(Jon Stark | Photo courtesy of EDCO)
New EDCO Interim Leader Reflects on Economic Realties Facing Businesses in 2022
Adapt and overcome” is the advice from a Central Oregon economic development leader as businesses gearing up for 2022 continue to face multiple headwinds stirred up by the protracted pandemic.
“Through adversity is opportunity,” observed newly appointed Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) Interim Chief Executive Officer Jon Stark.
Stark, who successfully steered EDCO sister organization Redmond Economic Development Inc. (REDI) for 13 years and took over the regional lead role earlier this year following Roger Lee’s departure after more than 20 years at the helm, added, “The challenges facing every business, including increased competition for employees, presents the opportunity to look inwardly and identify policies and strategies that could be improved moving forward.
“It’s not just the more competitive environment regarding profitability and wages, there’s also the quality of life question. In the wake of the pandemic, people have been increasingly willing to reassess priorities and move for better job options and realize this is an employees’ market currently.
“Companies can look at areas such as how to improve candidate flow and streamline the onboarding process or look at technological advancements and new strategies to retain employees, including offering more flexibility in working methods. Information from exiting employees can also be illuminating.
“EDCO itself not insulated from this new reality and the need to mitigate its effects. Businesses have essentially clawed and scratched their way through 2021, and in 2022 we continue to live in that environment.”
Reflecting on the recent past, Stark said EDCO’s predictions for 2021 mostly proved accurate, with Bend and Redmond largely recovering jobs lost to the pandemic by the third quarter of last year, and Deschutes County continuing to show net gains in employment.
“But there has been a lot of pain in that recovery,” he said. “Particularly due to the ripple effect of the pandemic and ensuing inflationary pressures, which has presented both challenges and opportunities.”
Lingering vacancies in employment have continued due to the impacts of the so-called “Great Resignation” — an economic trend in which employees voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse, beginning in early 2021.
Americans have quit jobs at a record pace due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which led many to re-think where, how and why we work, and turnover reached new highs after some 4.5 million workers left their jobs in November last year, according to a recent Labor Department Job report.
People have left positions for a variety of reasons including high stress levels, shifting to remote work, reassessing priorities in light of the pandemic and taking more control of the work and personal life balance.
The tight labor market has also pushed companies to offer better benefits, higher salaries and more freedom regarding remote work in a bid to retain workers and mitigate employee turnover impacts.
Stark sees the value of “growth through adversity” in the current climate, alluding to the experiences of climber and author Matt Walker, who described the disappointment of scaling Everest nowadays due to the predictive and scheduled nature of the experience which removed much of the risk and challenge.
This prompted him to scale another equally challenging, less travelled, peak solo, which allowed him to push beyond preconceived notions of what was possible, embracing the challenge and seeing how to learn from mistakes, recover and apply to the next climbing attempt.
As companies struggle to hire, Stark said a growing number of managers are also looking at increased automation as a way to improve productivity and to reduce workforces through investment in technology.
Central Oregon continued to score in terms of its enviable quality of life, with the rise in remote work and ability to achieve personal goals attracting more people to the region with the ability to move to their ideal desired location.
Supply chain disruption has had significant impacts on inflation, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and tax revenues, but as consumer demand likely slows as a consequence and supply levels increase, the hope is that the general economic picture, particularly the hiring environment, gradually improves.
With construction costs on the rise, Stark said we can expect higher rents locally, particularly for newly constructed space, but that may not stall construction much due to the continued pace of demand.
2022 challenges continued to be inflation and pandemic-related ripple effects throughout the economy and the decisions companies need to make to weather this period.
Businesses should be vigilant regarding what’s happening in their own sphere and in other fields and in terms of the competitive market for employees, Stark reiterated, “The old adage runs true — love them or lose them.”
Regarding recent economic development, Stark observed that EDCO continues to see brisk mergers and acquisitions activity, with companies expanding and adding resources and capital rather than pulling out of the region to grow.
He sees more larger projects in the pipeline, in the mold of Wild Mike’s Ultimate Pizza, which plans to relocate all of its operations, including its corporate headquarters, from Oregon’s Clackamas County to Redmond, as the culmination of year-long discussions between the City of Redmond, REDI and ownership group SA Piazza & Associates LLC.
The company has purchased a 46-acre parcel located at NE Ninth and Antler and will invest some $40 million to construct a new facility of over 300,000 square feet estimated to eventually employ 114 people.
Redmond Mayor George Endicott said the project would enhance the already strong hub of Redmond’s manufacturing and distribution sectors, dovetailing with other notable major players including PCC Schlosser, Medline and BasX.
Stark added, “This is a great example of a public-private partnership to encourage economic development projects in the area.
“The company was looking at multiple locations both in and out of state, and selected Redmond due to land availability, staff responsiveness, access to the Long-Term Rural Enterprise Zone program with its benefits and tax abatement incentives, and the quality-of-life Central Oregon has to offer.
“We have seen bigger expansion projects over the last decade, with companies recognizing the talent we have here and the need to retain quality employees, and businesses have shown they can scale effectively here.”
He said larger developments continued to put the region on the map and in Bend, the City-coordinated Juniper Ridge 500-acre industrial and business park was gaining momentum as added infrastructure readied further larger “shovel ready” parcels for development.
Stark assumed his new role on January 3, observing, “It is an expanded field of view, with the regional perspective and larger staff.
“The current three-year strategic plan is coming to an end at the conclusion of the fiscal year through June, so it is also an opportune time to coordinate discussions looking at our core competencies and how to build on our strengths and best drive economic development in the blueprint for the next cycle.
“We are heading in the right direction regarding overcoming the pandemic, and as the situation eases, hopefully there will be no further major shutdowns and we can build on the recovery and supply chain improvements and see employment continue to rebound — I think we are all ready for some relief!
“We will also see some benefits regionally from the new Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act that will provide expanded infrastructure and capacity building across the U.S.
“One challenge regarding potential expansion is that we haven’t necessarily been able to keep up in terms of the needed supporting infrastructure, so this legislation will help open up arteries, including progressing the Redmond Airport terminal expansion master plan and protecting Highway 97 as a major trade route for moving freight.
“Investing in infrastructure is investing in economic development, including addressing higher utility demands.”
He foresaw continued population growth being more regional in distribution and EDCO continuing its primary role in “setting the table for companies to grow and prosper” and fostering further growth in major clusters such as medical products, advanced manufacturing/aviation, consumer goods and tech-based platforms, as well as coordinating its regular high quality events such as Bend Venture Conference and PubTalk.
Stark concluded that companies needed to continue prioritizing customer service and to take innovative approaches to weathering adversity and looking at new ways to solve problems.
About Economic Development for Central Oregon
Now in its 40th year, EDCO is a nonprofit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create jobs in Central Oregon by: recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations.
