Companies look for good help in 2005

Springfield Business Journal’s 2005 Economic Outlook Survey, which comprises data from 150 subscribers, shows that 47 percent of firms polled plan to add jobs in the new year. That’s up from 33 percent of companies that planned to add staff in the 2004 survey.

While job growth is expected, the survey points to slow or controlled growth, with 36 percent of those polled planning to add five employees or fewer. Some companies – 11 percent of those polled – plan to add two new staff members, and only 2 percent said they will add 10 or more workers.

Digital Monitoring Products is in the minority. Kirk Evans, chief financial officer for the burglar and fire alarm systems manufacturer, said the company will add between 10 and 20 positions to its 120-member work force. Those new jobs are due to expansion plans and overall business growth.

“We’re expanding, adding approximately 15,000 square feet of plant,” Evans said of the company’s Partnership Industrial Center facility.

The majority of area companies have less ambitious plans.

Brian Fogle, director of community development for Great Southern Bank, said in the survey that his company, which employs 630, expects to add just a handful of positions in 2005.

“In new positions, net new positions, we would (add) five. We are hiring lots more than that throughout the year, because of turnover,” Fogle said

Another firm that’s expecting small job growth is accounting firm Elliott, Robinson & Co. In the survey, managing partner Bob Helm indicated that the 30-employee company will likely add three employees.

“We’ve had fairly steady growth over the years, and we just continue to do that. We are replacing a couple of people who’ve left, but as far as growth goes, it’s just revenue growth for the firm,” he said.

He said the firm’s 2004 revenues aren’t available yet.

“My experience in Springfield is … we don’t have a lot of the peaks – the real strong, fast, huge growth – but we also don’t have the valleys that go along with it,” Helm said.

The skills factor

A separate question on the 2005 Economic Outlook Survey asked participants to rank their top business concerns. Labor availability and labor skills are tied for the second most common concern, each receiving 17 percent of respondents’ top choices. Health insurance is No. 1, collecting 24 percent of first-place votes.

Evans is among survey respondents who chose labor skills and availability as his top business concerns for Digital Monitoring Products in 2005.

“We have a variety of different job levels,” Evans said. “Because we’re in manufacturing, obviously, you have manufacturing workers. And we’re probably considered a high-tech company, because we hire engineers. We hire (for) a lot of technical type jobs,” including technical support, technical training and testing jobs.

Because of the scope of DMP’s labor force, Evans said it can be a challenge to keep all jobs staffed. Particularly, he said, it can be most difficult to find electrical engineers. But DMP does try to hire as many local workers as possible.

“You can’t always succeed (in) doing that, but we try there first. We’d rather hire someone local than go outside the area, but sometimes, you have to,” Evans said.

Fogle, who lists labor skills as his top business concern for 2005, said Great Southern has many of its job opportunities in clerical and teller positions, and those aren’t always easy to fill.

“That is, in the banking industry, the area where you have more turnover, because you’re competing with retail and everybody else. That is where, primarily, we’re talking about having availability and the right set of skills,” Fogle said.

Great Southern does its own hiring, Fogle said, relying on referrals from Missouri Career Center and some advertising in the classifieds.

“We have to do lots of interviews before we’re finding the right fit,” Fogle said.

With the addition in 2004 of employment recruiter Kim Nash, Fogle said the process of finding the right employees has become more efficient.

“That has been a great addition,” Fogle said. “Since we’ve done that, we have seen a much better response because we’re able to be more targeted than just the classified ads and the more traditional outreach.”

Helm’s top business concerns mirror the findings of the survey. He says labor skills and availability are the top issues that will affect Elliott, Robinson & Co.’s ability to thrive in 2005. In the accounting and financial industry, he said, it can be difficult to find the right employees, but not necessarily because there aren’t enough skilled people out there.

“It depends on, really, what our competitors are doing out there, too. Because we very much hire through a recruiting process at the colleges, and if one firm is willing to pay more … than the traditional starting wage for that position, then it makes it more difficult to, obviously, hire people and be competitive in that area,” Helm said.

All of the firm’s recruiting is done through local colleges and universities. The firm finds its new hires largely through its paid internship program, used primarily during tax season.

Career center connection

Shirley Click, a regional manager with the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, said that the Missouri Career Center at 1514 S. Glenstone helps local companies fill jobs in many industries.

Most common is health care. There’s also a lot of need in the services sector for staff in hotels, motels, restaurants and retail shops, as well as the transportation industry, particularly for over-the-road truck drivers.

“We have a lot of people interested in those positions, but it’s still a challenge to keep those positions filled, just because of the number of them that we have in this area,” Click said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Greene, Christian and Webster counties employ about 39,000 in retail and hospitality services and nearly 10,000 in transportation and utilities. The total work force in the three counties approaches 185,000.

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