MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Politics of Place and What It Means for Talent Strategy

The influence of politics on where workers want to live now has key implications for a company’s talent strategy. A survey of 500 U.S. real estate agents shows 32% of agents had at least one client who relocated in 2023 due to political fit. My research examining the personal stories of 1,300 U.S. individuals who moved gives context to how local politics can drive workers to relocate — whether it’s people saying they are “tired of a whacky left-wing agenda,” prefer “to live in a more liberal, fact-based environment” or simply want to escape “incompetent” political leadership. The looming presidential election and state-level focus on social policy will intensify this inclination.

Workers are now more apt to prioritize geographic identity in general. Research points to the less stable nature of contemporary work as a reason that greater weight has shifted to our nonwork identities. Further, as pandemic-induced isolation and distributed work made geographic place less vital to our jobs, place started to become more vital to who we are.

About the Author

Kimberly Merriman is a professor of management at the Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

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