Fortune Brands Innovations is asking nearly 850, or about two-thirds of their employees in corporate functions, to relocate to a new corporate headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois – a move designed to unify their distributed workforce and transform how the company operates. It’s a rare, high-stakes case study in what happens when talent acquisition truly becomes central to business strategy.
“We’re really looking at our organization and our structure and getting it right for the future, not just for what we need today,” said Kristin Papesh, Chief Human Resources Officer at Fortune Brands.
The company has been shifting away from a decentralized model for years. Now, it’s accelerating that shift with a two-phase transition that will bring all corporate teams under one roof in Deerfield in 2027.
While Fortune Brands owns well-known names like Moen, Master Lock, and Fiberon, many of its businesses were acquired, and its corporate structure has historically been a patchwork. Offices were scattered across Ohio, Wisconsin, and other regions, with each brand largely operating with its own culture and leadership.
That began to shift as the company worked to evolve from a holding company and into a true operating company.
Now, with nearly 850 employees asked to relocate to a centralized headquarters, the company is taking the next step. The move is being executed in two phases – half this year, half in 2026 – with full consolidation expected by early 2027.
With many employees opting not to relocate, the talent acquisition team of about a dozen is working at full tilt to fill hundreds of roles quickly.
Fortune Brands has set up what Papesh calls a “command center” to manage the surge in headquarters hiring, with a dedicated team tracking progress and extra support from the HR team.
To handle the scale and complexity of the transformation, Papesh brought in Joel Knippel to lead the TA function.
“I have added in a new head of talent acquisition, [and] elevated that to be a new leadership role on my HR leadership team,” she said. “I really wanted this to be a standalone function that had good visibility to me and to the C-suite as well.”
The TA team now includes a mix of full-time and contract recruiters, some of whom will continue to work remotely.
“Until about a year ago Moen had their culture and Master Lock had their culture and Therma-Tru had their culture,” Papesh said. “As part of our evolution a couple of years ago we brought the whole company together in one operating model. The next phase was… to bring to life ‘What does it mean to be part of this Fortune Brands organization?’”
The company defined a new purpose – “we elevate every life by transforming spaces into havens,” and launched a set of shared values that were rolled out across all 12,000 employees. That cultural alignment is now being embedded into onboarding and hiring processes.
Even with a centralized HQ, the company isn’t returning to five-day office work. Instead, they’ve formalized a hybrid model with set in-office days: Tuesday through Thursday.
Papesh noted that fixed in-office days have helped reinforce collaboration and consistency: “That piece isn’t flexible. So, you really do end up with everybody in office at the same time and you really see the difference in how folks are working.”
Why move everyone now instead of letting relocation happen slowly over time?
“When you looked at our attrition rate it would [have taken] us five to eight years,” Papesh explained. “Eight years is a lifetime in business,” she added. “Is that really going to get us where we need to go?”
Instead, the company opted for a faster approach: enough to maintain business continuity while moving quickly into the new headquarters.
When asked about the biggest challenge in the transition, Papesh didn’t hesitate.
“Business continuity is the biggest challenge,” she said. “But we’re seeing the traction we’re getting on the hiring side and everyone has worked through their business continuity plans. I think we’re in a good space in terms of being able to mitigate that.”
Fortune Brands is betting that a unified location, cohesive culture, and refreshed talent strategy will improve operations, but it’s not automatic – the size and pace of the change leave little margin for error.
“This to me is so exciting to show how talent and talent acquisition can really be at the heart of a company’s longer term strategy,” Papesh said. “You don’t often get that into the TA organization.”
