One of the great questions that is being discussed in our city is, “How do we attract great businesses to Federal Way?”

This seems like a difficult problem, but I thought I would go to the source and ask. In a quest for answers and ideas, I spoke with the CEO of the company I work for, Michael Brown, to ask what it would take for him to move his business to Federal Way. Brown is a partner and CEO of Affirma Consulting, a software consulting business employing approximately 75-100 high tech workers in Bellevue.

Right off the bat, he said that moving the headquarters to Federal Way is out of the question. The talent that he has recruited and developed is one of his most valuable assets and he could not risk the attrition that would result if he moved the headquarters far enough where it would disrupt the commuting expectations to work. Furthermore, the headquarters would need to stay close to the customer base, which is primarily on the Eastside and Seattle.

However, he would consider a satellite office.

“The biggest cost to my business by far is labor, which runs about 50 percent of revenue,” Brown said. “Health insurance and office space are two additional major expenses. This is why Affirma is growing its employee base in the India office. For the productivity of the employees, labor and office space costs are significantly less. Health insurance is provided by the government.

“It’s a good value for the business and the employees there are very happy with the deal offered to them by the company. It’s been a win-win. With that said, offshoring to India does have its challenges from time-zone issues to culture issues. A satellite office in Federal Way would not have those challenges, and there may be some opportunities for lower labor and space costs. That would make a meaningful contribution to the business and it would definitely be something we’d want to look at.”

I asked specifically, how much of a savings would you need to consider this seriously? He answered that there would be an upfront investment of building out the infrastructure as well as ongoing overhead for managing a satellite office. If he could see at least 20 percent total reduction in ongoing expenses, he would seriously consider the proposition.

Office space: Average quoted rates for commercial class A office space in Federal Way is $31.27 versus $37.65 in Bellevue.

With vacancy rates for commercial class A office space in Federal Way at 31.5 percent versus 7.5 percent in Bellevue, there are obviously opportunities for deep discounts to be had in Federal Way in addition to the lower quoted rates.

Labor costs: According to the “Some Assembly Required (proposed draft)” document released by Federal Way’s Economic Development office, 87 percent of residents commute outside of the city to work. For technology workers who are primarily working in the Eastside and Seattle, they are typically commuting one-and-a-half to two hours per day from Federal Way.

Cost of living is significantly less in Federal Way than Seattle or the Eastside. Some of those commuters would gladly trade some compensation to save almost 25 percent of their working hours in commute reduction (10 commute hours per 40 work hours). They would be closer to their home and families and would be able to attend school functions and sporting events.

Other cost savings: Additionally, there are no business and occupation taxes or employee head tax in Federal Way.

I asked the CEO, “So, what’s preventing you from investigating this now? Are there any barriers that are keeping you from considering this satellite office?”

Brown answered, “My biggest concern is the lease commitment I would have to make to figure out if there is an adequate talent pool in the city for my business. I don’t want to be locked in a three-to-five-year lease in Federal Way, then find out that I can’t hire quality employees to do the work required in our business. Also, the cost savings are theoretical. I’d treat this as a trial to see if these expense reductions materialize. If they do, then we’ll expand and stay for the long-term. But, if they don’t, I can’t have a long-term lease hanging over our business for a failed experiment.”

I asked if he would be willing to make a one year lease commitment for an office space for 10 people.

“That would be interesting to me,” he said.

Riffing with the conversation, I asked, “What if the city had a pilot program where they took the long-term three to five year lease, then subleased a one year commitment to you. Would you take that?”

“The city should definitely give me a call,” Brown said. “There are a lot of factors when we are planning for our growth, but I’d definitely be interested in discussing the proposal.”

Don Hyun is a longtime resident of Federal Way. If you have thoughts on how Federal Way can recruit your business, contact him at donhyun@hotmail.com Join the LinkedIn group of technology workers in Federal Way to show employers that there is a great pool of tech talent in the area at www.linkedin.com/groups/Federal-Way-Technology-Workers-Association-8288052/about