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Today, Scoop, the company enabling employees to effortlessly plan great in-office days, officially launches the Flex Index and the accompanying inaugural Flex Report. The Flex Index finds that three Southern cities are listed among the top 10 most flexible metros: Austin, Texas, Charleston, S.C., and Durham, N.C.
While the West Coast has long been regarded as the place to be for tech with big players and startups setting up shop in a number of cities regarded as “tech hubs,” in more recent years that energy has expanded into key cities in the South. And as the tech industry fully commits to flexible work with 80 percent of companies identifying as Fully Flexible, it aligns that Austin, Charleston, and Durham are also cities where tech is a dominant industry.
“Work’s future and success depend largely on flexibility – the single most important ingredient in today’s workplace culture and tomorrow’s best teams,” said Rob Sadow, CEO and Co-Founder of Scoop. “Where work takes place impacts so much, including where people choose to live. If it’s easier for someone who works in tech to live in Charleston instead of San Francisco, we want them to be able to make that decision based on key data. The Flex Index aims to become the single source of truth for workplace models, policies, and patterns. As company approaches to flexibility evolve, insights from the Flex Index will be instrumental in informing where and how people choose to work.”
The Flex Index provides never-before-collected insights from over 4,000 companies and 25,000 office locations that collectively employ more than 100 million people. With insight into company-by-company trends across numerous axes — including location, size, industry, and more — employees, prospective hires, recruiters, researchers, and journalists will now — for the first time — be able to discover companies’ workplace flexibility policies in a single, comprehensive place.
Flex Index Key Findings by Region
- Oregon & Portland for the win: Oregon is the winner at 66 percent of companies offering full flexibility and Portland takes the top spot in flexibility (68 percent). At the same time, California saw two cities make the top ten: San Jose (58 percent) and San Francisco (57 percent).
- Some metros in the same state don’t see eye to eye: Some metros within the same state show up on both lists. Charleston, SC, and Durham, NC are two of the top 10 most flexible, while Greenville, SC, and Greensboro, NC are both on the least flexible list.
Top 10 Most Flexible Metros
- Portland, OR: 68 percent fully flexible
- Boulder, CO: 67 percent
- Austin, TX: 62 percent
- Seattle, WA: 60 percent
- Denver, CO: 59 percent
- San Jose, CA: 58 percent
- San Francisco, CA: 57 percent
- Charleston, SC: 56 percent
- Boston, MA: 54 percent
- Durham, NC: 53 percent
10 Least Flexible Metros
- Memphis, TN: 71 percent fully on site
- New Orleans, LA: 60 percent
- Riverside, CA: 58 percent
- San Antonio, TX: 56 percent
- Oklahoma City, OK: 54 percent
- Jacksonville, FL: 53 percent
- Greenville, SC: 53 percent
- Virginia Beach, VA: 52 percent
- Greensboro, NC: 52 percent
- Ogden, UT: 52 percent
“The shift to hybrid and remote work is part of a broader rethinking of the value of commercial office space by basing success on output instead of an in-office presence,” said Arpit Gupta, Associate Professor of Finance at the NYU Stern School of Business. “Having deep insight on trends based on accessible, reliable, and timely data will help us navigate the possible economic impact of sustained rising rates on real estate value.”
The dynamic database allows for updates and additions to existing company listings to reflect the rapid changes and particularities of how a company or office implements its policies. You can contribute to the breadth and quality of the Flex Index by adding your company information here.
The Flex Index collects firmographic and office requirements information on nearly 4,000 companies. These companies collectively have more than 25,000 office locations and employ more than 100 million people.
Company office requirements are generated through a combination of online survey and manual entry of publicly available information. All surveys must be submitted by an employee of the company with an accompanying work email address to verify their employment. All surveys contributing to this Flex Report were conducted between October 2022 and January 2023. Once a company is incorporated into the Flex Index, company representatives are contacted to inform them of their inclusion. Companies can add or update their information on the Flex Index at any time.
Company office requirements reflect the most common office requirements for corporate employees. Companies can add detail to their company page to reflect job functions, roles, or geographies where there are different office requirements from the corporate policy. This includes opportunities for fully remote work, roles that are required to be fully on-site, or other hybrid work arrangements.
Our partner People Data Labs provides the data on top employment locations for each company on the Flex Index. This data is used to inform state and metro flexibility analysis.
About Scoop
Scoop is the fastest way to plan your next great office day. With Scoop, employees get more out of going in, with easily scheduled in-office days and invites. For HR and workplace leaders, Scoop provides insights on work location trends, office usage, and additional workplace solutions to get the most out of hybrid work. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Scoop is a privately-held company with the backing of prominent investors including Haystack Ventures, Audacious Ventures, G2 Venture Partners, Activate Capital, BNP Paribas, and select angel investors.
