Hertz driving to Florida, leaving New Jersey and Oklahoma in the Dust...

[Gaspar]

They got a nice piece of land in a great area!




About 10% unemployment in the area.
Cost of living index is below the national average at 94.2.

There is 0% state income tax for individuals and 5.5% for corps, as well as only 6% sales tax.

So the move would save them about $50,000,000 a year.  They could finance a really nice campus, and do a lot of expansion with that money.  Can't fault them.  I doubt any form of corporate welfare would be necessary, or would overcome the tax, employment, and lifestyle advantages that already exist.  I suspect all that Gov. Scott had to do is send a Google Earth snapshot of the available property with a note that said "lets talk."

[Oil Capital]

Maybe this is Florida's payback for Lobeck's move of Vanguard from Florida to Tulsa.  ;-)

[heironymouspasparagus]

And it's west Florida!!    Yay!!

[zstyles]

Has anyone asked queen Kathy what she would have done or could possibly do to enhance Hertz to move more jobs from OKC to Tulsa...

[heironymouspasparagus]

Has anyone asked queen Kathy what she would have done or could possibly do to enhance Hertz to move more jobs from OKC to Tulsa...

Rename the state "Florida"...but then she would have to deliver beach....

[Townsend]

For now

Hertz to close Tulsa Service Center, 80 employees to be laid of



http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/transportation/hertz-to-close-tulsa-service-center-employees-to-be-laid/article_4eeb2ea3-9513-54e3-b3f0-ee0ec2caee45.html

Hertz Global Holdings announced to employees Wednesday that it will be closing its Tulsa Service Center.

According to the company, 80 employees will be laid off. Around 100 positions will remain in Tulsa through what the company referred to in its press release as "alternative working arrangements."

This announcement follows the recent completion of Hertz's integration of the operating systems of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., which it acquired in Nov. 2012.

Employees will receive severance payments ranging from four weeks to one year. Hertz said that it is supporting affected employees to find other employment opportunities by providing three months of outplacement assistance, and the company is partnering with the Tulsa Regional Chamber workforce development division to identify and share jobs information.

Hertz also says that it will be providing employees in its Information Technology group with up to $4,000 toward retraining or skill certification.

In a statement Tulsa Regional Chamber President and CEO Mike Neal said:

"The Chamber has remained in constant contact with Hertz since the merger with Dollar Thrifty, once a long-standing corporate partner throughout Tulsa's history. While we diligently kept in contact and remained hopeful the company would maintain a presence in our community, today's news doesn't come as a complete surprise.
"It is understandably however a very difficult time for the 80 impacted employees, and the Chamber and the region's workforce and education partners are already in contact with Hertz to begin facilitating training opportunities and work placement assistance for our friends and neighbors impacted by today's news.
"We're confident this is not a major event for the local economy as professional services, a key target industry sector of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, is performing well throughout the region. We remain hopeful many or all of these employees, some through new training opportunities, will find valuable employment right here in northeast Oklahoma."

[AquaMan]

They treat employees a lot better than what Cities Service did back in the 70's. No help whatsoever when layoffs occurred. There was a severance but certainly no where near a year and no retraining programs or job help. Just close that Credit Union account and don't take any pencils!

I remember applying at Blue Cross/Shield later where the personnel lady told me she had heard Cities had gotten rid of their dead wood. COT told me those Cities people were top drawer, but never hired any of us. Nice.

Don't ever think those were the "good old days".

added: upon reflection I realize how cynical, angry and hostile I still am over the trauma of losing my first real job due to energy cycles I had no control over. I'm sure there are fine people with BC/BS and the city. If you come upon someone who recently was laid off in this industry or whose company got bought or downsized etc., show as much compassion and insight as you can muster. It ranks right up there with divorce, death of a family member and bankruptcy. Actually my life is better for having endured all of those but I didn't think so at the time.

[Conan71]

According to NewsOK, Hertz has told their OKC center to brace for 255 layoffs.

[cannon_fodder]

Wish I knew what we could do to retain corporate headquarters. Really bad run under Dewey.  Mostly not his fault of course, but still...

I repeat my rant above by reference. Without raising our quality of life, companies will always move on to cities with greener pastures. Be that more bribes (economic incentives), more educated workforce, or simply a higher standard of living. Our primary draw at the moment is a qualified workforce in the oil and gas arena and a lot of other people that will work for cheap.

[SXSW]

Mid-sized cities will always struggle to keep very large national company HQ's, unless they are the hub for a particular industry.  Tulsa is an oil and gas hub but even then you may lose a HQ to a merger or consolidation (see Williams).  The best thing you can do is continue to make quality of life better than comparable cities as well as education and infrastructure.  The state regulatory environment (low taxes, regulation, "business friendly", etc) plays a role but not the extent that many believe.

I'm a strong believer as many of you know of building up our higher education options as that is direct link to increasing the high-paying sector of the workforce.  A more educated workforce creates opportunities in industries like tech and advanced manufacturing.  The absolute key is building a larger and more independent 4 year university.  The Tulsa campuses of OSU and OU should both be much larger and less tied to their flagships, especially OSU with its downtown location which could be the state's only true urban research university.  TU also plays a major role and should be larger and more integrated; they should aspire to be more like a TCU or Vanderbilt both private universities that are major job creators. 

[dbacksfan 2.0]

"We're confident this is not a major event for the local economy as professional services, a key target industry sector of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, is performing well throughout the region. We remain hopeful many or all of these employees, some through new training opportunities, will find valuable employment right here in northeast Oklahoma."

Just an observation, isn't "professional service" putting polish on "call center employee" to make it look better? Think you might need to look at who's getting the CoC to push "professional services" as the key industry for NE Oklahoma.

[PonderInc]

Invest in education and quality of life.  Don't waste millions trying to lure large corporations from out of town. Work to keep the young folks around and foster entrepreneurship.  These are pretty simple, proven methods for increasing local jobs.  Entrepreneurs build companies in the city where they live, they aren't shopping for giveaways in far off places.

[swake]

Just an observation, isn't "professional service" putting polish on "call center employee" to make it look better? Think you might need to look at who's getting the CoC to push "professional services" as the key industry for NE Oklahoma.

No, that would also include IT, HR and Accounting.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

No, that would also include IT, HR and Accounting.

Yes, and you can include mechanic, the dry cleaners, Macy's distribution center and janitorial companies as well. But the point is, and a drum beat often heard on this site is "Why do we have all these call center jobs an why can't we attract higher education to Tulsa, and why can't we get major corporations to move hear and attract more highly educated people here" when it sounds like the CoC is selling office space for more call center jobs.

[Breadburner]

They can wear Jorts on Friday in FLA......