Boston Employers Working Group

Boston was already one of the world’s leading centers for innovation, healthcare, higher education, and entrepreneurship. Yet despite its global reputation, the region faced a measurable talent retention challenge. In 2023, leading employers met with Mayor Michelle Wu to explore how Greater Boston could better attract and retain the next generation of talent. That conversation evolved into the Boston Employers Working Group—an employer-led initiative to promote the “new Boston.”

Boston’s challenge was not a lack of opportunity. It was a perception gap. While nearly nine in ten young residents reported being satisfied with life in Greater Boston, one in four still planned to leave, largely because of concerns about the cost of living. Employers competed for talent without a shared narrative that reflected the region’s strengths or gave prospective employees a compelling reason to stay.

We created a shared employer brand for an entire region. Rather than asking each organization to recruit independently, we developed a unified brand platform, messaging system, and communications toolkit that participating employers could adopt and tailor to their own audiences. The result—You Can’t Beat Boston—gave employers, recruiters, civic leaders, and community partners a common language for communicating the city’s opportunity, character, and enduring competitive advantages.