Category Archives: Employment

Downtown Sacramento Partnership Launches ReImagine Activation Micro-Grants

Community, Culture, Economy, Employment, Finance, Infrastructure, Restaurants,

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership recently announced a new ReImagine Activation Grant Program, offering micro-grants to downtown businesses and supporting organizations looking to utilize spaces safely and with social responsibility.

The program also hopes to support local artists – of all genres and platforms—in their efforts to increase the cultural offerings in downtown Sacramento.

Downtown small businesses already benefitting from the grants include: Brannan Manor Restaurant & Spirits, Kodaiko Ramen & Bar, Koja Kitchen Sac Town, Solomon’s Delicatessen, Tango by the River, and Visions of Eden, Inc.

Sacramento Hotels Get Creative to Survive Corona

Business news, Community, Culture, Economy, Employment, Finance, Housing, Restaurants, ,

Countless businesses have been shattered by the coronavirus pandemic and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s  “stay at home” order  The hotel industry might be hurting most of all.

Travel has come to a complete standstill. Weddings have been postponed or held at private venues. Conferences have been canceled. All this leaves Sacramento’s hotel owners struggling. According to Visit Sacramento, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, this time of year, owners expect properties to be at 85% capacity; now they are seeing occupancy rates as low as 6%.

Sacramento hotels are finding creative ways to fill their empty rooms.

Some hotel owners have found creative solutions to fill their rooms and generate revenue. The Hilton Arden West is offering rooms as temporary office space for workers who are finding it difficult to work from home. The Hampton Inn closed, and the owner moved the guests to a nearby sister property, a Holiday Inn Express. He is rationing limited work hours among the housekeeping staff. The owner of a California Inn in Rancho Cordova is in negotiations with Sacramento County officials to lease the rooms as housing for the homeless.

Thousands of hotel workers have lost their jobs. Before the crisis, the hospitality industry employed more than 10,000 workers in greater Sacramento. John Kehriotis, owner of the Embassy Suites in Old Sacramento, and part-owner of the Sacramento Kings, said he had to let go of three-quarters of the riverfront hotel’s employees. 

New Home of Cambria Solutions Brings in New Workers

Business news, Economy, Employment, Infrastructure, Technology,

The Sacramento based technology firm Cambria Solutions has moved to its new location, at Eighth and K streets, after a transformational renovation. The new building is an innovative and inviting venue, which is being leveraged with potential hires looking to join a fun, driven, and top-notch firm.

Cambria is leveraging its newly renovated office space to attract employees

Cambria is a Latin-Welsh word meaning “the people.” Cambria Solutions is focused on bringing people closer to technology that can revolutionize their life. Recognizing that technology is only as good as what people to do it and with it, Cambria is focused on recruiting, training, and inspiring consumers to work with the most up-to-date solutions for business.

New Innovation Coming to Sacramento

Business news, Economy, Education, Employment, Finance, , ,

The City of Sacramento announced a partnership with Berkeley SkyDeck, the startup accelerator program from the University of California (“UC”) Berkeley. Through this cooperation, SkyDeck will introduce seven startup companies to Sacramento to pursue investment and advancement opportunities.

SkyDeck accelerator to work with City of Sacramento

SkyDeck will work with the Sacramento Urban Technology Lab (SUTL) to navigate the city’s business landscape, aiming to establish new, local, high-paying jobs.

When SUTL launched in 2018, it focused on developing, piloting, and growing technology in the city environment. According to the agreement, Berkeley SkyDeck will refer program alumni to the city at no cost. All of the founders of SkyDeck are alumni of one of the UC campuses. Startups accepted to the program go through a rigorous screening process.

Women on Corporate Boards in California

Business news, Employment

A new law, Senate Bill 826, is changing the way businesses are run.

This law requires that publicly traded companies headquartered in California have at least one woman on their board of directors by the end of 2019. By the end of 2021, boards with five directors will have to include two women, and boards with six or more directors will have to include three women. Non-compliancy can result in fines as steep as $100,000.

California is the first US state to mandate gender diversity. This law affects businesses of all sizes, as many companies have all male boards.

Employee Money Sharing

Employment

According to Rafael Jimenez Rivera, GM at Hook and Ladder, the way tips are dispersed among workers is unfair.  He said:

“The system is broken. It’s a flawed system that needs to be corrected.  We feel that the best way to do that is to include the kitchen staff.”

As such, from next year, all kitchen workers will be pulled into the tips that are given to bartenders and servers.  This follows the budget bill passed by Congress earlier in 2018, permitting restaurants in some states (California being one example) to pool tips with kitchen staff.

So from 2019 2.5 percent of the tip will be added to the bill exclusively for kitchen staff.  Regular tip from customers will be split between all workers which is likely to provide a 10-15% pay hike for kitchen staff.

Sacramento’s Job Additions

Employment

Sacramento has had a good track record this last month for the creation of new jobs.  Here, we take a look at some of the industries that were ahead of the game.

In September, Sacramento hired the most physics professors out of the entire country.  Other top recruitment opportunities included research assistant professors and corporate sales reps.

Sacramento fared better than Cincinnati which was the only city “with the second-most new positions for physics professors last month.”  Still, the article found Sacramento to be:

“most competitive in hiring for corporate sales reps, placing fifth among U.S. cities in per-capita openings for that skill set. The city ranked seventh in new jobs for research assistant professors, and 12th for physics professors, again relative to the local population.”

In addition, eClerx – a firm that offers outsourcing services to financial institutions – is “expanding its delivery service in North Carolina and has plans to add 150 new full-time jobs.”

 

Bolstering Employment

Employment, , , ,

The city of Sacramento has taken a variety of initiatives recently in order to bolster employment opportunities.  Here we look at three examples.

The first, is a collaboration between UC Davis and Kindred Healthcare.  An additional hospital will be built at the downtown campus area.  Its main goal is to offer additional impatient rehab services in the area.  But the result will be the creation of an additional 200 jobs.  As well care will become more convenient for patients and their families and treatment availability for the neurological needs of the community will be doubled.

The second is the construction of an aerial target drone.  This will bring 20 to 50 jobs annually for many decades. So far, 50 jobs have been added for work needed on the first part of new drone contract production. The contract was received from the US Navy and has been valued at $37 million.

Following the tragic murder of Stephon Clark earlier this year, one step that is being taken is gang prevention.  To accomplish this, job creation is key as one part of investment in the neighborhood.  One of the key focuses of the Black Child Legacy Campaign is youth employment.  This initiative – a combined effort between the Sierra Health Foundation, 7 target neighborhoods where black kids die more than twice the rate of their white peers, the county and city.   The Sacramento Kings are also lending their support. According to director of Research and Policy for Equity at UC Davis Vajra Watson:

“The only way to expand what it is that young people conceive of for their future is to get them more opportunities to see new places, meet new people, and dream bigger than their parents have dreamed.”

As such, Sacramento is distributing $900,000+ in funding to groups offering entrepreneurial opportunities in low income neighborhoods. The hope is to create 500 new jobs this year.

Working in America

Employment,

Minimum wage in California is already impressive – $11.  But Chick-Fil-A in Sacramento wants to go a step further, not just in cash but also in recognition and job pride. Increasing its hourly wage for some workers to $17-18, as well as the provision of a more livable wage, this is also encouraging more commitment to advancement at work with the new title – hospitality professional.  According to operator and proprietor Eric Mason the company fosters positive relationships with its community, guests and team, and the starting point for that is the provision of a “livable wage” regardless of what the state decides. Even if it is challenging, Mason says, the community impact is worth it.

Meanwhile, May figures for the nationwide economy showed an additional223,000 jobs with a drop in unemployment to 3.8 percent, the lowest since 2000.

Top Sacramento Firms

Employment, ,

In a recent ranking of top firms by Business Journal, Sunworks Inc. was ranked as Top Solar Contractor.  The solar power solutions for residential and commercial markets, stepped up from position #4 in 2015 to the top place of #1 in 2016.

Of the ranking, CEO of the company Chuck Cargile said: “We are honored to have been recognized by the Sacramento Business Journal on this achievement. Sunworks’ local offices installed more than 56,000 AC kilowatts of generation in 2016. This achievement is particularly impressive considering that this high level of output was nearly three times the total amount installed by the #2 ranked company.”