Keep It Growing: Springfield ventures continue to boost workforce, promote culture

While local, state and national data show unemployment rates on the rise, some Springfield companies have consistently strengthened their workforce count in recent years – an action officials say shows no signs of slowing down.

Over in Chesterfield Village, Kinetic Design and Development LLC is already on its second office in as many years due to its growing staff. The employee count for the company, which launched in September 2022, has reached 41, which includes 20 architects and architects in training. Griffin Bobbett, who co-owns the venture with wife Abbye Bobbett and Adam Kreher, says the firm’s staff was 33 in January – a roughly 25% year-to-date increase.

The firm’s partners agree the rapid growth has exceeded expectations. However, Kreher says Kinetic Design and Development isn’t really focused on its employee count.

“We just want to make sure that we’re meeting customer demand and need, and prefer quality over quantity,” Kreher says. “The only reason we’re trying to staff up is just to meet that demand more than anything. I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to be the largest firm or anything. We just want to be the best firm and that’s what it takes.”

Kinetic’s hiring activity comes as the Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate increased in June to 3.8%, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate was up from 3.6% in May, but still below the state’s 4.2% jobless rate in June. The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 4.3% in July, up from 4.1% the previous month.

However, the architecture firm’s workforce investment is in line with many participants in Springfield Business Journal’s 2024 Economic Growth Survey. When considering the next year, 54% of respondents replied they planned to increase their company’s employee count. That response was up from 49% in 2023. An additional 35% in this year’s survey said they intend to recruit new employees while 26% expect no additional hiring. Only 4% expected to reduce their employees without replacing them.

Young growth
Another young company, Alpha Realty MO LLC, also is growing at a rate faster than its owners, Aaron Owens and Adam Johnson, anticipated when they launched the real estate brokerage five years ago.

While the full-time employee count is just four, Alpha Realty’s roster also has 134 independent agents working with residential and commercial properties. It’s a rapid increase from the owners’ five-year plan, which Owens says was 40 to 50 agents.

“Lo and behold, that first year we had 20 or so agents. Then the next year we almost doubled that,” he says, noting the company has agents of varied commitment – ranging from part-timers who may only close a handful of deals a year to full-timers who may annually exceed well over 100 transactions. “We don’t want to have 400 to 500 agents. That’s not really our goal because you kind of lose out on the culture and what we’re wanting to create with that many people.”

The exact number of how many agents are manageable is still to be determined, Owens says, adding he and Johnson want to have a working relationship with them, while also offering support.

“It’s more just like, well, we’re going to grow until we feel like we’re losing touch of that connection with agents,” Owens says. “And as of right now, we feel like we can handle what we have.”

The agent growth rate hasn’t been because of recruitment efforts, he says.

“Me and Adam do not recruit. We have not recruited a single agent here,” Owens says. “Every person who is here has either known me and Adam personally, or they’ve known another agent here and that agent has said good things and then they come on board. We do pride ourselves on that because we’ve never wanted to be guys who are going out and trying to poach people from other brokerages.”

Like Kinetic, Alpha Realty is on its second office location. It moved to 1900 S. Ventura Ave. in 2022 after outgrowing its first office. Owens says the firm is almost maxing out its 10,000-square-foot space, which includes 21 private offices.

“As of right now, we’re comfortable where we’re at,” he says. “We’re going to stay here for a little while, maybe try to take on some other properties that are right around our office if we need to expand.”

Culture club
The employee count at Springfield-based engineering firm Toth and Associates Inc. is on the cusp of 200, says President Adam Toth. While the 2003-founded company also has offices in Montana, Oregon and Washington, nearly 170 of its employees work in Springfield. Toth and Associates ranked No. 1 on SBJ’s list of the area’s largest engineering firms, which was published in the July 15 issue.

“The best thing we can do for retention is create a positive work environment culture where people want to work,” Toth says. “It really goes to my parents just teaching us to treat people like family. It’s the golden rule, right? Treat people the way you would want to be treated.”

Toth says the culture at his firm encourages a work-life balance but also offers extras to employees to make their time in the office more enjoyable. That includes a coffee bar, free beverages in the fridge and competitive benefits.

“Something else is that we really try to encourage people to make friends at the office,” he says, adding there are various groups at the firm who together will run, do yoga, play cards, volleyball and softball. “The idea is if you’re going to spend a third of your waking life at the office, you might as well enjoy it to the most that you can.

“To that point, it’s really hard to quit a job. It’s harder to quit your friends,” he says, adding he expects growth to continue at his firm for the foreseeable future. “So, if you can create a culture where people like the people they work with, they usually don’t quit because they don’t want to quit on their friends.”

Kinetic’s Abbye Bobbett says culture should go beyond a company providing swag, such as water bottles and hats.

“It comes down to are you walking the walk? Are you doing what you promised the employees you were going to do?” she says, noting her firm encourages the staff to provide feedback. “We have an anonymous submission form that they can give us feedback on ways that they would change the firm or cool things they’ve seen out in other companies that we should think about implementing.”

The partners also soon plan to solicit additional feedback by inviting small groups of the staff out to lunches. 

Still, when it comes to receiving feedback, she says following through is essential.

“Just because they submitted a complaint, if it goes nowhere, that’s where the problems start to happen,” she says. “We can keep people much happier by listening to their complaints and trying to solve their problems.”

For Owens, he says culture at Alpha Realty includes a saying, “Relationships over real estate.”

“What that means for us is we care way more about building relationships with our clients and between agents,” he says. “Those relationships are more than just a transaction, more than just a commission check or something like that.”