J&L Enterprises has relocated to the former Glass House at 219 W. Seventh St.
Kelly Conolly, co-owner of J&L Enterprises with John Wockenfuss, said the staffing and recruiting firm does so much hiring that they outgrew their old location at 800 Nebraska St.
Open for four years, the company has grown from 60 to 260 employees/recruits and three to 10 office workers. As accounts grew, there was a need for more sales and accounting personnel, so the company began looking for a new building that could accommodate additional staff, said Conolly, who has been in the staffing business for seven years.
"We found out about the former Glass House building before it came up for sale. We were looking for something on a main street that would be big enough to handle growth," he said. "The Glass House was a great building, so we jumped on it."
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They purchased the building on Oct. 1. Before they moved in on Nov. 1, they had their own crews gut the 19,500-square-foot building down to the basic walls and remodel it all.
"It was all dingy, dirty shelves typical of the Glass House. Now it's a vibrant yellow called Sun, and red with black trim to match the Iowa State and Hawkeye colors on their logo. Without any light, it's bright and cheery. Yellow, red and black are great colors from around here and they are all of our favorite colors," he said.
The new J&L Enterprises building features five rooms in the front office and a workshop area on the main floor, two rooms on the second floor (one a large workshop), and a wide open third floor.
"There's about 6,600 square feet per floor, with a freight elevator in the back. We store cars on the third floor," he said.
A division of Premier Services based at 914 Jackson St., J&L Enterprises offers staff solutions for companies by doing all the hiring. They also pay for unemployment benefits, workers' compensation, payroll taxes and insurance.
"The employees work for us. We're the subcontractor. It's almost like test driving a car. Many companies pay money for advertising and interviewing only to find out after two weeks that the employee was not the right fit," he said.
In today's challenging economic climate with escalating costs of workers' compensation and unemployment benefits and the need to transition displaced personnel back to a productive status, business owners are looking for ways to keep overhead costs stable. Since payroll is one of the leading costs for most businesses, every business needs a better solution to control costs, he said.
While helping companies reduce costs and improve productivity, J&L Enterprises provides a management group with an extensive knowledge of human resources, employment, staff, benefit administration, executive recruiting and consulting.
J&L Enterprises, offers employment advertising, resume collection and screening, initial prescreening interviews, selection, training as required by the employer, pre-employment drugs screens, background checks, physicals and individual hiring.
While they have focused on hiring temporary workers and recruiting the right candidate for a position, J&L Enterprises has expanded more into executive recruiting lately, Conolly said.
"We recruit executives nationally for a lot of banks and some industrial businesses because workers' compensation and unemployment insurance costs are going through the roof," he said. "From professional recruiting to temporary help, we can take the HR hassle out of your hands."
