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Spherion Provides Flexibility and Quick Response to Labor Needs
Firm supplies workers in a variety of fields, but specializes in high-end administrative employees and technical jobs

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

Marj Bartok, owner of Spherion Staffing Group, with Karen Arnold, a Client Service Representative, reviewing an applicant's resume. Photo by Craig Rubadoux, © 2003.

Marj Bartok has good reason to trust her instincts.

The Melbourne businesswoman moved to Brevard County nine years ago after buying a franchise of Spherion Staffing, an international staffing company. She made the purchase after hearing about the opportunity through a colleague in the staffing industry.

"I had never seen Melbourne," she remembers, and she admits she wasn't exactly sure where the city was. Driving into Brevard did little to reassure her, at first. "I saw no high-rise buildings, and I was freaking," she said.

A trip over the Eau Gallie Causeway began to turn things around. "The water was perfect, and I thought, 'I think I can make this work'," Bartok said.

That was 1994, when the staffing franchise she took over was making only a few hundred thousand dollars a year. Today, Bartok has pumped that to several million. Her efforts also led to her being named Kennedy Space Center's 2003 Woman-Owned Small Business Subcontractor of the Year.

"Spherion is an exceptionally dependable supplier who consistently supports Boeing's unique requirements for contract-hire personnel," said Susan Stoll, procurement agent who manages the Spherion contract for The Boeing Co. at KSC. Boeing's Checkout, Assembly and Payload Processing Services Contract nominated Bartok for the award. Staffing companies supply employees to other firms, often on a temporary basis. Companies cite flexibility as the key reason they turn to staffing firms for workers: They can respond quickly to labor needs without going to the cost and time requirements of hiring. And when fewer workers are needed, they can reduce their contract personnel and avoid laying off direct employees.

Bartok offers Boeing that ability to respond to the marketplace. "Spherion has always been flexible in support of Boeing's needs, whether it is for a contract hire with specialized skills, personnel needed on short notice, or an individual that is needed to support an off-site location," Stoll said.

Such benefits to corporations are helping drive the rising employment in staffing firms. Though Bartok employs just 10 people directly at her three offices, her company provides employment for 700 to 800 people weekly. They are paid by Spherion and often are offered benefits from the staffing company, as well, though they perform their jobs at a variety of different companies.

Nationwide, employment through staffing companies more than doubled during the 1990s, from just under 1 million people in 1990 to 2.54 million in 2000, according to the American Staffing Association, an Alexandria, Va.-based trade group. The trend is related to companies' efforts to minimize their fixed costs yet still respond quickly to economic conditions, said Steven Berchem, vice president of the association. One way is by developing just-in-time inventory and delivery practices, instead of warehousing more supplies and products than are needed.

"They are looking to develop just-in-time labor, also," Berchem said. "Companies are looking to be able to have ways of meeting demand when the demand is there, rather than staffing up and having employees when they don't need them."

Employment has slipped during the past couple years, as the recession hit the staffing industry hard. That surprised some experts, who had theorized that staffing firms were resistant to downturns because companies would turn to staffing companies even more during slowdowns to avoid the expenses of hiring and laying off. Instead, employment had dropped to 2.06 million last year.

Bartok also felt the slowdown, but she had anticipated economic cycles. "My business plan was to build the business to the point that when the economy was good, I'd do really well, but when there was a downturn, I would survive," she said.

She went after contracts at local space and defense contractors. The market is very competitive on price and requires more attention to compliance requirements, but she knew she'd develop a good reputation and steady customers if she did a good job.

"They have volume there," she said of the space center. "Even if that business goes down, it doesn't go away."

Bartok supplies workers in a variety of fields, but specializes in high-end administrative employees and technical jobs, such as RF and engineering technicians. Many of her customers ask for light-assembly workers, as well, and Spherion maintains an office at Nokia in Melbourne to do the hiring for that company.

If the improvement she sees in the business climate continues, she might expand to the south, in Indian River and St. Lucie counties. She's also considering expanding her business to offer skills assessment services to help companies make hiring decisions.

Bartok grew up in Edenborn, Pa., a small town southwest of Pittsburgh. "My son likes to tell people his mom is a coal miner's daughter," she said of her son, Bob, who also works for Spherion.

She attended Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, intending to pursue her interest in sports with a major in health and physical education. Instead, she became interested in business. After graduation, she moved to Cleveland and began work as a sales representative for a staffing company.

She worked for several companies throughout her career. "I think I moved about 33 times," she said.

During one 10-year stint, she managed 18 Los Angeles-area offices for Manpower Inc.

She has applied some of that energy to business organizations in Brevard, including being active in the
Melbourne-Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast.

Over the years, she has seen more career-oriented people choose employment through staffing companies as a way to add flexibility to their own lives. According to the ASA, a full quarter of people employed by staffing firms prefer the arrangement over working directly for another employer.

"Younger people don't want to stay at a company and get paid on seniority," Bartok said.

Instead, they act as independent contractors for their own careers and use staffing firms as a tool.

Helping people find work is more than business to Bartok. "There's a lot of nurturing that goes on," particularly when someone hasn't worked for a while, she said. "I always say, 'Look, think of us as your Hollywood agent. That gives them confidence."

The approach offers a personal return, as well. "It's a business that's here to make a profit, but you get a lot of emotional rewards as well," she said.

For more information, visit www.spherion.com.