The Blue Lagoon has purchased a 24 apartment building in the town of Grindavík to secure housing for its staff. The construction of the apartment building is still in its early stage, with work on its foundation planned to begin later this spring. the apartments in the building will be 70-90 sq m (750-970 sq ft).
The Blue Lagoon is not the first major employer to respond to high rents and a growing housing shortage by offering its employees company owned housing. The other major impetus is the increasingly tightening labour market. As unemployment has evaporated companies must compete more vigorously to attract and keep qualified employees.
The need to retain qualified staff
The local newspaper Morgunblaðið reports that the Blue Lagoon will be building the apartment building to ensure that it can attract and retain staff. A serious shortage of affordable and smaller apartments in Reykjavík, as well as skyrocketing rents, have strained the finances of many young and low-income people, pushing many to seek housing in villages and towns in West and South Iceland.
Last week IKEA in Iceland announced that it was building a 36 apartment building for its staff. The manager of IKEA in Iceland told the local radio station Rás 2 that the reason was that the company had discovered its staff was frequently stuck in wholly unsatisfactory housing, single rooms in warehouses and converted office buildings. The company hoped that by offering its staff affordable housing it could reduce the turnover of staff even further, thus save on training costs and raising productivity.
Affordable company housing
The company announced that the rent for the apartments in the company housing would not exceed 100,000 ISK (890 USD/840 EUR) per month.
The average rent for a two bedroom, 80 sq m (860 sq ft) apartment in Reykjavík is currently more than twice that, or 230,000 ISK (2,060 USD/1,940 EUR).
The Blue Lagoon has purchased a 24 apartment building in the town of Grindavík to secure housing for its staff. The construction of the apartment building is still in its early stage, with work on its foundation planned to begin later this spring. the apartments in the building will be 70-90 sq m (750-970 sq ft).
The Blue Lagoon is not the first major employer to respond to high rents and a growing housing shortage by offering its employees company owned housing. The other major impetus is the increasingly tightening labour market. As unemployment has evaporated companies must compete more vigorously to attract and keep qualified employees.
The need to retain qualified staff
The local newspaper Morgunblaðið reports that the Blue Lagoon will be building the apartment building to ensure that it can attract and retain staff. A serious shortage of affordable and smaller apartments in Reykjavík, as well as skyrocketing rents, have strained the finances of many young and low-income people, pushing many to seek housing in villages and towns in West and South Iceland.
Last week IKEA in Iceland announced that it was building a 36 apartment building for its staff. The manager of IKEA in Iceland told the local radio station Rás 2 that the reason was that the company had discovered its staff was frequently stuck in wholly unsatisfactory housing, single rooms in warehouses and converted office buildings. The company hoped that by offering its staff affordable housing it could reduce the turnover of staff even further, thus save on training costs and raising productivity.
Affordable company housing
The company announced that the rent for the apartments in the company housing would not exceed 100,000 ISK (890 USD/840 EUR) per month.
The average rent for a two bedroom, 80 sq m (860 sq ft) apartment in Reykjavík is currently more than twice that, or 230,000 ISK (2,060 USD/1,940 EUR).
