When people talk about “talent attraction”, the conversation often starts with salaries, job titles, and shiny office perks. Those things matter, but they rarely decide whether someone stays. Over time, the deciding factor is simpler and harder to control: quality of life.
Quality of life is not one big lever. It is the accumulation of daily experiences that either reduce friction or add it. Commutes that feel manageable. Neighbourhoods that feel safe and pleasant. Work that fits around life, not the other way around. Opportunities to learn, progress, and connect. The ease of getting a GP appointment. The ability to meet friends after work without a long trek. Small things, repeated often, become a city’s reputation in the minds of workers and their families.
It is tempting to assume that these are purely “government problems” and therefore outside the reach of employers. In reality, businesses have more influence than they think. Employers shape commuting patterns, demand for local services, the use of urban space, and even the day-to-day culture of a city centre. They can also work collaboratively with local partners to improve the experience for employees, without straying into politics or controversy.
This matters because the competition for skills is increasingly place-based. Many roles can now be performed from multiple locations. The question talented people ask is not only “Is this a good job?” but also “Is this a good life?” The employers that understand that shift tend to perform better on retention, engagement, and employer brand, even when they cannot outbid competitors on salary alone.
Quality of life is a system, not a perk
Quality of life is often described through big themes like housing, transport, and amenities. For a worker, it shows up as a system of time, energy, and stress. A city becomes attractive when it gives people back time and reduces uncertainty. A city becomes exhausting when routine tasks require constant planning and compromise.
Employers influence this system in direct and indirect ways. Directly, through the choices they make about where and how work happens. Indirectly, through the purchasing power, footfall, and activity they bring to particular areas. The aim is not to “solve” a city. The aim is to reduce friction for employees in ways that are practical, measurable, and aligned with business goals.
Start with the lived experience of your employees
Before making changes, it helps to understand what “quality of life” actually means to your workforce. It will vary by life stage and role type. Parents may prioritise childcare reliability and school runs. Early-career hires may care about social life, public transport, and access to learning. Mid-career specialists may care about flexible schedules, quiet work environments, and predictable commuting.
The simplest approach is to build an employee experience map. Think of it as a journey from home to work and back again, including the moments that add stress. Identify where the company can remove friction. Some improvements are low cost and high impact, like better scheduling practices or a clearer hybrid working policy. Others require investment, like improved office amenities or commuter support. The point is to choose interventions that are grounded in reality rather than assumptions.
Commuting is a talent strategy
Commuting is one of the most consistent drivers of job satisfaction. It affects sleep, exercise, family time, and the willingness to accept additional responsibilities. Even when people enjoy their work, an unpredictable commute can be the thing that pushes them to look elsewhere.
Businesses can influence commuting in several ways:
- Flexibility with purpose – Hybrid work can reduce peak-hour strain and give employees more control over their day. The key is clarity. Ambiguity creates anxiety and unnecessary travel.
- Staggered start times – Not every role can be fully flexible, but many can adopt start-time bands that help people avoid peak congestion.
- Active travel support – Secure bike parking, showers, lockers, and small incentives can meaningfully shift travel behaviour.
- Public transport-friendly planning – When meetings and in-office days are coordinated thoughtfully, employees can plan travel more efficiently.
These actions do not require a city-wide policy shift. They are operational choices that can reduce friction for employees, while also improving punctuality and reducing burnout.
Workplace design influences city life
Employers influence how urban areas feel because offices shape patterns of footfall. Where people work affects which cafés survive, which streets feel lively, and which areas become “dead zones” after certain hours. The pandemic taught cities a hard lesson: a city centre that depends on one kind of daily commuter can be fragile.
Businesses can help make cities more attractive by supporting a more balanced rhythm of activity. That might mean encouraging teams to use local venues for informal meetings, partnering with nearby gyms and cultural venues for employee programmes, or supporting community initiatives that make neighbourhoods more pleasant places to spend time. The goal is not to sponsor everything, but to recognise that a vibrant local ecosystem is part of the employee value proposition.
Learning and progression are “quality of life” in disguise
People often leave jobs because they feel stuck. A city becomes attractive when it offers visible pathways to learn and progress, not just within one company but across an ecosystem of employers, training providers, and professional networks.
Businesses can influence this directly by investing in:
- Structured development – Clear role expectations, mentoring, and practical learning opportunities improve retention and build loyalty.
- Time for learning – Making learning part of working time signals that development is valued.
- Cross-company networks – Supporting industry groups and professional communities helps employees build connections that strengthen a city’s talent ecosystem.
These actions improve employee outcomes and reduce hiring pressure. They also contribute to a city’s reputation as a place where careers can grow.
Wellbeing is shaped by culture and cadence
Wellbeing programmes fail when they try to compensate for an unhealthy work culture. Quality of life improves when the working day is predictable and humane. That means fewer unnecessary late meetings, fewer urgent demands that could have been planned, and fewer “always on” expectations.
Businesses can influence this more than any external factor. Simple behaviours add up: setting boundaries on response times, encouraging realistic planning, and training managers to spot workload issues early. A culture that respects time is a competitive advantage in talent markets, especially when people compare multiple offers that look similar on paper.
Safety and belonging matter more than amenities
People choose cities where they feel safe and where they can belong. For employers, that translates into workplace practices and social norms. Belonging is shaped by inclusive management, fair progression, and a culture where people can contribute without having to conform to a single mould.
Businesses can also influence belonging beyond their walls by supporting community initiatives, offering volunteering time, and partnering with organisations that help newcomers integrate. For international hires, the “soft landing” experience matters. Help with relocation, practical guidance on local services, and buddy programmes can make the difference between someone staying long term or leaving after a short period.
Use data to stay grounded, then act pragmatically
It helps to anchor discussions in evidence rather than vibes. In research focused on Dublin’s future as a place to live and work, respondents rated the city 66 out of 100 as a city to live in. That kind of signal is useful not because it tells you exactly what to fix, but because it reminds leaders that “livability” is measurable in perception and experience. Perception, in turn, affects recruitment outcomes.
The practical next step is to translate “quality of life” into specific initiatives that your organisation can influence. The best initiatives tend to be:
- Employee-led – designed around real pain points, not assumptions.
- Operational – embedded in working practices, not added as optional extras.
- Collaborative – involving local partners where it improves outcomes.
- Measurable – tracked through retention, engagement, and recruitment metrics.
Examples of business-led moves that improve city attractiveness
Not every organisation can do everything, but most can take meaningful steps without large budgets or big public campaigns.
- Make flexibility consistent – Reduce uncertainty by clarifying how hybrid work operates, how teams coordinate, and how performance is assessed.
- Improve commuting support – Provide practical facilities for cyclists, support public transport planning, and avoid meeting schedules that force peak-hour travel.
- Invest in manager capability – Train managers to lead distributed teams well, plan workloads, and support wellbeing through better cadence and communication.
- Create stronger learning pathways – Offer clear progression, mentoring, and learning time so people feel their career is moving.
- Build community connection – Support volunteering, local partnerships, and integration for new hires so people form roots.
These actions will not solve every quality of life issue in a city, but they can meaningfully improve the experience of your workforce. That improvement shows up in reduced turnover, stronger employee advocacy, and a more resilient employer brand.
Attractiveness is a shared outcome
Cities win talent when multiple parts of the ecosystem pull in the same direction. Employers are a key part of that ecosystem because they influence daily life through work design, expectations, and investment choices. The strongest organisations treat city attractiveness as part of their talent strategy. They ask, “What friction are our people experiencing, and what can we change?” Then they make pragmatic improvements that accumulate into real difference.
Over time, those differences compound. Employees talk. Candidates compare experiences. Managers recruit more easily. Teams collaborate better. A city becomes attractive not only because it has famous landmarks or new developments, but because everyday life feels workable. Businesses can help create that feeling, and in doing so, they can strengthen their own ability to attract and keep the people they need.
