Yelp data shows the great reshuffle drove
significant population migration from states in the West and
Northeast to the South and Midwest – resulting in high levels of
new business growth in those areas
The trend of individuals relocating away from
traditional business hubs is also reflected internally at Yelp,
with fewer employees residing in former office locations like San
Francisco and New York in 2022 than in 2019
Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP), the company that connects people with
great local businesses, today released its first Remote Work
Report, revealing how the shift away from office-centric locations
transformed local economies, as well as Yelp’s own workforce since
the onset of the pandemic. Yelp analyzed three years of user data
(2019-2022) to understand how the share of search locations changed
on its platform, evaluating shifts in populations across the U.S.
based on where user searches were concentrated, as well as how
local business growth was impacted in relation to these shifts. The
company also reviewed three years of Yelp employee data to identify
how the company's own remote work shift led to a more distributed
workforce, which mirrored a similar migration away from
office-centric locations, as well as employee sentiments around
remote work.
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Yelp data shows significant population
migration from states in the West and Northeast to states in the
South and Midwest (Graphic: Business Wire)
Yelp data found that about 25% of U.S. states, including
Washington, D.C., experienced a decrease in their share of search
locations, most notably Washington, D.C. (down 26%), New York (down
12%) and California (down 12%). Approximately 30% of U.S. cities*
experienced a decrease in the share of searches compared to 2019,
with several of them concentrated in large coastal cities and
traditional business hubs, such as Brooklyn, NY (down 48%); San
Francisco, CA (down 25%) and Beverly Hills, CA (down 24%).
Meanwhile, Yelp data indicates that states like South Dakota,
North Dakota and Mississippi are seeing some of the highest
increases in their share of search locations. These Midwestern and
Southern states are showing a higher average increase in new
business openings across nearly all categories – demonstrating the
positive economic impact and opportunity remote work has had on
local businesses across large swaths of the U.S.
As Yelp fully embraced remote work, its employees have also
taken the opportunity to move across the country. From 2019 to
2022, Yelp saw the share of employees living near office locations
decrease, including San Francisco (down 70%); New York (down 67%);
Washington, D.C. (down 67%); Chicago (down 67%) and Phoenix (down
33%). During this same time period, Yelp saw a 300% increase in the
share of employees residing in Florida and Texas. Employee data
also found that individuals feel positively about remote work, with
87% of employees feeling favorably about working remotely.
“Our decision to fully embrace remote work at Yelp was informed
by employee feedback, which showed that employees have better
work-life fit and are highly productive when they have flexibility
in how they work – with 93% of employees and their managers
reporting they can meet their goals remotely,” said Yelp chief
people officer Carmen Whitney Orr. “We’ve seen our employees, as
well as communities across the U.S., benefit immensely from remote
work and we’re committed to continuing to listen to our employees
and lead with empathy as we build out the future of remote work at
Yelp.”
States Where People are Relocating Saw Higher Average
Business Growth – Driven by Home and Local Services
New home and local services businesses have shown to be the
backbone of local economies as new business openings surpass
pre-pandemic levels, with notable average increases in states with
an increase in share of searches (up 57% and 47%, respectively), as
well as states with a decrease in share of searches (up 31% and
19%). Meanwhile, shopping, bars and nightlife, active life and
restaurant businesses have not yet fully bounced back to
pre-pandemic levels, with each seeing a decrease in new business
openings in both states that saw an increase and decrease in share
of searches.
Yelp Sees Larger Applicant Pool and Employee Satisfaction in
Remote Work Environment
In 2022, U.S.-based Yelp employees lived in 1,304 unique cities
– a 50% increase from 2019 (871 unique cities). Additionally,
compared to 2019, Yelp found an overall increase in the average
number of applicants per job posting in 2022, most notably in roles
across general and administrative (up 200%) and sales (up 25%).
Yelp also saw a shortened hiring process for these respective
roles, with the average time to hire reduced by six days in 2022 –
a 23% decrease since 2019.
A 2022 survey of Yelp employees found that 85% of employees feel
connected to their teams and informed while working in a
distributed environment. Additionally, a survey of Yelp’s employees
in February 2022 found that 86% of respondents preferred to work
remotely most or all of the time.
Consumers Picked Up New Hobbies Amid Remote Work
Shift
Many people have found remote work has improved overall quality
of life with the ability to spend time on new hobbies, or with
family and friends. As remote workers gain back the time they would
have otherwise spent commuting to the office, Yelp user data shows
consumer interest in a wide range of hobbies – from active sports
to arts and leisure activities – has increased in 2022 when
compared to both 2019 and 2021. Popular hobbies that saw an
increase in consumer interest in 2022 include pickleball (up 275%
compared to 2019), axe throwing (up 68% compared to 2019) and
zorbing (up 48% compared to 2019).
Read the full Remote Work Report, as well as previous Economic
reports, at yelpeconomicaverage.com. Assets and images from the
report can be found here. For more information and Yelp’s latest
company metrics, visit:
https://www.yelp-press.com/company/fast-facts/default.aspx.
Methodology
Share of Search Locations
This metric analyzes how the distribution of U.S. search
locations (where searches happened) shifted in 2022 compared to
2019 (pre-pandemic). For each location, the count of unique devices
used to do searches on Yelp at that location is normalized by the
total number of devices across all locations. Yelp then calculated
the percentage change in the share of search locations in 2022
compared to the share of search locations in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
Yelp made an assumption that the level of tourism remains the same
across locations.
*U.S. cities: Yelp analyzed New York City by borough to gain a
more granular understanding of how people were relocating within
the larger city.
Business openings
Business openings refer to new business pages on Yelp in a given
timeframe. The business pages are added by either business
representatives or Yelp users. Yelp calculated the percentage
change in the count of new businesses listed on Yelp, comparing
2022 to 2019, for the same geographic locations, openings are
adjusted year-over-year, meaning openings are measured relative to
the same time period in the previous period for the same business
categories and geographic locations. This adjustment aims to
account for seasonality.
Consumer Interest
Yelp measures consumer interest of a category by aggregating the
count of select actions that users take to connect with businesses
on Yelp, such as viewing business pages, sharing photos or posting
reviews. To observe the shift of user attention, which is likely to
correlate with their expenditure, the consumer interest of a
category is normalized by the total consumer actions on Yelp. By
comparing a category’s period-over-period change in the share of
consumer interest across categories, we draw inferences about the
change in demand for different industries.
Yelp Employee Data
We analyzed various employee and candidate data from Jan. 1,
2019 through Dec. 31, 2022 to provide a high level overview of
Yelp’s workforce distribution, engagement and sentiment in a remote
environment. All global employees were included in the data sets,
but contractors were not considered.
Recruiting Data
For much of the recruiting/candidate data, 2020 was excluded due
to the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on hiring. Time to
hire is defined as the time between when a candidate submits an
application and when they accept an offer.
Employee Sentiment Data
Several global Yelp employee experience surveys were also
analyzed to provide employee and candidate sentiment data. This
includes the company’s 2022 Distributed Work Survey, July 2022
Programs and Benefits Survey, and First 30 Days at Yelp survey.
This data is also referred to as “employee listening data”
throughout the report.
About Yelp Inc.
Yelp Inc. (www.yelp.com) is a community-driven platform that
connects people with great local businesses. Millions of people
rely on Yelp for useful and trusted local business information,
reviews and photos to help inform their spending decisions. As a
one-stop local platform, Yelp helps consumers easily discover,
connect and transact with businesses across a broad range of
categories by making it easy to request a quote for a service, book
a table at a restaurant, and more. Yelp was founded in San
Francisco in 2004.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230221005137/en/
Press Contact: Julianne Rowe press@yelp.com
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