando new hires scored very high in the company’s internal talent assessment metrics, confirming the high-level of talent available in the local market.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is onboarding its new hires virtually. The company continues to steadily train new positions for the facility; however, the virtual onboarding and training has extended its original timeline projection of new employee additions.
Further plans to add a number of new roles in the Orlando office over the next two years including enrollment, contribution management, quality and claims personnel, to offer career advancement opportunities for employees. So far, the company has been able to make its new hires easily, drawing from Orlando’s sizeable customer service-oriented and bilingual workforce, as well as successfully relocate three previous employees from its headquarters location.
Partnerships and Collaboration
Further worked with consulting firm Cushman and Wakefield to assess its real estate options, and the Orlando Economic Partnership provided Cushman and Wakefield with city comparisons for cost of doing business and in-depth talent data on the Orlando workforce in the process in order to help Further make its location decision.
We were able to find the right space in record time, and we’ve been able to find really good talent quickly. The large amount of higher education graduates in the Orlando area from universities like the University of Central Florida and Valencia College is a huge asset for finding talent.
Chris Kent, Chief Operating Officer of Further
