Well this is a new one…
Companies in Nevada, including Tesla, are using the presence of wild mustangs near a developing office park to attract workers.
Company CEO Musk has used the wild horses as a selling point to lure workers. “Come work at the biggest & most advanced factory on Earth! Located by a river near the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains with wild horses roaming free,” wrote on Twitter, according to this report in the New York Times.
This may be an extreme example, but using nature in this way could become more common for employees looking to attract a talented and modern workforce.
“For employers, the newest amenities to wow workers are ideological, with environmental commitments topping the list, said Jason H. Somers, the president of Crest Real Estate, a Southern California real estate consultancy,” the article said. “Health and wellness have become the ultimate luxury,” he said, including access to nature. “Adding value to an employee’s well-being has a significant impact in a compensation package.”
Cheap land, space and transportation corridors were draws (to the region) for Amazon, Walmart and PetSmart, which turned the vacant land into a fulfillment hub. Tesla used a $1.3 billion state tax break to build its $5 billion factory, tapping into a local work force still reeling from the Great Recession and ushering in a wave of Silicon Valley heavies. Switch, a technology infrastructure company, set up three data centers, then Google gobbled up 1,200 acres. Blockchains bought 67,000 acres for $170 million in 2018, becoming the park’s biggest tenant.
But boasts like this are not without challenges. The article points out that increasing development could eventually impinge on the horses’ territory.