Another technology operation is on the prowl in the Ventura (101) Freeway Corridor. Accelerated Networks, a telecommunications company that went public in June, is searching for a new headquarters location to consolidate its three existing facilities. The company, which has occupied about 60,000 square feet of space in Moorpark and Simi Valley, is looking for 100,000 to 125,000 square feet in anticipation of a continued growth spurt. “We plan to double the number of employees over the next several years,” said Fred Boyer, chief financial officer for the company, which currently employs about 260 workers. Boyer added that Accelerated Networks hopes to find a campus-like environment that will allow it to expand as the business grows. The company is looking at both build-to-suit and existing buildings throughout the Conejo Valley as well as Moorpark and Simi Valley. “They’ve grown so much and employees have moved into that area, so their preference is to stay in the area,” said Rick Pearson, a broker with Cresa Partners, who is representing the company along with Cresa’s Carlo Brignardello. For the second quarter ended June 30, Accelerated Networks reported a pro forma net loss of $8.3 million (19 cents a diluted share), compared to a pro forma net loss of $3.8 million (10 cents) for the comparable quarter in 1999. Revenues at the company soared to $8.8 million from $1.2 million for the second quarter of 1999. Accelerated Networks expects to continue to operate in the red until 2001, Boyer said. “The loss is not a surprise. We’re investing in building a business, and we’re continuing to invest in research and development, sales and marketing.” Since its IPO in June, the company’s stock has gone from $15, the offering price, to a high in the $60 range. Since late August, however, Accelerated’s stock has been trading in the range of $21 to $26 a share. The company, which has negotiated lease terms that would allow it to move all its employees from the existing facilities simultaneously, hopes to move into a new location by the third quarter of 2001. New Tenants in Westlake Village Westlake North Business Park, the office center developed by Investment Development Services Inc., has inked deals with two new tenants. Thorson & Associates, an insurance company that has been housed in 6,250 square feet of space in Warner Center, has signed a lease for about 20,000 square feet in the center. The second new tenant at the business park is Genuity Solutions, formerly GTE Internetworking, which was spun off as a global service provider serving the Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group. Genuity will occupy about 11,000 square feet in the park. Robert Chavez and Christina Bellinghausen, brokers with Staubach, represented Thorson & Associates. Richard Bright and Lee Black at Cushman & Wakefield of California Inc. represented Genuity. Tom Festa, a broker with Grubb & Ellis Inc., represented the landlord. Van Nuys Sale Kept LLC has acquired a 23,548-square-foot office building in Van Nuys for $1.6 million. The building, at 6946 Van Nuys Blvd., was sold by a private investor, Danny Simon. Kept LLC was represented by Steve McKenzie of Delphi Business Properties and George Stavaris, who recently left Delphi to join Cushman & Wakefield. Cathy Scullin, a broker with NAI Capital Commercial, represented the seller. Burbank Lease Telecommunications company ICF Communications has signed a lease for 14,365 square feet of space at 1700 W. Burbank Blvd. The five-year lease is valued at $1 million. ICF was represented by R. Scott Martin at Charles Dunn Co. The landlord, GAB Inc., was represented by Greg Geraci at CB Richard Ellis Inc. Retail Sale A private investor has acquired a 5,720-square-foot retail strip center in Encino for $1 million. Roy Dimashkieh acquired the center at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Oaks Park from Lately Inc. The center, which sits on an 11,270-square-foot parcel, currently houses three tenants, Mulberry Street Pizzeria, which is owned by actor Cathy Moriarty, A-1 Carpet Market and Barry Cooper Properties. Another retail space of about 1,140 square feet is available for lease. Tom Specker and Scott Silverstein of Charles Dunn Co. represented the seller. Rob Fullerton with Griben Properties represented the buyer. Firm’s Plant Balloons Air Dimensional Design, a maker of inflatable balloons for advertising and other events, has moved into a new facility, more than doubling its capacity. The company has leased 10,832 square feet of industrial space at 14141 Covello St. in Van Nuys from CAST Real Estate Holdings. Air Dimensional Design had been located in a 4,800-square-foot facility on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles. Ron Feder and Jason Hoiby at RJ Feder & Associates represented the landlord. Monte Richardson, a broker with Julian J. Studley Inc., represented the tenant in the deal. Iron-Clad Sale Iron Knob, a manufacturer of ornamental iron works, has acquired a 10,500-square-foot facility in Van Nuys. The company, which employs about 20 people, plans to relocate its plant from Canoga Park in October. Merv Einbund of Westcord Commercial Real Estate Services represented Iron Knob. Ted Roberts of Westcord represented the seller, Rosco Enterprise. The purchase price was not disclosed. Staff Reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 710-2731 or by e-mail at [email protected].

As director of the newly created state department of managed care, daniel zingale is being closely watched by other states eyeing reforms like those he’ll be enforcing Daniel Zingale wants to take managed care back to its roots. As director of the newly created state Department of Managed Care, he is charged with overseeing regulation of the California health care industry and enforcing health care reforms passed last year by the state Legislature. The creation of his department was perhaps the most ambitious HMO reform in the nation and is being closely watched by other states. Since taking office July 1, Zingale has created a hotline (1-888-HMO-2219) and Web site (www.HMOHelp.ca.gov), aimed at helping consumers solve problems and disputes with HMOs. It is the first step in fixing the health care system in California. But his main mission, he said, is to put preventative care back into the managed care equation. It is, he said, the only way to save the managed care system and keep it profitable. Zingale lobbied Gov. Gray Davis for his job. He has spent the last 10 years as a patient advocate in Washington, D.C., first for the American Psychological Association, where he helped create a model for mental coverage under HMOs, and later for AIDS Action. In his latter position, he gained recognition for shifting the group’s focus from the treatment of AIDS to the prevention of the disease. Now he hopes to do the same for California’s entire health care industry. Question: What’s your first priority for this department? Answer: The big answer to that is, to improve the quality of managed health care conditions in California. I think the first step toward doing that is to build an effective and responsive HMO health center, so consumers can call the Department of Managed Health Care when they’re having a problem they can’t resolve and know that they’ll get the kind of assistance they’ll need. I’m very pleased with the progress we’re making with that. We’ve done a great deal of training of the staff in terms of effective communications with the public and making sure they’re equipped with the knowledge they need to empower patients in advocating for themselves. Q: How has the public response been to the hotline and Web page so far? A: I believe it’s approaching half a million visits to the new Web site, which is terrific. And a large number of people are taking advantage of the assistance of the call center. What I’m most pleased with is, the obstacles to patient care have been resolved immediately. Take disagreements between patient and HMO about coverage; in the past, that dispute would sometimes be dragged out for weeks, months and into the realm of extended litigation. Oftentimes it hasn’t been resolved until the harm to the patient is already done and you’re trying to set a price on the harm to the patient. What I believe is happening now is, many more of those disputes are being resolved proactively on the front end, and the patient is being given care where appropriate before we get to that point. Q: Preventative care is one thing you’ve cited as a way to solve the health care crisis. How can you make that work? A: The whole founding principle of managed health care was to keep people well enough long enough to preserve health care dollars, so we could give optimum care to people who are very sick or who need immediate care. But it hasn’t played out that way, for reasons that are complex. In part, it’s because of the transitory nature of enrollees today. They join, belong to one health plan for awhile, then they may change employers or health plans or both, so there isn’t the long-term financial interest there might have been to keep patients healthy. So we’re looking for every angle we can on how to bring everyone to that common ground of preventative health and keep more people healthier for a longer period of time. I believe we can preserve the patient and also save dollars, so that there’s less bickering about health care dollars. Q: How do you plan to enforce the reforms passed by the state Legislature last year? A: We’re doing medical surveys on what the plans are providing and to whom. We also monitor complaints coming in to the HMO Health Center so that, for example, when we received a complaint from a gentleman with diabetes saying he is not being reimbursed for his test strips, which cost about $2 apiece, we’re able to immediately contact his plan and say, “This is exactly the type of low-cost preventative intervention that is so important to everyone who has a stake in managed health care.” And so far, we’re getting good corrective action. Q: How have the HMOs received you so far? A: I would say, graciously and cautiously. It’s no secret that my background is as a patient advocate, and there’s also I think a recognition that AIDS advocacy is the gold standard of patient advocacy, so that appeals to some people and it may be a concern to others. Q: Why did you want this job? A: There were a number of reasons, both personal and professional. On the professional side, I worked for Gray Davis when he was controller of California, I was his chief of staff. I’ve always been watchful for an opportunity to work with him, and obviously his election as governor presented that. The other professional motivation is that I spent the last 10 years in Washington, D.C., as a patient advocate on behalf of mainly people with HIV and AIDS, and to be at the cutting edge of reform of managed care in California is a way to continue my commitment to patients. The third motivation was personal. I was born and raised in Sacramento. My parents are still there and they’re getting older. I have a 5-year-old who I want to be closer to his grandparents. Q: How have your first two months in office gone? A: It’s been exhilarating, because it’s a rare opportunity to build and design a state organization from the ground up. And in this case, it’s a state organization built and designed for quality of managed health care and financial stability of the health care system, and that’s an interesting dynamic and important challenge. Q: How does your experience as an advocate shape your role as director of this department? A: Obviously, it means that I bring a passion about patient advocacy and an understanding that for many people, managed health care decisions are matters of life and death. For men, women and children with HIV and AIDS, the denial of a specialist or a drug formulary can be life and death. At the same time, I learned that there’s a shared responsibility of improving the health care system. Q: How so? A: First and foremost, patients have to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their loved ones. And I believe to make preventative health care work, you have to have full participation of the patient, and the patient has to recognize their responsibility. A piece of responsibility clearly belongs to the providers. They could do a better job on preventative health than they’re doing. And responsibility in California especially rests with the HMOs. It’s the department’s responsibility to try to be the control tower that brings all those together. Q: What is your biggest challenge as the director of this department? A: The hardest part will be to persuade the stakeholders to rise above the old arguments over who gets how much of the old health care dollar pie and focus on the bigger picture, like improving preventative health care. It’s hard to do that when there are financial strains and crises, so I’m working hard to get people to at least devote some of their time and energy to thinking about the ways we can work together and share responsibility. I just came from a meeting that brought major provider groups and HMOs and others together to talk about financial stability for one group and potentially others. From the response, I think everyone recognizes it’s a new era and they want to be participants in that. Playing the old tapes doesn’t work. Q: What do you envision for the overall department? A: I envision a lean and focused department that improves the quality of managed health care for Californians. I don’t think government can solve every problem. I don’t envision an ever-expanding vast bureaucracy to micromanage health care in California. But I do think we can take an important part of the responsibility in the situation.

You may have only considered hiring a temporary for extra help with a project or to fill in for a vacationing employee, but did you know it’s also an increasingly common method of recruiting full-time talent. In today’s competitive employment environment, a growing number of companies are bringing in workers on a temporary or contract basis to assess their skills for full-time positions. In fact, 90 percent of managers polled in a survey commissioned by Robert Half International said they consider it valuable to retain individuals on a temporary basis as a means of evaluating them for permanent jobs. In a separate survey, 23 percent of businesses said they use this approach when hiring full-time support staff. Auditioning for the Job When filling a full-time position, there are significant advantages to first hiring someone on a temporary basis. For example, having the candidate on-site allows you to observe his or her skills, performance and personality to determine whether he or she is the right fit for the position. Evaluating someone’s work firsthand gives you information that is impossible to obtain from a resume or interview alone, thus maximizing the chance of making a sound hiring decision. Using these criteria you should be able to determine the candidate’s fit with the job opening and evaluate whether he or she has the potential to build a long-term career with your company. There are many other advantages to a temp-to-hire approach. If you work through a staffing firm, the skills and education of the prospective candidates will have already been evaluated and their references screened. It’s easy to underestimate the amount of time required to interview and screen candidates and train employees on your own, particularly in a tight labor market. If you are hiring for a newly created position, you may be uncertain of the necessary skill requirements until someone is actually on the job. This can be an opportunity to develop a thorough job description. You may already have an excellent temporary employee handling the work. If so, employing him or her for the full-time position will make for a smoother transition and can minimize any down time as well as the need for training. Is This Hire Necessary? While there are many advantages to hiring a temporary worker full-time, there are two things you need to assess before you extend an offer: First, is it truly a temporary job with seasonal duties creating peaks and valleys in the workload? Second, is it a full-time position? Perhaps it’s actually part-time or, in fact, requires more than one worker to fulfill the responsibilities. The next time you’re searching for someone to work full time, but also require interim help, hiring a temporary professional may be the ideal solution to both needs. Tony Uyehara is the regional manager of Robert Half International Inc. (RHI), the world’s first and largest staffing service specializing in the accounting, finance and information technology fields, and parent company of Robert Half and Accountemps. RHI has more than 280 offices throughout North America, Europe and Australia, including locations in Woodland Hills, Westlake Village and Glendale, and offers online job search services at www.rhii.com.

If it were a movie plot, the predicament facing L.A.-area cineplexes would be a real nail-biter. The parent companies of scores of L.A.-area movie theaters are on the financial rocks, burdened with heavy debt from aggressive expansions and upgrades, a slew of outdated movie houses and lower-than-expected summer ticket sales. As a result, major chains, including Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc., have filed for bankruptcy protection while working frantically to unload unprofitable older theaters, which have been rendered obsolete by new theaters with stadium seating and digital sound. Along the way, leases have been broken, theaters closed, and commercial projects dependent on cineplex foot traffic are running into trouble. And that’s just the beginning. “This is going to cause massive indigestion for the landlords of these developments,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. The stumbling industry has already thrown a wrench into many L.A. developments, and the fallout from the once-touted “re-screening of America” will affect development in Los Angeles for years to come. Some say the shakeout signals that it’s time for the concept of retail centers anchored by movie multiplexes to fade from the scene. Indeed, cities and developers already are being forced to consider other approaches to retail development. One example is the proposed 18-acre Queensway Bay retail project in Long Beach, which initially called for a 16-screen Edwards theater and Imax facility. Edwards has since withdrawn from the project, confirmed Robert Paternoster, who is overseeing the project for the city of Long Beach. (A spokeswoman for Edwards would not comment on any particular development deals, but did say the 736-screen chain is reviewing all its leases as part of the bankruptcy filing.) The city hopes to find a replacement theater chain shortly. But even if it does, Paternoster believes financing future theater-anchored retail projects and keeping them going will get more difficult because of the trouble faced by movie chains. “There may have to be a new mix in some of these centers,” Paternoster said. “The theater is critical because it brings the locals back, over and over again. If the theaters are not there to generate that repeat business, it’s going to be tougher to have those retail stores there.” At J.H. Snyder Co.’s Howard Hughes Promenade project in West Los Angeles, founding partner Jerry Snyder cut his losses early, terminating a deal with Edwards two months ago. “Let’s just say I’m lucky,” Snyder said. Meanwhile, Snyder said he’s lost interest in projects with theater anchors. “That’s not going to happen for awhile, unless it’s select locations,” Snyder said. The trouble faced by theater chains has been brewing for several years. Kansas City-based AMC Entertainment Inc. essentially sparked the nationwide explosion of megaplex construction in Dallas in 1995 by creating an incredibly popular new product featuring stadium seating. Other chains rushed to join the building boom. But as the state-of-the-art complexes went up, interest in more traditional theaters declined. The number of actual theaters has remained relatively flat since 1995, hovering somewhere above 7,000 nationwide. But the rush to go megaplex sent the number of screens skyrocketing from 26,995 in 1995 up to 36,448 as of 1999, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. Michael Florin, an equity analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison, said the newer megaplexes aren’t doing too badly. “It’s the older theaters that are killing profits, and that dragging effect is what no one counted on,” Florin said. But it’s hard for some investors or bankers to wait patiently while cinema companies try to close or sell off under-performing theaters. And buyers aren’t exactly lining up to bid on the white elephants. WestStar Holdings Inc. tried to sell Mann Theatres just 13 months after buying the 374-screen chain from a partnership of Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Inc. for $166 million. There were no takers. Frustrated, Encino-based WestStar filed its voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in September 1999. Four months later, the Mann chain emerged from bankruptcy with a $91 million sale to WF Cinema Holdings a new joint venture of Time Warner and Viacom, the previous owners. Though officials at Mann, Time Warner and Viacom have remained tight-lipped, steps already have been taken toward whittling Mann into a smaller, leaner, and profitable chain. Despite a recently failed deal to sell off a number of leases of theaters along the Ventura (101) Freeway corridor, WF Cinema has reportedly recouped more than half the purchase price by selling all its out-of-town theaters, except for five multiplexes in Colorado. It is trying to unload those Colorado theaters, along with the half dozen or so multiplexes along the 101 corridor, according to a source familiar with the effort. WF Cinema plans to retain about a dozen Mann theaters, and upgrade them.

Anyone can hang out a shingle and call himself/herself a consultant, but finding a good one requires some homework. That’s because selecting the right consultant is like hiring a key manager , even if the business association is a brief one. That’s why it’s important to take the time up front to find the most qualified and best suited individual or firm for the assignment. Consider the following criteria: industry expertise, number of years in business, certification, overall knowledge, referrals from satisfied clients and even personality. Begin with Internal Decisions Before the search begins, start with a clear understanding of your objectives. What do you expect the outcome to be? Designate a primary contact or sponsor inside your company, someone who this consultant will be working with for direction, approval, review and advice. Understand the scope of the project. Not so much in terms of dollars, but time too. For example, you might look at it as an assignment that will take two to three days to complete, but a consultant might see it as a two to three month project. Without one side feeling like they’re giving away the store, an agreement will have to be reached in terms of how much time is realistically needed to complete the project. Determine if the project requires a multi-person engagement. Is a single consultant, consulting firm or group of consultants needed? Lastly, determine any critical elements in terms of timing. If there is no room for project extensions or other schedule changes, make sure everyone involved knows the exact deadlines and expectations in advance. However, once a system has been put into place, if things change within the organization, it is realistic to expect that systems changes will then be needed – do not expect a one-size-fits-all. Avoid Common Mistakes During the initial interview, when the environment can be likened to a sales situation, it is not uncommon for both parties to be guarded. Yet, without a full understanding of everyone’s roles and responsibilities, success is unlikely. It is unrealistic to expect a consultant to be able to fix problems within the company that are ingrained in the company culture. Consultants can work with and assist people, but if the company hasn’t solved a solvable problem, then there has to be reasons. Just bringing in a consultant generally doesn’t make those reasons go away. If the person or committee that originally set up a project changes substantially, it’s important to re-evaluate the project status at that time. Sometimes the replacement individual(s) either don’t want to do the task at hand or aren’t as convinced about the importance of the project as the original people. How likely is that to happen? Very, when someone quits, or is fired, or earns a promotion and moves to another part of the company and is no longer involved in the work or the outcome. This happens all the time, and when it does, it may pose a serious problem. Be realistic about the likelihood of directional changes and project expansion. Once into a project, it can become apparent that the project is more complicated than originally expected. If something bedevils the company, the project may be more difficult or problematic than everybody initially understood, and adjustments need to be made. An outsider really can’t make things happen internally. If the staff doesn’t “buy-in” to the project, regardless of what it is, they may misdirect or ignore the consultant and in one way or another derail the project. As in any relationship, both parties need to be involved for the relationship to work. If not, the relationship falls apart. Beware of consultants who don’t take the time to learn about your company and appear too eager to use an off-the-shelf approach. Be sure unincorporated consultants met the IRS’ requirements for independent contractor status to avoid subsequent tax penalties The same evaluation criteria should apply to consultants found through Internet broker services and the Internet search engines. While both offer new avenues to find consultants, they do not remove the need to carefully evaluate the candidates. Both may imply more with respect to qualifications and credentials than is applicable. Finding the Consultant The process of finding a consultant is not as easy as dialing 1-800-Consultant. Talk to peers and colleagues. Whom have they used in the past? Contact professional associations. Professional management consultants’ organizations often have services to help find consultants. If a license or certification is required, lists of potential candidates are available through licensing boards. Look for Certification The initials “CMC” following a consultant’s name means that he or she is a Certified Management Consultant and has met the certification requirements of the Institute of Management Consultants USA (www.imcusa.org). A CMC has at least three years of experience in the full-time practice of management consulting; has provided multiple references, (most of them officers or executives of clients served), has passed a qualifying interview by senior CMCs; and, has been examined to confirm understanding and commitment to the Institute’s Code of Ethics. The Interview Is the consultant listening to you? Does the consultant have preconceived ideas about the project even before knowing what it is? Are the approach and potential solutions unrealistic? When a group is to be involved on the project, interview individuals who will be working on the project before making a decision. Frequently those who make the initial contacts and presentation are not the ones who will be working on the project. Be comfortable with their approach and the compatibility of the consultant(s) and your company. Ask questions as well as listen to their presentation. For example: What is your applicable experience in the area under consideration? In your opinion, what are the most critical aspects of this project and what will you do to meet that challenge? Please discuss briefly any relevant projects you have completed. In what areas do you expect difficulties, either in the schedule or in the study/design? How do you plan to manage the project and from where? Why should we select you and/or your firm? Personality and Fit Choose the consultant who is inquiring and curious, somebody who wants to know and understand the company, the situation and the content of the project. Avoid an individual with preconceived ideas. Look for a friendly personality in order to overcome possible suspicion from company employees , somebody who is able to build a team, if needed, and effectively interact with the company’s personnel. Once into the project, if people are not working well together, initiate discussion and resolutions before people begin to take sides that harden over time. This will only serve to create as many problems as there are sides of the issue. Fees and Billing Typically the consultant’s bill is based on effort. In cases where the amount of effort can be easily determined before the engagement begins, the fee may be fixed. The fee may also be results-based if this is appropriate. In dealing with this issue, remember that how things go with outside consultants will be similar to using internal employees to perform these same activities when it comes to normal complications and delays that enlarge or lengthen the project. Since these dynamics are difficult to know or quantify before they occur, consultants tend to bill for the effort they invest in a project. In the same way that a project can expand internally it will expand using external consultants and with this expansion will come additional cost. To monitor and control project costs establish benchmarks, include regular progress meetings and reports, and timely billing. The more intense the activity, the more frequent the reporting. Meetings are necessary not only to keep the company apprised of what has been accomplished, and/or what is being worked on, but also to identify as early in the process as possible those things that might somehow compromise the project. Provide an opportunity for the project management team to ask the consultant how things are going. If people are having misgivings about anything, get those on the agenda as early as possible before they become major issues. Get regular billings from the consultant so you know what the costs are. Have a budget, and track the fees against the budget. If you have one person working half time, you get a certain level of cost. If you have ten people working full time, you have another. The goal is to know how quickly resources are being consumed. While an expectation about what the cost is going to be is important, it may be impossible for the consultant to come up with a firm amount initially. That’s because the consultant doesn’t know what’s going on internally in the company. In terms of equipment, costs are easily determined. However, dealing with a business process may not be quite as exact. Be realistic about expansions or changes. If the scope of the project expands significantly over what was initially discussed, expect this to be reflected in the compensation package. Reaping the Benefits Consultants can be an invaluable and cost saving resource to a company. They’re already trained to do the job. But just like any commercial transaction, define your terms and contractual obligations up front to ensure success. The fee and payment arrangements, agreed milestones and timelines for review and completion, reasons for which the contract may be amended or terminated, confidentiality aspects of your resources and professional liability should all be clearly defined to ensure success. Jerry Savin, CPA, CMC, is CEO of SITKA Systems, Inc., a Santa Monica-based management consulting firm. Mr. Savin specializes in information technology assessment and business information systems. He also teaches courses on business information systems and management consulting for universities and professional associations, including UCLA, the California Society of CPA’s (CSCPA) and the Institute of Management Consultants USA (IMC). For more information, call (310) 230-1470 extension 8947.

Clearly, finding a balance between one’s work and personal life is important to workers today for a myriad of reasons. Whether they are new parents, students, caretakers for elder relatives or have simply reached a point in their lives where they are financially stable and want more leisure time, today’s employees demand greater flexibility from employers than ever before. Why should employers concern themselves with this issue? A willingness to work with employees in developing solutions for work-life challenges demonstrates their value and importance to the organization and can often mean the difference between retaining and losing talented staff. The following statistics illustrate how much of a priority work-life balance has become to today’s workforce: A Gallop Poll found that 90% of employees say work-life benefits are as important to them as health insurance. 60% of employees surveyed in a Work/Family Directions Study said the key reason they accepted their current position was its effect on their personal/family life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mothers of preschool children represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce. The 1999 Emerging Workforce Study, conducted by Spherion Corporation (formerly known as Interim Services, Inc.) and Louis Harris & Associates, Inc., found that people who feel their work-life balance has improved over the last five years report a higher level of job satisfaction, increased employee loyalty and a higher level of trust in their employers than those who feel it is worse. All of these items impact employee retention, a critical issue in today’s tight labor markets. Companies that want to attract and retain the best talent are increasingly recognizing that it is a good business decision to help employees find the balance they seek. How can employers address this issue? Open communication between managers and employees about the company’s business priorities and the employee’s personal priorities are key. The next step is to work together to ensure both sets of priorities are met and to be open to experimentation in how employees get their jobs done. Following are a few options some relatively new that employers are offering today. Not all will be appropriate for every organization, and each situation needs to be evaluated independently. Flexible scheduling Flexible scheduling allowing workers to vary the times they begin and end their day , often makes a critical difference to people with outside obligations, such as those who must take or pick up a child from school, and is clearly on the rise, with the percent of workers on flexible schedules nearly doubling in six years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May 1997, the most recent year for which data is available, about 28% of full-time wage and salary workers had flexible work schedules. This proportion, which represents about 25 million workers, is up significantly from the 15% recorded in the previous survey of May 1991. Reduced workweek and job sharing Sometimes great employees with a proven track record need to scale back their hours due to personal reasons. In addition to simply reducing hours when possible, job sharing is another option. This occurs when two people work as a team, each on a part-time basis, to fulfill the work usually handled by one full-time employee. A study of 1,020 U.S. employers by Hewitt Associates, found that 37% of employers offered job sharing as an option in 1997. Telecommuting According to an estimate from the Gartner Group, there will be 30 million tele-workers in the United States next year, and more than 130 million worldwide by 2003. Allowing employees to telecommute or work from home is possible for a number of jobs that require predominantly phone and/or computer work. Many employers today are experimenting with this option by allowing employees with special circumstances to telecommute on a full-time basis or a few days a week, depending on the nature of their positions. Other companies allow employees to work from home on a short-term basis, such as when they are recuperating from an illness that prevents them from coming into the office. In addition to these options, many employers find providing on-site concierge services like daycare, dry-cleaning, work-out facilities, travel planning and car washing services help people balance their lives by reducing the responsibilities they must attend to after hours. While some of these services are cost-prohibitive for small and mid-sized companies, others are easy to set up with a local vendor, and all contribute to the overall impression that you, the employer, care about your employees and helping them improve their work-life balance. Nicole Buckley (District Director, Spherion Staffing Group, 805-494-5020), Seta Shaghoian (Business Development Manager, Spherion Legal Group, 213-688-8770) and Larry Singer (Account Executive, Spherion Technology Architects, 213-351-6508) are with Spherion, the Workforce Architects.

The trip up the corporate ladder for accounting and finance professionals has become a broader leap. It’s no longer sufficient for accounting and finance professionals to just master the latest techniques and trends in their fields, or to acquire advanced degrees, to ensure their promotion. Instead, the promotion track now necessitates that they acquire additional hard and soft training skills. The best way for accounting and finance professionals to increase their chances for being promoted is to acquire a combination of extensive information technology experience and well-developed leadership and interpersonal skills. That’s according to more than 400 companies that participated in a recent survey on accounting and finance training and development issues by Accounting Principals, a firm specializing in the recruitment and placement of accounting, finance, mortgage, and banking professionals. Information technology skills were ranked as the most important professional skills for accounting and finance professionals to develop further in order to increase their likelihood of being promoted, followed by sharpening their trend analysis and forecasting skills. Leadership and interpersonal skills tied as the most important personal skills accounting and finance professionals should sharpen to enhance their career advancement, followed by honing their management /supervisory skills and communication skills. Adeptness in “high touch” has become as important as proficiency in high-tech for accounting and finance professionals. Companies today are placing a higher priority on how accounting and finance managers and executives manage and relate to all levels of employees , colleagues, subordinates, and superiors , especially in the critical areas of interpersonal relations and communication. In addition, a greater proficiency in non-accounting and finance skills, such as information technology, is required for accounting and finance managers and executives who consult with other departments, are members of cross-functional teams, and supervise outside vendors and contractors. According to research by Manchester Inc., a career management consulting firm with which Accounting Principals is affiliated, 40 percent of newly promoted managers and executives fail within the first 18 months of being promoted to higher-level positions. “Failing” includes being terminated for poor performance, performing significantly below expectations, or voluntarily resigning from the new position. The top reason why so many newly promoted managers and executives are failing is because they have not built partnership and teamwork with their subordinates and peers. Soft training skills such as leadership development, interpersonal skills, and communication skills are vital in building this collaboration. In addition, leadership development has become a critical training need of accounting and finance managers and executives because of the increasingly difficult time companies are having recruiting talent in this tight labor market. Companies have become more interested in developing employees they already have on board and providing them with the training required to take on additional responsibility. When companies provide training in new technology and software to accounting and finance professionals, this is most often delivered by current staff members, or through on the job training, according to the Accounting Principals survey. In addition to training in new technology and software, accounting and finance professionals most often receive other career development opportunities through attending in-house courses and being reimbursed for taking outside courses. Approximately one out of four companies have established mentoring programs for accounting and finance managers and executives, and roughly one in 10 companies offers them executive coaching, either through internal or external coaches. Among the reasons that companies set up mentoring programs are to promote the retention of valued employees, to improve employees’ leadership and managerial skills, to develop new leaders, to enhance employees’ career development, and to put high-potential employees on the fast career track, according to Manchester’s research. Executive coaching is offered to sharpen the leadership skills of high-potential individuals, to correct management behavior problems such as poor communication, failure to develop subordinates, or indecisiveness; and to ensure the success of newly promoted managers. Today’s accounting and finance professionals must be at the top of their game within their own functional areas, and must develop the personal and professional skills that enable them to better relate to other departments, colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Susan Woods is the Area Managing Director of Accounting Principals Ltd., a national leader in the recruitment and placement of accounting, finance, mortgage and banking professionals. Accounting Principals is a subsidiary of Prolianz, the professional business and human capital management solutions division of Modis Porfessional Services, Inc. (NYSE:MPS) of Jacksonville, Florida. Visit our website at www.accountingprinciples.com.

Not long ago, an office landlord would reach deep into his pockets to keep a tenant whose lease had come up for renewal. Today, many tenants are finding nothing more than a hard-nosed stare as they gaze across the bargaining table. With many tenants out shopping for space and few vacancies available, particularly for larger tenants in prime San Fernando Valley commercial areas, landlords are no longer willing to offer the rent concessions and other “freebies” they once doled out in order to keep long-term tenants. They would rather let a tenant walk than make a deal that is less lucrative than what they could get with a new tenant. “It doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint to do a deal that is not at market (rate), and that’s probably true in any market,” said Michael VanderLey, a principal at Sagamore Equities LLC. Hard stance His company recently renegotiated a lease with GTE for about 60,000 square feet of space in its Westlake Plaza Centre building. GTE is the building’s largest tenant, but Sagamore had crunched the numbers when it bought the Westlake Village property last summer, and officials were confident that they could fill the space quickly if GTE chose not to renew. When GTE signed its original lease in 1985, the deal included an option that would have allowed the company to renew its lease for less than the current market rate, which averages about $2.25 a square foot per month in the Westlake Village area. However, the option also stated that the building owner would not have to make any tenant improvements modifications made to the space to accommodate an individual tenant’s needs. And GTE’s space needs had changed considerably since it first occupied the building. It took less than a day for tenant and landlord to reach an agreement that raised the rental rate to the market level, and provided some tenant improvements that Sagamore would likely have been forced to offer to a new tenant anyway. “We wanted them to stay,” said VanderLey of San Francisco-based Sagamore. “A tenant of that credit caliber doesn’t come along every day. On the other hand, from an economic standpoint, the market (is now) quite a bit different than when GTE originally signed up for the building.” Tenants renewing long-term leases have, through much of the 1990s, expected renewal terms at rates somewhat below the market rate. That’s because in soft markets, landlords worry that it may take years to refill a space left vacant by a tenant who did not renew, and the rent increase they might get from a new tenant would not compensate for the revenue lost during the down time. Landlords also wanted to be certain they were offering competitive prices at a time when many building owners were offering cut-rate deals because they were trying desperately to fill up their buildings. The result was typically rock-bottom lease rates, periods of free rent or assorted tenant improvements, or a combination of all three. But with vacancy rates in many parts of the San Fernando Valley at single digits, and many prospects knocking on their doors, landlords figure that vacant spaces are not likely to remain empty for long. And even if a tenant does find a suitable alternative, the price tag will be considerably higher than the terms of renewal in most current tenants’ leases. Coupled with the expense of moving, most tenants would rather stay put. A recent renewal in Encino is a case in point. The tenant, who has occupied about 13,000 square feet of office space in the Encino Atrium, recently came out of a lease renewal negotiation paying about 20 cents more per square foot, monthly, than it had expected to pay going in. “When you take into consideration what it was going to cost (the tenant) to move, the landlord played it right (by holding out for a high price),” said Paulette Toumazos, vice president of office services at Daum Commercial Real Estate Services, who represented the tenant (whose name she declined to divulge). “In this market, it’s very easy for the landlord to do that. There’s not that big a risk involved.” Some landlords are understandably reluctant to flaunt their power at the bargaining table. After all, today’s feast could be tomorrow’s famine, and they don’t want to alienate tenants when the market tide turns. At the same time, landlords say, they can’t justify making a deal with a current tenant that is less lucrative than what they could strike with a new tenant. “The only difference you have is the down time, and if you’re in a hot market, you can cut that to six or nine months in order to get a 20 percent or 25 percent increase in rental rates,” Inglis said. “It may be worth it.” Seeing who blinks first Some believe that the new bravado on the part of landlords is little more than a negotiating ploy. They point out that, despite the strong market, it can still take a long time for a landlord to replace a tenant. And some building owners may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage when going up against new facilities recently completed or under construction, which are charging only slightly higher rents. “I feel it’s more a matter of, (landlords) want to test the waters,” said Rick Pearson, a broker with Cresa Partners. “A lot of tenants make the mistake of sending the landlord the message that they want to stay, and the landlords take advantage of that, especially now.” Pearson’s advice to tenants is to adapt the same tough bargaining stance, making it clear that they are willing to move on if they don’t get the deal they want. But in the end, even tenants that try to drive a hard bargain are likely to find there is little they can do to turn a landlord’s market to their advantage. Even if they do find alternatives to meet their needs, the new space would likely come at the same rate that their current landlord is charging and, in moving, they would incur considerable additional costs in time, money and disruption to their business. “(Moving to a new location) is very expensive,” said Angie Weber, a broker with Daum. “It’s hard dollars, and the bigger the client, the bigger the cost.”

irked by noise, traffic, longtime residents flee for smaller areas John and Patti Tohill are packing up and moving out. They’ve had it with the traffic, the crowds, the stress and anonymity of urban living. They want space, a view of something other than their neighbors’ backyard, and a community to call home. The lament echoes from Santa Monica to Sherman Oaks, but the Tohills aren’t talking about L.A. at all. They’re talking about Santa Clarita. “It’s ironic,” said Patti Tohill. “We moved from the San Fernando Valley to get out of the hectic pace, and moved out here because it was very rural, and now this is becoming what I remember the Valley to be.” It’s taken Newhall Land & Farming Co. 35 years to carve a complete, self-contained city from the huge expanse of land it first set out to develop in 1965. But the realization of the developer’s dream has shattered another one. The once-bucolic hillsides are now crisscrossed by major roads. Homes stand 10 feet apart. And shopping malls have popped up in place of farmland. Santa Clarita is still drawing new residents and businesses in large numbers. But some of its earliest residents, like the Tohills, are heading for higher ground, making their way to communities like Agua Dulce and Acton, 25 miles to the northeast. “Probably one-third of our clients come from Santa Clarita,” said Linda Kirk, whose company, Realty Executives, handles homes in the Acton and Agua Dulce areas in addition to the Santa Clarita Valley. “When I started working here (in Acton) in 1978, there were probably 500 houses. Now there’s about 1,200.” Urban character When Newhall Land first engaged Victor Gruen to design a city on the floor of the Santa Clarita Valley, the company hoped to build a community where people could live, work and play. That dream has come to pass. The Valencia area is the urban hub of the city of Santa Clarita, which also includes Newhall, Saugus and Canyon Country. Valencia alone boasts about 200,000 residents and 60,000 jobs. Some 800 companies have moved into the 4,500-acre commercial park called Valencia Gateway. There are two major shopping centers, movie theaters, health clubs, a golf course and hotel. Santa Clarita Valley’s five schools routinely place in the top 10 percent in the nation when it comes to academic performance, and the city of Santa Clarita has been ranked the fourth-safest in the nation. With migration continuing unabated, Newhall Land is now planning a new development of 21,000 homes just west of Valencia. But as newcomers continue to follow their bliss to Santa Clarita, the dream has gone bust for many others who came years ago in search of wide-open spaces. The earliest settlers have seen open space shrink and traffic worsen considerably. “I think we’re being overwhelmed by more building, which is causing more people and more traffic, which is causing our stress level to go up,” Patti Tohill said. “Cutting across Canyon Country, you can’t do that at 5 in the afternoon, and if there’s a traffic accident down Soledad (Canyon Road), forget it. Friday nights are the worst. Plan on leaving early because it is congested.” At the same time, land in Santa Clarita has grown scarce. The typical home there, with a median price of about $300,000, sits on a lot of 4,000 to 10,000 square feet. For some people, that’s simply not enough space. “People are coming to Acton because they want bigger pieces of property,” said Wendy Offshack, a broker with Century 21 Executives. Homes on an acre or more in Acton or Agua Dulce go for just a little more than much smaller homes in Santa Clarita. “We’re starting at $400,000 for a 3,200-square-foot house on a two-acre lot, and now we’re selling readily because the price for a similar house in Santa Clarita on a 6,000-foot lot which puts you 10 feet from your neighbor is $300,000 to $400,000,” said Roger Werbel, president of Werbco Construction Corp. He said Werbco has sold all 20 houses in the first two phases of its Sierra Colony Ranch development, which will include 56 homes when it’s completed. Wide open spaces Both Acton and Agua Dulce restrict building on less than one acre of land, and there are guidelines requiring setbacks of at least 50 feet, compared to 20 feet for Santa Clarita. “It’s a much more rural, estate feel,” said Joel McLafferty, president of Crescent Bay Land Co., which is currently developing about 350 acres in Acton. McLafferty points out that with the traffic congestion in Santa Clarita, homeowners commuting from Los Angeles can drive to Acton in the same amount of time and get more for their money. “The market has been good in Acton,” he said. It was land that brought Gail Ortiz, public information officer for the city of Santa Clarita, and her family to Acton last November. Escalating land prices made Ortiz’s dream of owning horse property unaffordable in Santa Clarita, but her own Santa Clarita home had also appreciated 26 percent since the early 1990s and she plowed her profits into property in Acton. Ortiz and her family members were attracted by the land prices in Acton. Others wanted to get away from the rapid population growth. “The people that arrived (in Santa Clarita) five or 10 years ago are saying, ‘I moved here because I didn’t want to have so many neighbors, and now look at all these people.'” Ortiz said. By comparison, Agua Dulce has about 3,500 residents, while the population of Acton is about 9,000. A total of about 2,000 students attend the five schools in the Acton/Agua Dulce Unified School District. “That’s like a private school,” said Sheila Cook, a broker with Century 21 Executives who moved from Agoura Hills in 1986. “That is a big plus for a lot of parents.” The towns are so small, in fact, that the Acton Chamber of Commerce sells bumper stickers that read, “Where the Hell Is Acton?” Welcome to Acton Acton has one traffic signal, a blinking light in front of the high school. Agua Dulce has none, but there are a handful of stop signs around town. There are no supermarkets, pharmacies or convenience stores in either town, but Acton has a grocery, Acton Market, and a butcher, Acton Meats, which will cook a roast for customers at no extra charge and have it ready in time for dinner if they call ahead. The same strip retail center houses a hair stylist, bank, post office, Chinese restaurant and real estate office. To find a chain store, discounter or supermarket, residents must travel 20 or 30 minutes. But they say they like it that way. “It’s close enough where we can enjoy the conveniences, yet we’ve got a little piece of heaven out here,” Tohill said.

L.A. mayoral candidates: prepare your pens. With the threat of secession giving newfound political power to the San Fernando Valley, local business and political organizations are grilling candidates about their positions on key Valley issues as never before. More than a year before voters head for the polls, they are asking for written statements from each candidate spelling out their positions on these issues. Last month, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association put out its first mayoral survey, asking candidates to state whether they support or oppose a legislative bill that would kill a separate Valley transit district. VICA supports a separate transit district. And in the next month, Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, the group pushing for a study of secession, will send out a candidate questionnaire asking a number of secession-related questions. The organization will then issue grades to each candidate based on his or her position toward secession. While candidate surveys are nothing new for political elections, the Valley efforts are more organized than in previous years and press candidates to address early the most controversial city issue secession. “There have always been groups asking candidates their position on the Valley,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. “Obviously, there’s been such organizing around gathering signatures for the (secession) study, and they’re much more organized than before.” This time, Guerra said, Valley organizations are not only more unified but have a better feel for the major issues affecting the Valley because they have been out gathering signatures and, to some extent, taking the temperature of Valley voters. Richard Katz, a former Valley assemblyman who organized the VICA effort, said VICA members were angry that candidates were giving ambiguous answers to questions, and many of those currently holding public office were voting against VICA’s positions on various legislation. “The Valley has gone through other elections where our votes are taken for granted,” Katz said. “This is a way to hold people accountable.” The goal is threefold, Katz said. First, the group hopes to educate the candidates about VICA’s positions on business issues impacting the Valley. Second, candidates can be evaluated based on their responses to the questions. And third, the survey prevents candidates from voting on a position VICA opposes and then saying they didn’t know the group was against it. Getting its views across Katz said candidates come to VICA for endorsements and support, but by putting out position papers asking candidates to state their own positions, the group is going to the candidates before the candidates come to them. “We decided to take a proactive view this time,” Katz said. “We’re saying, ‘Here is our position in the business community, and if you are mayor, do you support our view?'” Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, said the group is planning a similar drive this fall. “We don’t endorse candidates, so this is a way to publicize who we’re friends with and who are not friends,” Close said. VOTE decided on the grades after Service Employees International Union Local 347, which represents city workers, asked mayoral candidates in May to sign a pledge against secession. Four of the five mayoral candidates responded to VICA’s survey by the Aug. 4 deadline real estate developer Steve Soboroff, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, City Councilman Joel Wachs and Congressman Xavier Becerra. City Attorney James Hahn failed to respond. VICA also sent a survey to state Controller Kathleen Connell, who is expected to announce her candidacy soon; she didn’t send in a response because she hadn’t yet thrown her hat in the ring, according to a spokesman. Hahn didn’t return calls from the Business Journal. “I feel like I want to be very accessible to them to answer their questions,” Soboroff said. “It’s another way to see what a community’s interests are.” Villaraigosa sent in the survey but refused to sign pledges on his positions, instead spelling out his general feelings on the issues without making solid commitments. “The goal is to communicate his position to as many groups as are interested, particularly high-profile groups that share the information with their constituencies,” said Elena Stern, director of communications for Villaraigosa. “He’s hesitant to take pledges per se and he believes he can make his position known without taking a blood oath.” Important group of voters Katz was nonplussed about the fact that not all candidates responded. “I think it’s successful even if no one responds,” Katz said. “If someone decides not to respond, it sends a message. Those that don’t respond do it at their own peril.” While the Valley accounts for one-third of L.A.’s overall population, it has 40 percent of the city’s registered voters. “Those asking the questions are opinion leaders and they affect how voters are focused. It matters a lot (if candidates respond),” Guerra said. “You cannot ignore the majority group in an area that includes close to 50 percent of voters.” Yet Valley VOTE’s survey hasn’t proven particularly effective in the past. The group put out a rating for council candidates on similar secession issues in the 1999 race for City Council District 7. Alex Padilla, the winner, got a C, while candidate Corinne Sanchez was graded an A. Close said he isn’t deterred by the poor results. “This is just one of many issues (voters looked at),” Close said. “We never want it to be said this should be the most important issue.” VICA will release its results to the public later this month. And other surveys, on issues ranging from utility rates to business taxes, are being considered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we do it again,” Katz said. Valley VOTE is also considering surveying and rating candidates in the city attorney’s race, because that person could control whether or not the city sues over secession, Close said. Guerra expects other areas mulling secession, such as Hollywood and San Pedro, to follow the Valley efforts.