The Headquarters Effect

There’s No Place Like Home

At WEX, we love all the places we call home, from Fargo, Nashville and South Portland to Melbourne, Singapore, London and beyond. And we’re always gratified to hear that our presence makes a difference not just to our employees, but also to the greater community. Case in point – a recent article in the Portland Press Herald shows the positive impact corporate headquarters have on the local community and the entire state.

To begin with, hosting the headquarters of companies like WEX is good for Maine’s reputation according to Charles Lawton, a consulting economist who wrote the article. He notes that our recent announcement of reaching the $1 billion in annual sales got him thinking about what more concrete benefits might accrue to the local community and the state at large by hosting successful corporate headquarters.

The Headquarters Effect

The baseline benefit starts with the increase in jobs and taxes that comes with a large company, not to mention the economic boost provided to a multitude of other local businesses that support a corporate headquarters. Being an economist, Lawton was quick to go to the numbers to see what they might reveal. He found that annual wages, job growth, and salary growth did appear to be favorably influenced in communities that hosted large company headquarters.

According to Lawton, the jobs found at company headquarters tend to focus on such high-growth, high-pay areas as management, strategic planning, human resources, R&D, and more. With this in mind, he also notes that headquarters like WEX  “…represent a source of additional job growth for Maine, and, most importantly, the sort of job growth that requires high skill and commands high wages.”

We couldn’t agree more. In fact, WEX CEO Melissa Smith expects we’ll add more than 100 people to our Maine workforce this year, with many of those positions in technology, finance, operations, and sales. “We’re pleased to call South Portland home to our headquarters and especially glad that our presence makes a positive difference with great jobs and a boost to the local and state economies,” adds Smith.