Eli Pace / epace@summitdaily.com
After opening about a month ago, the guys at a new staffing agency in Dillon say they could put 60 more people to work today, and every one of those workers will end the day with a check in hand.
LaborMax Staffing is a nationwide company, and the owner of the newest branch at 130 Main St. Dillon, No. 5, also has eight locations in Colorado and three more in Utah and partners managing other service areas, said Derek Kopunec, manager of the new Dillon branch.
Inside LaborMax’s Dillon office, he and operations analyst Matt McCleskey say they take great pride in changing people’s lives for the better, and the way they do it is by putting those people to work.
“That’s what we pride ourselves in — getting people hired on and really changing their lives — because a lot of times what we do is we hire people that need a check tomorrow,” McCleskey said.
Only two weeks after beginning operations, LaborMax had almost a dozen temporary workers on staff, no small feat in Summit County, where the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the state.
It seems like almost every employer here is struggling to maintain a staff, so how does LaborMax think it can fill staffing needs when so many other businesses across the county are struggling to do exactly that?
“That is the million-dollar question,” McCleskey said. “We’re kind of struggling with that ourselves, but we’ve been open for two weeks, and we now have a consistent staff of 11 people.”
He said they’ve found success hiring through word of mouth and community outreach, and Kopunec added they’ve been going to local churches and charities and hitting the bus stops just to shake hands and make sure people know what LaborMax has to offer.
Given that the agency is so new, LaborMax has started exclusively with flagging contracts for the men and women who run traffic control in construction zones. The pair said they plan to expand into other industries soon and see potential for more construction jobs, construction cleanup, helping businesses move and even work like housekeeping.
“It’s basically a whole gamut of stuff,” Kopunec said about the work LaborMax aims to tackle in Summit County, adding that the agency could help balance out the temporary and seasonal nature of a lot of different industries and jobs up here in the High Country.
He said the agency works by allowing people to do temporary jobs on a flexible schedules, basically allowing them to name the days they can perform the work. Also, LaborMax offers work on a temp-to-hire basis — which helps people secure permanent, full-time placement — in addition to holding some hiring events with bigger companies at the branches.
Workers must be at least 18 years old, and they must be allowed to legally work in the U.S. Transportation can be arranged. LaborMax is equipped to provide in-house training, and many companies the agency works with are unionized.
For the work, LaborMax cuts its workers same-day checks, so they never go home empty handed, the branch manager said. Wages vary based on the job and other factors like travel, but McCleskey and Kopunec said the pay is competitive for what the positions require.
They said wages will vary depending on things like experience, the job, season or even mileage, but the duo prefers not to cut any checks less than $100 for a full day’s work.
“A lot of people want something quick,” Kopunec said about the workers’ motives for signing up with LaborMax, adding that some people needed a second job or don’t want to commit to long-term employment. Others might be retired and looking for a little extra income.
Looking at the roster, LaborMax’s lineup of workers ranges in age from teenagers to people in their 60s with three women and eight men signing up in the first two weeks.
Additionally, McCleskey said, they currently have enough work to put another 60 people in play today, and that’s only with LaborMax’s flagging contracts.
After taking time off from work to care for a disabled family member, Yancey Ramage has been one of the people working with LaborMax, and he’s already picked up 21 days of work with the agency. He said he definitely would recommend the agency to others.
For more information about the agency, go to LaborMax.net.