INSIDE — Mining equipment maker invests $15 million to add 150 jobs — Page 5
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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
YEARS
1979
www.msbusiness.com
March 15, 2019 • Vo. 41 No. 11 • 24 pages
PERSONNEL
MANUFACTURING
ENGINE MAKER TO ADD 250 JOBS TO HATTIESBURG PLANT
‘Les Miz’ stays on the high road
By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com
— Page 4
MBJ FOCUS
Insurance & Employee Benefits {Section begins P9} » Climate change and changing weather patterns could impact insurance rates
{The List P13} » Employee Benefits Administrators
DINING {P5}
» Ocean Springs chef makes James Beard list for South’s Best Chef
2019
LaborChex flourishing in fast-growing employment background screening industry » Data-base integration a key to quick and accurate screens, Brandon firm says By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com You can still get hired in a New York Minute – or something close to it. The difference is that nowadays the person doing the hiring knows a lot more about you and can set expectations accordingly, says Ricky Rayborn, a principal and president of LaborChex Inc., a Brandon employment background screening company that did its first job candidate inquiry for an employer in 1991.
In those days, Rayborn and his staff filled their workday with phone and mail inquiries and even some gumshoe work, all in an effort to help employer clients have confidence in their hiring decisions. Phones, letters and face-toface inquiries are still mainstays, but it’s the automated tracking systems and integrated data bases that make the checks seem lightning fast compared with the past and – more important – far more thorough. How thorough? Thorough enough to catch a lot of fibs. A 2018 HireRight report found that 85 percent of employers surveyed uncovered a lie or misrepresentation on a candidate’s resume or job application during the screening process—
Kohler Engines, a manufacturer of industrial gasoline and diesel engines, announced Tuesday that it is expanding its Hattiesburg facility and adding 250 full-time jobs over the next two years. It produces engines primarily for zero-turn radius mowers and residential lawn mowers. The company’s existing Hattiesburg operations currently employ 350 full-time workers in addition to temporary, seasonal employees hired during the company’s peak production season. Kohler, which has operated in Hattiesburg for 20 years, will add the jobs as part of a realignment with the “repurposing” of a plant in Kohler, Wis., the company said in response to query from the Mississippi Business Journal. Kohler said that it would invest “more than $15 million in moving and upgrading equipment and retrofitting the space.” The Mississippi Development Authority is providing a $2.6 million grant toward relocating the equipment and $300,000 for work-force training. The county will provide a tax exemption valued at $16 million over 10 years on personal property, machinery, raw materials as well as a freeport warehouse waiver, Forrest County Board of Supervisors Attorney DaSee ENGINE MAKER, Page 4
See BACKGROUND, Page 2
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