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Arizona MEP Helps ASSA ABLOY Hire 120 New Employees
With the help of: Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP)
About
The Challenge
Arizona MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, and ASSA ABLOY began their almost three-year relationship after Trey Pitman, senior manager of organizational development and environmental health and safety, connected with the staff after a Lean 101 workshop he attended many years ago. Over the years, AZ MEP has partnered with Pitman on business solutions to support the company’s growth.
Recent sales growth of the company’s power supply products and relocation of operations from Illinois to Arizona meant the company needed to rapidly hire 120 people to meet their operational goals. The company's HR staff was not equipped to recruit and hire that number of people within the needed time frame, so Pitman approached AZ MEP to build a collaborative solution.
We have a high-performing team, but sometimes we have a challenge, and we don't know exactly how to overcome it. My go-to has been to ask my advisor at AZ MEP. While they don't always have a lead, AZ MEP is very connected to resources available across the state and within the Arizona Commerce Authority. They are often able to at least point us in the right direction. We value our partnership with AZ MEP. We are very fortunate to live in a state where the MEP is well organized, driving its mission and meeting its objective. They enable us to grow more easily and are truly a partner that we can rely on.
MEP's Role
The solution was to allocate a portion of the senior client advisor's time, who held previous recruitment experience, as an extension of the company’s human resources department. In this capacity, the advisor became the main point of contact for all supporting staffing agencies, accessed talent through local workforce development programs, organized marketing efforts to create awareness of open positions, and interviewed and hired direct employees that applied through the company’s website.
“This solution worked for us because we only needed these services for a short time,” said Pitman. “The client advisor already knew us and could speak to recruits as if she was an employee.” Accessing these short-term recruitment services through AZ MEP saved ASSA ABLOY $80,000 in recruiter fees, increased sales by $10 million and helped retain $30 million in sales that would have been lost had they not been able to hire the needed staff. In the end AZ MEP was responsible for hiring 120 new employees and retaining 20.