How important is work location to you?

motorguy

I'm an IT Contractor so the actual "location" of the office doesnt really come in to it for me. I've worked in the middle of big industrial estates, large towns and now currently right in Manchester City Centre.

I love the location of this one, but it wouldnt be in my top 5 reasons for accepting a contract.

If i was looking permanent work, the running order would probably be (and assuming the salary with in the right ballpark) - how interesting i found the job role, commute, benefits package, flexible working and pension.

esuhl

I had a job in an office on an industrial estate, and it was depressingly soulless during my lunch hour. There were no food available on-site, so the only options were to bring a sandwich and sit at your desk listening to everyone on the phones, or to walk 20 minutes each way to a huge out-of-town Tesco.


I later got a job near a town centre, and it was so nice to be able to get out of the office and people watch, and to have a huge number of different food options, and be able to do a bit of shopping.


I'd consider it when looking for a job, but commute time would be more important.

Deep_In_Debt

Location not so important to me but commuting time is.



My commute to work is 15 - 20 mins by car. Smallish town but pub opposite, convenience store 5 mins walk and 2 sandwich shops/cafes close by, town centre 15 mins walk, station 2 mins walk but lovely parks and green space close so lovely to have a walk in the park and then find somewhere in the park to sit to eat my lunch. Lovely in this weather.

Barny1979

Previous job I was on a small business park, with a 20 minute round trip to an overpriced Co-Op, moved to a job with more opportunities, but a greater commute at the time, 10-15 mins, to 30-40 mins, but also town centre based, so a nice location to walk around at lunch and get fresh air, compared to sat at my desk at the business park. It wasn't a clincher, the money, progression and getting away from the job were key, but loction in a town centre was a bonus.

mariposa687

Location is really important to me. I once worked somewhere where the only choices for lunch were the local sandwich shop less than a minute away or, the supermarket which was a good 15 minute walk away. Then when I ate my lunch it was in the office I worked in alone as there was no communal area to eat. It felt like I couldn't have a proper lunch break. It also didn't help that I had a mobile and was expected to answer it at any time of the day.

ceh209

I was previously in a city centre and now I'm in an industrial estate with food places 5-10 mins drive away, no walking to anywhere useful and definitely no pubs. But for me the change in job role, hours I work and lack of traffic on the commute FAR outweigh being able to go to the pub after work or choose between 5 different sandwich shops at lunchtime.

System

I'm also a contractor so don't really care as I'm gone in 6-12 months but I do get what you mean.

I used to work in London (Holborn Circus) and loved it. Unfortunately commute was too long as I moved to South Bucks. Since then it's been quite depressing. I worked in West Drayton which was horrible for lunch breaks, Bracknell which had a town centre where I could at least have some choice and Reading which was much nicer.

If I went back to permanent I don't think I could justify turning down a job for location but I would certainly be happier if it was somewhere nice.

[Deleted User]

This for me is age based.


20 years ago I was working at The Angel in a full on career and loved all the bars / restaurants and was only prepared to live within 10 mins of a tube station.


Now fast forward to now and I have a laid back job which I took because its 5 mins from home and I can go back and check my ponies / dogs etc. There are no shops on the street here but for now that is a small sacrifice. 20 yrs ago I wouldn't have worked here but now its perfect.

NBLondon

Interesting...

I have worked in:

* An out of town manufacturing site which had it's own canteen - 10 minute drive to anything else.
* An industrial estate where the arrival of the sandwich van was the highlight of the day and the only alternative was a 15 minute walk to a shabby sandwich shop or McDonalds
* University campuses with local shops 5 minutes walk away.
* Central London (currently)

On the whole - the campuses were the best of both worlds options and Greenwich was the best of those for getting down to the river with a sandwich.

Central London does have the advantage of choices - plus cashpoints, shopping in break or on way home but the disadvantage of crowds. It's surprisingly easy to find a spot away from the office - tiny squares and parks, Regent's Canal and I've always been bemused by the number of people who only know how to get from Tube station to office to nearest sandwich shop and have never discovered what else might be one street away.

Zone 2 or 3 would depend on the actual locality and where it is in relation to home. It's a lot easier to get into the centre than it is around... my commute from Zone 3 to Zone 1 is easier than my wife's from Zone 3 to another bit of Zone 3.

ReadingTim

Massively - while I've fallen out of the habit of going for a walk every lunchtime, it's handy to know that if I do have to leave the office to do something like go to the bank, buy a card/present etc, I can do so easily and quickly and without having to get in a car. Locations in the middle of nowhere are bad for that, not to mention Friday nights in the pub aren't too much fun when everyone's driving. For those reasons, I prefer working in London (City, West End) rather than other places within the Thames Valley where I've worked.

One other thing I've found with non-London locations: because maybe there are proportionally fewer jobs around, I've found more people who work there because it's closer to home or fits in with their other lives. As a result, people tend to stay longer, and there's less of a sense of dynamism and change within the company - things are done in a certain way 'because that's the way we've always done it', and an organisational resistance to change is a bit of a deal breaker for me.