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

[zstyles]

Figured I would start a new topic, the other ones were a little dated.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/05/07/hertz-headquarters-relocate-lee-county/2140561/


Sent from a friend at DTG

All HQ employees in Park
Ridge (other than those employees remaining in New Jersey) and all HQ employees
in Tulsa who are in departments that are moving to Florida and who will be staying
with the company moving forward, will be offered roles in Florida and provided
relocation assistance. Employees who are not able to, or decide not to relocate, and
who do not leave the company for other reasons, will be able to stay in their current
roles until the new HQ is completed and will be given severance consistent with our
existing policies.

[Townsend]

Hertz Corporation to relocate Dollar Thrifty headquarters to Estero, Florida from Tulsa, Oklahoma

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/hertz-corporation-to-relocate-dollar-thrifty-headquarters-to-estero-florida-from-tulsa-oklahoma

TULSA - An unknown number of jobs are leaving Tulsa beginning this year after the recent acquisition of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group by the Hertz Corporation.

Hertz acquired DTAG, which is headquartered in Tulsa, in November 2012.

The company announced on their website Tuesday they will relocate their Hertz's headquarters to Estero, Fla. from Park Ridge, N.J. along with DTAG's headquarters from Tulsa.

According to the statement, consolidating corporate offices "will allow for increased efficiencies and cost synergies across the company."
The jobs will be transferred to the new Florida headquarters over a two-year period.

"After our recent business expansion, we have been looking for the right location to blend Hertz and Dollar Thrifty head office employees," said Mark P. Frissora, Hertz chairman and chief executive officer.  "Florida is the center of the U.S. travel and tourism industry - this move enables us to be closer to leisure and business customers, as well as many travel and association partners."

Hertz and Dollar Thrifty have more employees in Florida than in any other state except California, and Florida rents more cars per capita than any other state. Florida provides ready access to a vast and diverse talent pool, including 3,000 of our own employees, as we grow our businesses. All of these factors supported the company's final decision.

"...In no way should this decision be perceived as a slight to our partners in New Jersey and Oklahoma.  We recognize the significant efforts undertaken in recent years in both states to create and retain jobs, while improving the overall business climate," said Frissora.

Frissora said the company will continue to grow its businesses in Oklahoma and New Jersey, retaining e-commerce and other financial functions in the states.
Oklahoma will remain the primary home for IT, customer service and financial support for the North American business, according to the online statement.

[DTowner]

It always seemed obvious Dollar-Thrifty would move out of Tulsa after the sale.  Interesting that Hertz is now moving the whole operation to sunny (and state income tax free) Florida.

[patric]

Apparently they are leaving their IT and call center here.

[sgrizzle]

Apparently they are leaving their IT and call center here.

For now

[heironymouspasparagus]

It always seemed obvious Dollar-Thrifty would move out of Tulsa after the sale.  Interesting that Hertz is now moving the whole operation to sunny (and state income tax free) Florida.

I guarantee you the income tax issue was nowhere near the top of the list!  It's the Naples area!!!  That's all it needs!

[Ibanez]

Has anyone heard how St. John becoming part of this larger hospital group is going to affect their hospitals and non medical staff?

[Conan71]

Has anyone heard how St. John becoming part of this larger hospital group is going to affect their hospitals and non medical staff?

Unless something has developed in the last few weeks I'm not aware of, should be business as usual.  The last news piece I can find on the alignment with Ascension is Sept. 5, 2012.  I do work with all of SJMC's facilities and nothing has changed at least in building operations and no one has mentioned to me that there are major changes coming.  Operations, housekeeping, and engineering are usually the first areas you will see major changes in a merger.  Capital projects are moving forward as usual, and if anything there's been some lateral moves within the organization which have improved the employment situation of a few employees I work with on a regular basis.

To my knowledge Ascension is not like Columbia HCA or HealthSouth which has a tendency to move long-term facility personnel out in favor of bringing in cost-cutters who have zero appreciation for the existing employment culture within a facility. 

[Ibanez]

Unless something has developed in the last few weeks I'm not aware of, should be business as usual.  The last news piece I can find on the alignment with Ascension is Sept. 5, 2012.  I do work with all of SJMC's facilities and nothing has changed at least in building operations and no one has mentioned to me that there are major changes coming.  Operations, housekeeping, and engineering are usually the first areas you will see major changes in a merger.  Capital projects are moving forward as usual, and if anything there's been some lateral moves within the organization which have improved the employment situation of a few employees I work with on a regular basis.

To my knowledge Ascension is not like Columbia HCA or HealthSouth which has a tendency to move long-term facility personnel out in favor of bringing in cost-cutters who have zero appreciation for the existing employment culture within a facility. 

Good to know. I've been told by my friends who work there, 2 nurses, 1 business office employee and 1 IT employee, that they aren't hearing anything and that a lot of the non medical staff are nervous.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Now THAT is a drift!!

I thought I was ok at it, but I tip my hat to the masters!!

[zstyles]

So what is the opinion that the Tulsa Chamber will come out about any of this in a press release about DTG

[rdj]

They already did.  It was in Tulsa World same day as announcement.

[cannon_fodder]

Corporate handouts are out of control.  Tax breaks.  Job incentives.  Business incentives.  Loan subsidies.  Bailouts.  And constructed new corporate headquarters.  From Citgo to Waterloo Industries... we bribe companies to come here (or to the region) and then the incentives expire and they get bribed to go somewhere else. 

I can't blame the corporations, they exist to make money.  Period.  That is their duty to their shareholders.  Cities/regions are just playing the game - many places don't have a lot to offer business so they throw money at them.  When those places throw money at them everywhere else is pressured to throw money in.  Play the game.

I'd be in a favor of changing the rules.  Taking tax payer money and giving it to a corporation is NOT GOOD for most citizens.  It is good for the few citizens who get jobs out of the deal, but it doesn't help most citizens.  It surely isn't good for companies who have been in the area for a long time and are force to help fund competing businesses (or if not competing, at least help fund someone else's business).  It rewards established companies - to the necessary detriment of competing up and coming companies (read it is anti-competitive).

At the moment, Tulsa is trying to play the game.  We are bidding for companies to move here by utilizing incentives.  TIF, quality jobs, infrastructure, land, and other things.  We also advertise how "business friendly" we are and how low our wages are.  The selling points of the chamber are "we will bribe you as much as possible,"  "we change laws to favor companies over citizens," and "our people are poor."  I think that is the wrong tactic.

Focus on QUALITY OF LIFE.  If educated, motivated, and happy people want to live here... then employers who crave quality workers will want to locate here.  If drawing in new business is based on bribes and working for cheap - we will never get ahead of the curve.  It is a race to the bottom as we have to bribe companies more and have to relay more on low wage workers to tax to get the money to bribe them with.  Quality of life people.  We need people to want to live here - to get companies that want to be here.

If enough Hertz employees in New York would have said, "sure, Tulsa sounds neat" . . . we would have at least been in the discussion.  If countless oil company executives couldn't ever think of moving from Tulsa to Houston, more would have stayed.  The oil around here is drying up.  What we have to sell is our city and our people.  Lets make that work for us.

This is not to say we can't offer economic incentives.  But they need to be smart (TIF/infrastructure), targeted (higher wage, committed to stay, fits out strengths well), and followed up on (if you do not live up to your promises, we get our money back). 

[heironymouspasparagus]

I can't blame the corporations, they exist to make money.  Period.  That is their duty to their shareholders.  Cities/regions are just playing the game - many places don't have a lot to offer business so they throw money at them.  When those places throw money at them everywhere else is pressured to throw money in.  Play the game.

Only in 'Hijacked America' is that their only reason to exist!  Read some Peter Drucker for the REAL reasons in depth.  Sound bite version - they are a tool created by the state for the benefit of society.  Period.  Stockholders are AT BEST an equal partner in that joint venture!  (IF corporations are not a tool to leverage the effort of a society, for the benefit of that society, then there is really no other valid reason for their existence....my quote.)


Quick quote about Drucker - and the book quoted is excellent, if anyone has the attention span necessary to read anything more than a graphic novel;

Drucker taught that management is “a liberal art,” and he infused his management advice with interdisciplinary lessons from history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, culture and religion.  He also believed strongly that all institutions, including those in the private sector, have a responsibility to the whole of society. “The fact is,” Drucker wrote in his 1973 Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, “that in modern society there is no other leadership group but managers. If the managers of our major institutions, and especially of business, do not take responsibility for the common good, no one else can or will.”



Here is a little 'starter kit' for Peter Drucker.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker

[rebound]

Focus on QUALITY OF LIFE.  If educated, motivated, and happy people want to live here... then employers who crave quality workers will want to locate here.  If drawing in new business is based on bribes and working for cheap - we will never get ahead of the curve.  It is a race to the bottom as we have to bribe companies more and have to relay more on low wage workers to tax to get the money to bribe them with.  Quality of life people.  We need people to want to live here - to get companies that want to be here.

I could probably look this up, but I figure some you already have this info or know where to get it.  What large companies, if any, have ever relocated their headquarters to Tulsa (or even OK) due to quality of life reasons?  Or broaden the question in general, and are there any that have moved their HQ's here for any reason? 

I like Tulsa, and OK in general (I took my screen name "rebound" , because I moved back here after several years in other states).  But I was born in OK and so my sense of home is here.  If I were a business started here I might have that same sense of home and stay here as well.  But whether business or personal, I can't see an out-of-state entity moving here only for "quality of life".  Tulsa is good, but not unique enough to create a major draw.