Child care as a recruitment tool

Digi-Key incentivizes child care to attrac t evening shif t workers

BY KRIS BEVILL

Since its launch in 1972, Digi-Key Corp. has grown to become the sixth largest electronic component distributor in the world It currently employs more than 3,000 people at its headquarters in Thief River Falls, Minn., and a recently opened location in Fargo, N D, but it's not enough The company is constantly hiring to meet its sales growth it added 300 workers just in the first half of 2014 and hopes to fill 150 more positions by the end of the year but finding workers in Thief River Falls, where the population is less than 10,000, unemployment rates are low and job openings are plenty, means the company has had to get creative A busing program brings between 125 and 130 workers to Thief River Falls from East Grand Forks, Bagley and Crookston, Minn , and has potential to expand and widen the company ’ s reach even further throughout northwest Minnesota, according to Rick Trontvet, vice president of human resources The company also offers top-notch benefits, an $850 sign-on bonus for employees who relocate from outside a 60-mile radius of Thief River Falls and a $500 bonus for employees who bring in a new hire who stays for six months. Most recently, the company launched a plan to subsidize child care providers who offer their services to DigiKey’s evening shift employees.

Trontvet says the child care incentive was developed after potential employees said they were unable to accept evening-shift positions due to the lack of child care availability. The company decided to offer potential providers a stipend of $75 per child per week if they would care for Digi-Key employees’ children between the hours of 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. at a reasonable rate. “We give them $75, but we ask them to charge the Digi-Key parents a low and very market-competitive rate, especially for evening child care, ” Trontvet says.

Two in-home providers expressed interest soon after learning of the incentive, according to Cathy Fynboh, Digi-Key staffing manager. Digi-Key expects to roll out the child care program this month with a slow ramp up as employee demand and provider interest increases Fynboh says potential child care providers will be interviewed by the company before being accepted into the program. Approved providers will then be introduced to employees, who will decide if the provider is a right fit for their children

Heidi Hagel Braid, regional director for First Children’s Finance, lead organization for Greater Than Minnesota, a statewide initiative aimed at creating rural childcare solutions using economic development strategies, applauded Digikey’s efforts to improve child care options for its employees by offering financial incentives for providers “In the business of child care, where profit margins are slim to none, that extra cash is an incredibly powerful incentive for providers,” she said in a statement. “What Digi-Key is providing is truly a win-win for employees, child care providers, the company and the community as a whole ”

Trontvet says he anticipates at least half of the child care openings created through the program will be filled by new hires “We’re not just marketing this to our employees whose children may be staying with grandparents or friends at this particular point in time, but we ’ re also marketing it to the region of candidates who are out there to say that we ’ re an employer who provides this incentive If you come to work for us, we can help you out,” he says

One element still missing from Digi-Key’s ability to recruit and retain employees in the immediate area is housing Thief River Falls and the entire northwest Minnesota region is short on apartments and rental housing, and it is hampering the recruitment efforts of many of the area ’ s large employers Trontvet says Digi-Key has teamed up with city officials and near by manufacturers including Mar v in Windows, Polaris, Arctic Cat and Central Boiler to increase awareness among real estate developers to the opportunities available in the region Additionally, Pennington County, of which Thief River Falls serves as capital, is in the process of adding a full-time economic development director whose top priority will be attracting housing prospects to the area.

“We’ve been trying to do everything we can as a company to encourage developers to come and take a chance on Thief River Falls,” he says. “We’ve got a very aggressive growth plan and we think that we will be able to fill apartment buildings with employees for years and years to come ” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com