Event teaches how to keep employees
The top floor of the steel-andglass Five City Center at Eighth and Hamilton streets offers 360degree views of downtown Allentown and beyond, allowing for plenty of natural light as occupants gaze into the green, rolling hills of the Lehigh Valley. Inside the space, which has exposed ceilings, employees will be able to gather and socialize in the kitchen area, complete with a waterfall countertop.
With that vision in your head, it’s not hard to figure out why it was the venue for a Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. event on Wednesday that focused on how employers can attract and retain workers in a competitive job market.
In fact, retention is exactly how the 13-story structure is helping the Lehigh Valley, by locking up Fortune 500 payrollprocessing company ADP to a long-term lease as the building’s anchor tenant. ADP, which arrived in the Lehigh Valley in 2006, was out of space in the area and exploring other U.S. markets before deciding to lease the top 10 floors of the City Center Investment Corp. building. The company will consolidate its 850 area employees into the building, where it is leasing enough space to eventually house up to 1,600 workers.
City Center President J.B. Reilly said ADP plans to start moving into the building in July. In addition, Reilly said, the building’s second floor is leased to multiple office tenants that he couldn’t disclose, leaving the third floor and some street-level retail space as the only availabilities in an office tower that isn’t even completed yet.
“It just shows you how important it is to have functional, high-quality space to be able to attract and retain employees in today’s market,” Reilly said.
The challenge of attracting and retaining employees is the most critical issue the Lehigh Valley faces today, said Don Cunningham, president and CEO of LVEDC. Indeed, a talent supply study, commissioned by the LVEDC Education & Talent Supply Council and released last year, showed that 89% of the 300 area employers surveyed planned to hire in the next 12 months. But, 71% of those businesses reported having trouble recruiting, hiring or retaining talent.
Within that tightening workforce, millennials are considered the most crucial segment. In the Lehigh Valley, that segment, generally those born between 1981 and 1996, makes up 42% of the labor force, outpacing the 35% national figure, according to Cunningham. And so, Class A buildings within walking distance of apartments, restaurants and retail “are weapons in our arsenal” to attract millennial workers, said Cunningham, noting that his 28-year-old daughter who lives in Philadelphia was among the roughly 100 people in the crowd Wednesday. He said he’s on a “personal recruitment journey” to get her to return home.
And that’s not always an easy sell, especially in a technologically advanced world where an increasing number of employers are allowing workers to do their jobs remotely. That can present a daunting challenge for businesses trying to attract people to a place such as the Lehigh Valley, so employers need to create a brand and work space that inspires creativity, said Therese Beck, director of employee experience at Olympus Corp. of the Americas.
Olympus would know a thing or two about that, after relocating its headquarters from Long Island to Center Valley in 2006. At its headquarters, Beck noted, Olympus has a cafeteria, fitness center, daycare and dry-cleaning services, among other amenities. But since it’s been a dozen or so years, Beck said Olympus has started to think about how to redesign the space.
Dana Nalbantian, studio director and principal in the Morristown, N.J., office of global design firm, Gensler, said that workplace design has become “the go-to recruiting tool” for employers. She noted how modern, attractive spaces “act like a city,” giving employees access to food, beverage and retail.
For Reilly, it’s certainly the expectation that ADP’s workforce, which includes plenty of millennials, will take advantage of the walkability of downtown Allentown, providing more feet on the street to support the city’s array of retailers and restaurants.
Some may even live right next door to their office building.
The first phase of Center Square Lofts, being built at Eighth and Walnut streets, will include 95 apartments, the first of which will be available in early September. Reilly said prospective renters toured the apartments this week. Phase two of that project will include more than 200 apartments at Seventh and Walnut streets, also part of the approximately $225 million Five City Center complex that includes the office tower, a parking garage and apartment buildings.
“We’re very optimistic about the future,” Reilly said.
In fact, he said City Center is now planning its next office building — simply responding to what the market wants.
Morning Call reporter Jon Harris can be reached at 610-820-6779 or at jon.harris@mcall.com