Tech talent flow: Big moves to Austin
Social posts highlight a continued shift of tech jobs to Austin — citing expansions by Apple and Google and the draw of Texas’ no‑state‑income‑tax policies — which matters for sourcing and retention. That geographic pull changes hiring and compensation narratives in leadership meetings. (x.com)
CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent ranked Austin #5 in North America for 2024 after the metro’s tech talent workforce grew 29.1% between 2018 and 2023. (cbre.com) Apple’s Austin project includes a multi‑phase campus that already totals about 3 million square feet and the overall site could eventually house roughly 15,000 employees. (connectcre.com) Apple has filed additional building plans (AC07/AC09) and publicly reported incremental expansion spending—media coverage cites projects and recent phases priced in the hundreds of millions (e.g., a $240M phase reported by industry press). (therealdeal.com) Google confirmed it will occupy downtown Austin’s 35‑story “sail” tower (Block 185), a roughly 804,000‑square‑foot building it had a full‑building lease on that runs through 2038 and planned move‑in activity before the end of 2025. (therealdeal.com) Local reporting estimates Google has roughly 2,000 employees in the Austin area spread between Saltillo and other downtown properties ahead of the Block 185 move; Austin office demand has driven large corporate footprints across the downtown and Domain submarkets. (kxan.com) A concise three‑slide exec update to surface this market shift: Slide 1 “Market” with CBRE’s 29.1% tech workforce growth and Google’s 804,000‑sq‑ft lease; Slide 2 “Team” with headcount delta, recruiting velocity (benchmark time‑to‑fill ≈36 days per SHRM) and offer‑acceptance context (industry benchmarks near ~80% per Ashby); Slide 3 “Ask” with dollarized hires using SHRM’s average cost‑per‑hire ~$4,425 to quantify a compensation/relocation budget request. (cbre.com) Run leadership reviews quarterly that track (a) hiring velocity vs. SHRM’s ~36‑day time‑to‑fill benchmark, (b) voluntary turnover against Mercer’s ~13% U.S. benchmark, and (c) relocation/retention outcomes with concrete counts (Apple reporting internal relocation requirements in recent local coverage provides an example of relocation decisions driving separations). (aihr.com)
