In 45 years, Phillips Staffing has left its mark locally and statewide
When Blanton Phillips sits at the desk his father, Sam Phillips, once used, he can pull open a drawer and see where his father scribbled notes and figures. It’s a reminder of the work that went into building Phillips Staffing from a one-man shop to one with 10 offices 45 years later. In that time the company has expanded its services to ensure its survival, and also broadened its scope to include greater influence in South Carolina’s workforce development.
Old Need, New Trick
The company started with a simple idea that is common today but was considered innovative in 1968.
As the story goes, Sam Phillips woke up one morning, dressed and walked down the hall to a spare bedroom-turned-office where he hung his jacket on the back of a chair and declared Phillips Textile Careers open for business.
His previous employer, Louis P. Batson Company, had added hiring a sales staff to his job description, he thought it fairer for his company to pay recruiter fee rather than unemployed folks. The idea was unorthodox, but the recruiter agreed, the Batson Company benefitted from a larger applicant pool, and Sam saw a business opportunity.
Friends and competitors told him his idea wouldn’t work. But back then, as now, a large gap between available textile industry jobs and available workers meant employers were willing to pay the unorthodox fee if it would help them get the people they needed.
Sam also needed the idea to work for personal reasons, knowing Blanton was due to be born in six months and his wife, Mary, would be leaving work to care for their new baby.
Through the Years
Today Phillips has 10 offices throughout South Carolina and one in Georgia, serving clients in both states and North Carolina, and about 2,500 staff at those locations on any given day. The business has expanded well beyond filling job slots. The company’s services now include logistics, chemicals and various manufacturing. An evolved textile industry remains part of the mix, though Ed Parris, president of the staffing division, said the company learned from the textile decline not to rely on one industry.
“If one industry got a cold we might get the flu, but it’s not that bad anymore,” said Parris.
Diversification was also a necessity as the company responded to the recession. “We tried to be creative,” Parris said. “We went part-time with some folks so we wouldn’t have to lay anybody off or shut down another office.” The firm also put more emphasis on services such as payroll and HR development for clients.
Sticking With Family
Blanton Phillips grew up to run the company his father built, now known as Phillips Staffing. At 72 years old, founder Sam is still heavily involved in the business.
“I can remember many years when I was a little kid when we’d have dinner, then I’d go off to do something and he’d be on the phone every night,” Blanton said.
Later, after Blanton rejected the corporate careers options he saw as a college grad, he was the one spending hours on the phone for the family business. He joined the company in the midst of a major shortage of workers to repair nuclear power plants. Even though he ran errands at the company since childhood and worked there during college summers, Blanton said he didn’t have a clear notion of the business. He described his early “official” days as a hectic and exasperating “trial by fire.”
“It was crazy work,” Blanton said. “They’d call me and say, ‘We need 20 people in Phoenix on Monday morning,’ and it was Friday at 4:55.”
After a few years he returned to school to earn an MBA. The family business seemed like the best option, so he put his new education to work there.
Today’s Worries
Parris said that the market realities that helped the company grow in the beginning are still driving business today. He joined the company in 2006 with an HR background across multiple industries.
“We’re back again to that supply-and-demand issue where there’s such a skills gap that we need to find talent but also grow that talent, too.”
So Phillips Staffing found it needed to take a leadership role in creating the pool of ready applicants from which it can draw. It is the state’s only private entity certified in the national WorkKeys workforce development program in which South Carolina is a pilot site. The company has also been lobbying to change a state unemployment tax increase approved in 2010, which Blanton says amounts to a tax on hiring.
Those issues play out against the backdrop of increased workers’ compensation litigation that forced the company to add risk-management staff, Parris said, and a national economy that remains disconcerting.
Rewarding Work
Still, Parris said the core of their work is enjoyable.
“One thing I get a buzz out of is we get the opportunity every day to impact people’s lives,” Parris said, “and we try to make that part of our work culture.”
He said several employees have been with the company more than 30 years, as have a couple dozen clients. And the Phillipses are not the only two-generation family on staff.
Parris said helping people figure out what they do best and then turn that knowledge into a career is rewarding work, even when changing times make it more challenging.
