MetroWest495 Biz

MetroWest495 Biz | August 2015 21 Testing and diagnostic equipment maker Hologic did it this summer — moving its headquarters to Marlbor- ough, hiring 150 additional employees. Last year, SanDisk of Milpitas, Calif., opened a new research and devel- opment facility on Donald Lynch Boulevard, adding 60 jobs. All this mo- mentum built up to a crescendo, with Boston Scientific's huge move from Natick to Marlborough last year — bringing 800 jobs with it — and New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics moving into the former Hewlett-Packard prop - erty at Forest Park in Marlborough. Now, biotech giant GE Healthcare Life Sciences is about to set up shop at the Forest Park complex, moving its U.S. headquarters from Piscataway, N.J., to Marlborough. Relocating, laying off, hiring and onboarding so many employees are no easy tasks for these firms that now call MetroWest home. But what if you have to do all three — as part of the same transition? Numbers game When the Marlborough GE Health- care Life Sciences site is fully operation- al, it will house about 500 employees, including new positions and those that already existed. As of late July, 185 of the total 215 new jobs were filled, said Erica Bell, a human resources business partner coordinating GE's site move. Most of the new positions are in pharmacovigilance, which refers to monitoring the effects of drugs after they are licensed; regulatory affairs; and the commercial operations team for the company's contrast media business, she said. One-hundred and twenty jobs are moving from within Massachusetts (GE already has a Westborough loca- tion). About 50 to 70 employees are making the move to Marlborough from New Jersey. And in terms of growth, about 100 more jobs are expected when the site is up to full capacity in 2017, after an occupancy permit is granted this year and labs are built in two phases over the next two years. With such an epic reshuffling — New Jersey employees relocating, declining to do so, or being laid off — and such a large amount of new hires needed, where does a company begin? They begin early, for one thing, said Bell, and they begin internally. "We started last summer, putting a staffing strategy together, looking at the busi- ness," said Bell. This kind of early start in hiring is crucial, says Brendon Davis, president of The Davis Companies, a Marlborough- based staffing services firm. Staffing spillover "(The) biggest successes come when we're brought in early to the table to discuss whether they should even look at this area, where the pockets of talent will be" for a particular industry, Davis said. Though the company did not assist in the GE staffing project, Davis is accustomed to large hiring endeav- ors. In 2012-2013, for instance, Davis helped office supply giant Staples in Framingham ramp up its employee base by 1,500 sales representatives for its new, in-store cell phone service. To gear up, Davis said, the staffing firm had to do some staffing of its own. "We hired, internally, five to 10 contract recruiters," he said. In cases of mega-hiring situations such as Staples or GE Healthcare Services, staffing firms have to be agile, he said, "so that we can scale up, we have relationships with recruiters in the area," who are ready to go, he said. KNF&T Staffing Resources Vice President Beth Cabrera agrees, and takes early involvement one step further to ensure this ground-floor advantage — for best results. Her firm, with offices in Westborough, reaches out to companies before they need to hire. KNF&T looks for companies with these characteristics: great growth; being on the verge of an acquisition or merger; grant applications to help fund expansion, or in the case of biotech, FDA approvals — "anything that may change their staffing picture," Cabrera says. "We make suggestions on market trends … Staffing (needs) may change before they know it." HR in hyperdrive GE Healthcare Life Services' staffing plan was in place by mid-August of 2014, well before the company's move to Marlborough was announced in January of this year. It began doubling its new-hire referral bonus to existing employees who may know of potential hires in Massachusetts. Then word went out through social media, career fairs and media outreach. There were specialty roles to fill for which Bell partnered with recruiters, she said, in areas such as tech research and devel- opment; and specific marketing roles that required a tech background. By the start of 2015, many roles were filled already, said Bell. "We got very lucky at timing," she said. "There was not a lot of hiring going on. We ma- nipulated the market, so to speak." Timing is important. But an under- standing of the labor market from a compensation standpoint is sometimes a challenge in the staffing process, said Davis of Davis Companies, especially when out-of-area firms move in. Com- panies might have a salary in mind for a position, but that number may not be anywhere near the average salary in that market at that time. If the job is publicized at the lower rate, it can turn off potential employees and give the impression that whoever is responsible for staffing is not doing their job, an obstacle to efficient hiring. I t's something we see more and more: companies packing up and moving to Marlborough, or choosing the area as the best place to launch a new venture. Super- sized hiring BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to MetroWest495Biz GE Healthcare Life Sciences arrival a study in team building Beth Cabrera says her firm, KNF&T Staffing Resources in Westborough, anticipates which companies may soon be hiring, and reaches out to help. s page 22 SNAPSHOT: GE Healthcare Life Sciences division's workforce in Marlborough 500 Number of employees on site when fully operational in 2017 215 Number of new positions created in Marlborough 70 Estimated maximum number of employees relocating from New Jersey 100 Number of additional new jobs to be created by the time the site is at full capacity

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