What Happened After Remote Workers Were Offered $10,000 to Move to Tulsa? (seattletimes.com)
- Reference: 0175390109
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/11/04/0451226/what-happened-after-remote-workers-were-offered-10000-to-move-to-tulsa
- Source link: https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/can-remote-workers-reverse-brain-drain/
[3]Alternate URL here .] But more importantly, now researchers are looking at the results:
> Their research, released this month, surveyed 1,248 people — including 411 who had participated in [4]Tulsa Remote and others who were accepted but didn't move or weren't accepted but had applied to the program — and found that remote workers who moved to Tulsa saved an average of $25,000 more on annual housing costs than the group that was chosen but didn't move... Nearly three-quarters of participants who have completed the program are still living in Tulsa. The program brings them together for farm-to-table dinners, movie nights and local celebrity lectures to help build community, given that none have offices to commute to.
The article says every year the remote workers contribute $14.9 million in state income taxes and $5.8 million in sales taxes (more than offsetting the $33 million spent over the last five years). And additional benefits could be even greater. "We know that for every dollar we've spent on the incentive, there's been about a $13 return on that investment to the city," the program's managing director [5]told Fortune — pointing out that the remote workers have an average salary of $100,000. (500 of the 3,300 even bought homes...)
The Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation — which provides the $10,000 awards — told the New York Times it will continue funding the program "so long as it demonstrates to be a community-enhancing opportunity." And with so much of the population now able to work remotely, the lead author on the latest study adds that "Every heartland mayor should pay attention to this..."
[1] https://it.slashdot.org/story/18/11/16/0035240/remote-workers-can-get-a-cushy-apartment-free-office-space-and-10k-if-they-move-to-tulsa
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/business/can-remote-workers-reverse-brain-drain.html
[3] https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/can-remote-workers-reverse-brain-drain/
[4] https://www.tulsaremote.com/
[5] https://fortune.com/2024/10/23/remote-workers-10000-dollar-incentives-tulsa-remote-brain-drain/
Who moved probably... (Score:2)
... depended on where they were living beforehand. Those who already lived in some nowheresville small town probably jumped at the chance, those who lived in NYC or some similar happening city (or outside the US though 10K wouldn't even cover moving costs) I would guess not so much. Unless they fancied a complete change of scene.
Re: (Score:2)
Why the presumption that people want to live in big "happening cities"?
Living somewhere like NYC is my image of hell. I hate even visiting big cities, let alone having to live there. [1]I'm not alone [gallup.com].
Even Reykjavík is annoyingly "big city" from my perspective.
[1] https://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/hr2v91yc4k6ppmyupblxla.png
Re: (Score:2)
I was assuming most of them were a younger demographic and so would be more attracted to big cities. But generally as we get older we prefer a quieter life.
Never been to iceland but Reykjavik would only qualify as a town in most places, never mind a city.
lol (Score:1)
They took $10k to move to Tulsa, while making $100k+ per year. Wow, that's a whole five weeks of salary at most... Where were they living before, and did they want to move already?
I mean, there's no problem with this but I don't think it'll scale: 1. This only works for cities (like Tulsa) that are big enough to host a commercial/industrial base but still small enough to feel "heartland"-ish. 2. You're only going to attract people who already want to move and once those low-hanging fruit are done with, you'
One big problem with this (Score:2)
They'd be living in Oklahoma.
Oh, yeay. (Score:3)
> The program brings them together for farm-to-table dinners, movie nights and local celebrity lectures to help build community, given that none have offices to commute to.
Do they have to attend?
E.g., the sort of person who's made the sacrifices in order to not have to show up in the officeplace will commonly be the same sort of person who isn't thrilled about forced socialization.
Re: (Score:2)
There's no mention on their pae of having to attend "movie nights". There's a 36-month membership in some Coworking space.
And there's a required New-member orientation.
All disbursements are delivered after approved members have (1) signed a qualifying lease or purchased a qualifying home, (2) completed their move to Tulsa, and (3) attended member orientation. You can read more about the fine print here.