Coastal Housing Partnerships In Action
An interview with Indigo Systems

EMPLOYEE RETENTION:

A great employee retention strategy requires a great benefits package

Deborah Horne is Director of Human Resources at Goleta, CA based Indigo Systems, a leading innovator and manufacturer of advanced infrared cameras for commercial and military applications.

We recently asked Ms. Horne about the challenges of recruiting and retaining employees in the face of sky-high local housing costs- and how Coastal Housing Partnership has helped Indigo address this dilemma.

Recruiting talent is tough on the South Coast because of its high housing costs. What has your experience been?

It’s a huge challenge recruiting here. Frankly, we tend to recruit only from certain areas like Northern California and Los Angeles, and occasionally from the East Coast – employees from most other regions aren’t prepared to even contemplate these kinds of housing prices. So, yes, it’s a big HR problem.

Yet Indigo has had good success with its recruitment and retention policies. What’s your secret?

First, we have a very successful technology business that allows us to offer strong compensation packages for our employees. Second, we pay 100% of employee benefits. And third, as a member of Coastal Housing Partnership, we offer our employees a money-saving housing assistance program to sweeten the deal.

That’s a strong commitment to the benefits side of the business.

We offer a terrific benefits package because we understand the high cost of turnover. We’re spending more on our benefits package now – more than perhaps other companies might – as a way to retain employees and save money over the long term. The costs of losing an employee can be steep in terms of lost productivity, lost output, lost revenues, and lost morale within the remaining workforce.

The “if they leave, maybe I should too” syndrome?

Exactly. When an employee leaves, everyone else asks, “why?” which leads to “do I need to jump ship too?” So Indigo works hard to prevent this from happening by making our company a great place to work. Coastal Housing Partnership is part of this strategy. We advertise it as a benefit and our employees are utilizing it as a benefit.

But a company like yours is a very attractive employer – surely recruitment can’t be that hard.

We’re on the leading-edge of technology, so it’s often difficult to recruit new people because we’re looking for professionals with specific areas of expertise. We place a great premium on intellectual capital. With some of our more specialized positions, if the individual decides to leave, it might take a full year to replace him/her. That can have a catastrophic impact on our R&D schedules.

And one way to avoid these turnover issues is Coastal Housing.

Last year, our people saved more than $50,000 using CHP. So it is making a significant impact on employee morale. Re-financing, new homes, second homes, even rentals – it makes no difference. The service is available for all kinds of transactions and to every employee we have, even part-timers. On the average home purchase, an Indigo Systems employee can save up to $3,000.

And the legwork at your end?

There is no legwork. Coastal Housing handles everything. We’ve linked their web site to our intranet, so I just stand aside and let the employees deal directly with CHP. It’s been like that for three years now.

For more information about how Coastal Housing Partnership can help your business, call Corby Gage, Marketing Director (805) 969-1025.