This company asked most corporate employees to relocate to Chicago. The majority declined

In January, Fortune Brands Innovations, whose portfolio includes home and security brands such as Moen and Master Lock, announced it was consolidating its regional U.S. offices into one state-of-the-art campus in Deerfield, Illinois. As part of that effort, they are requiring the majority of corporate employees to move to the Chicago suburb.

When asked to relocate, most of these employees declined—but the company said it expected that, and in a conversation about the transition, CEO Nicholas Fink framed the changes ahead as a positive for the company. He added that while many opted out of relocation, the company still exceeded industry benchmarks for the number of people who said “yes” to the move.

“To be candid, it’s a big change for a lot of people,” says Fink, who declined to share more specific figures. “There are people who are committed to their communities and their families and aren’t interested in a move. . . . And then there are people who are very excited to be a part of this.”

The company asked employees from eight sites across the U.S., as well as some remote employees, to relocate. It will eventually ask employees from a ninth site to relocate as well. The company’s manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and international sites, as well as its digital-focused San Francisco office, will remain open. 

Among the Fortune Brands sites that will be closing are Master Lock’s headquarters in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Moen’s headquarters in North Olmsted, Ohio, and Therma-Tru Corp’s headquarters in Maumee, Ohio. 

The larger return-to-office push

Fortune Brands isn’t alone in its desire to bring employees together after a pandemic that isolated many and led to the remote-work boom, which some employers are now rolling back via return-to-office mandates. 

In April, CNBC reported that Google had asked remote employees to begin reporting to a Google office three days per week in order to keep their jobs amid cost cuts. Amazon has also asked some corporate employees to relocate amid its full time return-to-office push, prompting a number of workers to resign.

While RTO mandates aren’t unusual, what’s less common is requiring a full relocation to a central headquarters. Last year, in a somewhat similar move, Walmart required employees to relocate to its Arkansas headquarters or another main hub, prompting some executives to resign, according to Quartz.

Organizing a mass relocation

Employees who were asked to relocate were offered an expenses-paid visit to Deerfield, relocation assistance, and, in most cases, an increase in base pay to account for higher cost of living in the Chicago area. Employees who opted out of relocating are receiving severance packages and at least a 90-day notice of their last day of work, the company said. The moves will happen in phases, beginning at the end of this summer.  

By the end of 2027, Fortune Brands says it will have room for over 1,000 employees at its new headquarters. That includes relocated employees as well as new employees the company is currently in the process of hiring. The move will create about 400 new jobs for professionals in the Chicago area, an exciting prospect for Fink. 

“We’re seeing a level of talent applying very proactively to join our company that we really hadn’t seen when we were dispersed,” he says. “There are some jobs that have had 1,400 applicants.” 

Fink adds that he wants to be “crystal clear” about how much the company values its current talent, though he feels new hires will help give the company “a technological edge.” In a press release about the new headquarters, the company also announced “simplified” leadership changes that involve eliminating the role of group president.   

Creating a central headquarters

The location in Deerfield, about 30 miles north of Chicago, was selected based on the potential talent pool in the area as well as tax credits given by the state of Illinois, the company says. The new campus, formerly home to a pharmaceutical company, occupies two buildings connected by walkways, and boasts an on-site gym, daycare center, cafeteria, coffee bar, and recreational activities including golf simulators and a bowling alley. 

With the move, Fink says he hopes employees who were previously scattered across the country—and across the company’s various brands—will be able to connect more easily and quickly. In fact, he’s already seen it happen in the temporary space the company is currently occupying.  

“I’m having members of my team walk into my office and say, ‘I just bumped into so-and-so,’ or, ‘I just ran into someone’s office and we made a decision in five minutes,’” Fink says. “That might previously have been: Schedule a meeting, someone prepares a deck, someone presents the deck, then you have a conversation about it, and maybe you make a decision or maybe you don’t, then you get off the Zoom . . .” 

Fink believes the streamlined communication will allow for higher productivity and greater innovation, which will “drive products and services.” The company reported mixed financial results in a first-quarter earnings call earlier this month. Sales fell 7% year-over-year, with the company attributing the drop in part to softer consumer demand. However, earnings per share met analyst expectations. In response to the earnings release, the company’s stock price dropped 2.78%, closing at $54.31.   

While Fink believes strongly in the importance of having employees in “one headquarters,” he says there are no plans to change his company’s current hybrid-work policy, which requires three days a week in-office.

“That’s created a lot of value for people,” he says. “But there’s also value in being together, so we’re trying to find the perfect balance. Some of the people who aren’t making the move for us have found other jobs where they can work remotely. I would think that, over time, that will lead to underperformance relative to the people who are getting together and making decisions much faster. It’s a hypothesis, but one we’re eager to prove out.”