Temp Agency keeps pace with changing job market

By KAITLIN KEANE
The Patriot Ledger

Aug 2, 2006

QUINCY - Since founding Microtech Staffing Group in 1985 to find temp workers for high-tech companies in Massachusetts,

For the Quincy-based provider of temporary employment, that has meant keeping pace with a changing job market by expanding beyond the high-tech industry to include growing sectors like health care and higher education

With $35 million in annual sales and offices in Quincy, Medway, Woburn, Danvers, Londonderry, NH, and Miami, Microtech now coordinates more than 1,300 temporary employees, Donahue said About 30 employees directly employed by Microtech work under Donahue, a 50-year-old Hingham resident, at the company's offices

What factors have changed the temporary staffing industry in Massachusetts?

People leaving the state The (number of people) in Massachusetts has not changed, but with every recession since I've been here, 100,000 middle class residents leave the state and don't come back And they've been replaced by a lot of immigrant labor As a result, a lot of the middle jobs have disappeared and shrunk High-end salaries mean more service people, whereas the middle class doesn't put that much demand on the services That has driven (the demand for) a lot of major services positions

Do you still fill a lot of high-tech positions?

Well, high-tech has definitely changed High-tech jobs are shrinking up here, and there are a lot that have been outsourced to other regions We had a Y2K problem that kept everyone busy, then we went into a recession, then 9/11 pushed more out Then I think when people raised their heads, a lot of the tech jobs had moved elsewhere

Also, the productivity of technology has replaced some temp jobs We used to have a big drafting business at one time With software tools like AutoCAD, actual physical drafting is completely gone And with word processing and programs like Outlook, people are basically their own administrators

What new types of industries have you expanded to include?

Now we are getting more into office and administration (jobs in) downtown Boston We moved our headquarters from Waltham to Quincy two years ago to reach out to the Boston jobs and be near the T I believe the education sector, the health care sector and financial services are all going to be strong players in this region for a long time

How else do you plan to expand to keep up with in-demand industries?

In Massachusetts, real estate costs have gone through the roof, health care costs are (the highest) in the country and you have companies that can't afford to be here We opened an office in Miami and there's a lot of service and distribution down there because of goods and services from South America coming through

A lot of companies want to get geographically diverse The problem is most of them aren't choosing to be diverse here because of the high cost of being here So we are adding on to the Quincy office and looking at some out-of-state expansion in places like Atlanta, Florida, Chicago

How do the industries that need temps differ in Boston and on the South Shore?

The suburbs of the South Shore have a lot of positions that involve sales and marketing, finance and accounting and distribution, but very little manufacturing In Boston, financial services are in a transition now There, we place more in accounting or law firms - In the education sector, we put service people in universities in administration jobs and IT jobs And university events need catering staff

Have Internet services such as Monstercom taken business away from temp agencies?

No, it's just another vehicle It really affected the permanent placement business more than the temp business The Internet is just a tool to help recruit You've still got to screen the people It's like an online dating service: Everyone looks great on paper but you still have to screen them

Are there any factors that have helped the temp business in recent years?

Health care costs are driving temporary demand because (businesses) don't have to pay health care costs for temporary employees That's good for business, but not necessarily a good thing for the people that work here

The only good thing is that they do wind up hiring a good percentage of my people It's good for them because they get hired from temporary to permanent, and it's good for the company because they get a good look at them for a longer period of time than an interview

Are there any benefits to being a temporary employee?

There is a social aspect of it that's good For example, at one time, temp help was a good way to let the Vietnamese community in Quincy get access to jobs they never would've gotten At one point, I dealt a lot with the Cambodian community up in Lowell They weren't in any of these companies, and we were one of the first to put them in there