Mainebiz

V o l . X X I N o. I I Ja N ua r y 2 6 , 2 0 1 5 22 A sk any local business leader to name his or her No. 1 challenge and, whether you're talking to a high-tech exec or an excavator, you're likely to get the same response: lack of labor. "It's difficult to get and keep tal- ented people," says economist Jim Damicis, senior vice president with Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based Camoin Associates, a consulting firm with offices in Portland. "Every time we talk to a company about what's impacting their growth, and ability to stay here and expand, it's always, always, always, labor." e difficulty, in part, is driven by demographics. Maine's median age of 43.5 years is the highest in the nation. Portland's vital stats are slightly sunnier, with an average age of 36.7 and 44.8% of the adult population with bachelor's degrees or higher. e swell of baby boomers reaching retirement age, low birth-rates, and low rates of migration into the state are creating a dearth of workers to meet local businesses' needs. Yet local businesses are growing — especially in greater Portland. Employers like Apothecary by Design, Winxnet, Kepware Technologies, Unum and Envirologix are experiencing mete- oric growth, and working feverishly to recruit the employees they need to support that growth. Some are trying to breed new talent through partnerships with colleges and secondary schools. Others are making strategic acquisitions, and using tactics like referral bonuses, quality-of-work-life benefits and tapping public resources, like Portland's business assistance pro- gram for job creation. Many executives say they are working hard to make wages competitive with others in the region. Companies like Unum are looking at tools like social media to draw work- ers from outside Maine. e insurance giant, which is based in Chattanooga, Tenn., has 2,900 workers in Portland, plus 140 people who work from home throughout Maine. It hires about 260 employees in Portland each year for everything from underwriting to finance and customer service. About 10% of Unum's Portland workers come from outside Maine. "We do plan to explore ways in which we can further promote the benefits of living and working in Maine. We all know that it is wonderful here," says Marcia Leander, vice president of talent acqui- sition for Unum's U.S. operations. Envirologix, which makes diagnos- tic kits to detect genetically modified organisms in agricultural products, is among many companies that have added quality-of-life benefits, including flexible summer hours and a complete break between Christmas and Jan. 1. ose things matter to new recruits; so does the company's small size. "Many scientists come to us from large organizations because they'll have more of an opportunity to have a larger impact," says Kathy Brooks, director of human resources for the $20 million company, which has 100 employees. "at's very attractive." More jobs than people To be sure, the ability of these compa- nies to solve this problem has impli- cations that extend way beyond their own bottom lines. "We've got to get some momentum around making sure that we have jobs for workers who want to come here, and workers for the companies who are here. You really need to be working on both at the same time," says Maine's state economist, Amanda Rector. Specialty pharmacy company Apothecary by Design has enjoyed astronomical growth since its found- ing in 2008, and now has a staff of 82. e company, which includes retail, compounding and specialty pharmacy operations, generated $85 million in revenue in 2014, more than double that of a year earlier, and has been listed among Inc. magazine's fastest-growing private specialty phar- macies. But continuing that pace of growth depends largely on people. While employee referrals have helped, the company is spending con- siderable time growing its own, through partnerships like the one it has with the University of New England College of Pharmacy, which started in 2009. Since the college graduated its first class in 2013, Apothecary by Design has hired four students, hosted more than 50 interns and, at any given time, had up to five students working part-time at the pharmacy. In addition, the company's pharmacists guest lecture at UNE. "At the end of the day we are in a people-driven business and we will need to continually invest in 'growing our own,' which can be more expensive and takes longer than having ample supply in place," says Catherine Cloudman, a founder and principal at the company. e internships give students hands- on experience and allow the company to see how the students perform in a real-time work environment. "You really P h o t o / t i m G r e e n way Labor pains Greater portland companies find creative solutions to attract talent B y J e n n i f e r V a n a L L e n F O C U S Catherine Cloudman, a principal at Apothecary by Design, says a partnership with the University of New England College of Pharmacy has helped land skilled employees. C o n t i n u e d o n Pa G e 2 4 »

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