Stock Options Are One Thing — but Massages, Dry Cleaning and Crash Pads?
Orange County’s booming economy has drained the area’s pool of available talent–OC’s unemployment in September was 2.6%, one of the lowest figures in the nation–spurring increasingly creative efforts by local firms to attract and keep employees as it creates unique opportunities for job seekers.
The labor crunch is especially tight in the tech sector, an engine of OC’s growth. Nationally, the unemployment rate for engineers is a mere 1.6%. Computer programmers have an unemployment rate of 1.4%, while math and computer science workers have a lower rate still, at 1.2%.
No relief is in sight: From 1990 to 1996, the number of high-tech college graduates dropped 5% but the U.S. Department of Labor says the demand for tech workers will increase 118% by 2006.
So, employees increasingly are calling the shots. In addition to higher salaries, workers are reaping financial benefits such as hiring bonuses and stock options. Employers also are offering casual dress days, workout facilities, yoga lessons, dry cleaning, even a place to lay a weary head after a long workday.
Here are some stories you wouldn’t have heard back in the recession days of the early ’90s — these are tales from a tight labor market:
BEST-LAID PLANS
Bror Monberg, a Newport Beach architect, says, “I can’t hire anybody, the job market is so tight. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on ads in the Register for skilled, qualified individuals and the people who call can barely talk on the phone. When I call people who I know are qualified individuals, I don’t even get responses. One guy who didn’t call back, I figure went to LA or San Francisco for $80K.
“If I could finds a qualified person, I’d give him a month’s salary in advance.”
LOAN RANGERS
A local mortgage broker said companies are paying big premiums for loan processors. The $25,000 annual salaries of two years ago have inflated to $40,000
LOGICAL MOVES
Joe Hart of Costa Mesa-based QLogic Corp. said that company has tried to alleviate its problem through an employee referral incentive program. Over the past few years, 30% to 35% of new hires come through employee referrals, he said.
The company also started a college program to recruit candidates before they graduate. It has hired 15 people since the program’s inception in June, Hart said.
THAT WAS SOME INTERVIEW
A 1998 bachelor of arts graduate from UCI with one year of experience as an investment banking analyst interviewed with an insurance company for an underwriter trainee position that was offering $28,000 to $32,000 a year. Part way through the interview, the interviewer offered the candidate a full-time position at $37,000. The candidate held out for $40,000, and got it.
SHARES AND REPAIRS
Ann Ward of Anaheim-based Odetics Inc. said the company offers stock options for employees. “That was a really big draw for them financially.”
The company also offers an on-site swimming pool and gym. Other perks include yoga lessons, on-site masseuses, dry-cleaning service, fitness trainers, car repair and maintenance at reduced rates–and awards for referrals.
FRAT HOUSE WEST
With $4 million in funding coming from idealab!, the four founders of Handshake.com, a startup e-commerce firm based in Fullerton, were desperate for employees.
“We called up all of our friends and all of our friends’ friends,” said Micha Rosenbloom, president of Handshake.com. Eventually, they tapped into their alma mater, Cornell University in New York. Now, 17 of the 26 Handshake.com employees are from Cornell, “just because we’ve been able to create such a buzz there,” Rosenbloom said.
And to keep its developers developing happily into the wee hours, it rents a $1,000-a-month one-bedroom apartment across from the office, stuffed with goodies like movies, alcohol, cable TV, two beds and snacks.
BUILD IT SO THEY WILL COME
“I’ve been known to lobby the (Orange County) Transportation Authority to get us through the mountain,” said Dick Ulmer, vice president of Unisys Corp., a technology company in Mission Viejo. A quicker, easier roadway would enable Orange County businesses to tap labor pools in areas such as Temecula, he said.
To keep what it has, Unisys has made a “conscious investment” in its employees and has pegged education as the key to workforce development. Unisys engineers serve as mentors in area high schools, Ulmer said, and he serves as chair on the UCI School of Engineering’s advisory board.
“We made UCI our corporate focus,” Ulmer said.
X MARKS THE HOT SPOT
Rick Zehner, CEO of Alliance Imaging Inc., said his company has the most difficulty finding X-ray technicians: It’s offering candidates two to three times their typical salary and, in some cases, $1,000 to $2,000 in hiring bonuses.
“The demand for these people is fantastic,” Zehner said. Supply is low because many of the training schools have closed due to hospital cutbacks. Continuing educational requirements also have increased, which has reduced the number of viable technicians.
“We’re also using headhunters a lot more than we used to,” he said.
FEEDING WORD-OF-MOUTH
Rubios Restaurants Inc. offers its employees finder’s fees for management candidates and hourly worker referrals. Joe Stein, chief strategic and financial officer, says it gives employees $1,000 for new managers and $100 for hourly workers that are hired through employee recommendations.
“It’s just tough out there,” Stein said.
After analyzing the company’s methods of recruiting, Stein said, Rubios found that word of mouth is by far the best method of attracting employees. Since the incentive program began about three months ago, 15 people are on their way to getting $1,000, he said. “It’s almost doubled the amount of candidates we’ve had.”
GOING TO THE WELL
Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz added a wellness center to its property two years ago to attract and retain employees.
“It’s been heavily used,” said Garth Blumenthal, the dealership’s general manager. Employees have access to a personal trainer and are encouraged to work out four days a week. The technicians, workers who experience the most on-the-job physical strain, use the facilities more than the sales people do, he said. Technicians earn an average salary in the $30,000 range. Good technicians can earn upward of $100,000, Blumenthal said.
But the company isn’t likely to hike salaries to attract or keep an employee, Blumenthal said. Instead, employees want good benefits and they want to feel empowered, he said.
ROBBING THE CRADLE OF KNOWLEDGE
“Companies do all kinds of things to attract MBA students,” said David Blake, of the University of California, Irvine Graduate School of Management. “Some even pick up dry-cleaning and do grocery shopping.”
Others offer employment to spouses, as well, and pay tuitions.
WELCOME TO OC, YOU’RE HIRED
Karen Coleman moved to Orange County from Pittsburgh and sent resumes to a few local publishing houses. She had three offers for interviews by that afternoon. She went to two interviews the next day and before she could schedule the third, she was offered and accepted a job with the second company.
EMPLOYEES FLEXING
David Orloff of the executive search firm, Interlink Technical Services Inc. in Irvine, said that he has seen more candidates that are less concerned about salary and more about stock options.
“Companies are also getting into flex, where technology workers can dress casually, make their own schedules and work from home.”
WHAT’S THE SPANISH FOR ‘MERIT RAISE’?
BAL Seal Engineering, Foothill Ranch, has a full-time linguist on staff and provides work language instruction for English speakers who want to learn Spanish and vice versa. The company also encourages cross-training. Once an employee has “mastered” another skill, he or she gets a pay raise. The company also installed volleyball and basketball courts.
HE HAD THE JOB WIRED
A chipboard maker in Santa Ana needed to hire a sales manager. The company notified its industry peers and within a week got a call from a former sales representative who had two years’ experience but was working as an electrician. The candidate called in about noon, but said he wasn’t dressed for the interview. The owner didn’t care. The interviewee showed up in blue jeans and a T-shirt at 2 p.m. and was hired on the spot.
WHEELING AND DEALING
Coastline Courier, Irvine, has changed the way it advertises for drivers. In the past, the company required drivers to own a pickup. Now, the company solicits for drivers, then decides if their vehicles are appropriate.
Other companies, desperate for drivers, are said to be bending their usual requirements. One company, which used to insist that applicants have no violations on their driving record, has relaxed its standard to allow two violations.
A Santa Ana packaging company reluctantly has hired a parolee as a driver.
“At least he had a clean driving record,” a staffer said.
RRRING … RRRING … RRRING …
Sync Research Inc., Irvine, placed an ad for a sales support person expecting 25 to 50 applications, but only received three. The OC Business Journal had the same experience recently. Five years ago, it received 250 resumes for a receptionist position, but six months ago it received two resumes when it advertised the same position.
IT’S A FULL-EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY, AFTER ALL
The Disneyland Resort offered a $50 bonus to employees for referring potential cast members for Disney’s new theme park, California Adventure, slated to open in 2001, and a $500 bonus for referrals of managers.
The Walt Disney Co. also has partnered with Cal State Fullerton in the creation of a multidisciplinary concentration in entertainment and tourism. The six-course curriculum will be aimed at students majoring in the arts, business administration and communications. Plans are to introduce the courses in fall 2000. Paul Pressler, president of Walt Disney Attractions, said the company hopes the program will contribute to the industry as a “feeder for the system.”
But there’s one bit of good news for employers: Esmael Adibi, the director of the Anderson Center of Economic Research at Chapman, said, “over a period of time, the balance will be fixed.” He said that if the demand for jobs here continues, wages will increase to attract people, but once employees migrate to OC, then the market will loosen up.
