The board of IT staffing provider TSR Inc. (NASD: TSRI) received an offer from QAR Industries Inc. to purchase the company, according to a filing yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. QAR offered $6.25 per share in cash for all outstanding common stock of the company it does not already own.
TSR’s board is currently reviewing strategic alternatives, which include a possible sale of the company. It has postponed its annual meeting of stockholders, originally scheduled for Nov. 28, as it confronts both a proxy battle and two lawsuits. TSR in August adopted a stockholder rights agreement, sometimes referred to as a “poison pill,” to thwart a potential hostile takeover.
QAR owns more than 7% of TSR, according to its offer letter dated Nov. 14 and sent via overnight carrier to the Hauppauge, NY-based company’s board.
“We believe that there is real value in the company and would like to see what its quality employees can do with solid support,” Robert Fitzgerald, president of QAR Industries, wrote in a letter to the TSR board.
“We also believe that as a private company, TSRI can better focus on its customers and core business without the myriad of distractions and expenses associated with operating as a public company,” Fitzgerald continued. “We may not agree on all things, but I trust that we share a common desire to see TSRI grow and prosper.”
The US average weekly wage increased 3.4% year over year to $1,155 in the second quarter, according to data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Among the 349 largest counties in the US, Marin County in California and Lake County in Illinois posted the largest year-over-year percentage increases in average weekly wages, with gains of 11.7% and 9.3% respectively.
New Hanover County in North Carolina had the largest year-over-year percentage decrease in average weekly wages with a loss of 6.4%.
Looking at just the 10 largest US counties, all posted increases in average weekly wages. King County in Washington state experienced the largest percentage gain in average weekly wages at 9.3%. Within King, professional and business services had the largest impact on the county’s average weekly wage gain; average weekly wages increased by $270, or 16.7%, over the year.
Total compensation rose by a median 8.0% to $1.4 million for the top two executives at a selection of 23 publicly traded firms based in the US and Canada, according to a report released last month by Staffing Industry Analysts. Data for the report was prepared by Equilar, an executive compensation solutions firm based in Redwood City, Calif.
The report measured change in total compensation between 2017 and 2016, and median percent change was based on executives who were in place for two complete years or more. Total compensation includes salary, bonuses, nonequity incentive plan payouts, option awards, stock awards and other compensation.
In addition to the Americas, the report looked at total executive compensation for the two most highly compensated executives at 41 publicly traded staffing firms around the world.
The five executives with highest compensation included:
SIA corporate members can download the full report online.
Recruitment software firm Workable Inc. announced that it raised $50 million in a series C funding round. This brings total funding to $84 million at the Boston-based firm which focuses on serving small- and medium-sized businesses.
The company says its software uses AI to automate the recruiting process into a single tool — combining passive candidate sourcing, interview scheduling, candidate assessment and workflow automation. Talent Tech Labs, which monitors the human resource software marketplace, said the company combines corporate hiring data as well as data from online sources in predictive algorithms to recommend candidates.
Workable’s aim is to use technology to make the recruitment process more efficient and save time for recruiters at small- and mid-sized companies, according to a blog post by Workable CEO Nikos Moraitakis.
“Unless you really think that a junior recruiter spending as little as six seconds per resume (by their own admission) will not be outdone by a computer who has observed millions of human decisions and hiring outcomes,” Moraitakis wrote in his post. “Or that your local staffing agency who needs three weeks and a few thousand dollars to produce a long list will fare better than a computer who can match candidates out of a pool of millions instantly and reach out to them with programmatic, hyper-targeted advertising within 24 hours.”
The firm was begun in 2012, but says it now has 20,000 customers and 50 million candidates.
The Conference Board’s US Leading Economic Index edged up only 0.1% in October from September to a reading of 112.1 (2016 = 100), following 0.6% increase in September, and a 0.5% increase in August.
“The US [Leading Economic Index] increased slightly in October, and the pace of improvement slowed for the first time since May,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, director of economic research and global research chair at The Conference Board. “The index still points to robust economic growth in early 2019, but the rapid pace of growth may already have peaked. While near term economic growth should remain strong, longer term growth is likely to moderate to about 2.5% by mid to late 2019.”
Job growth remains strong in Mexico, according to an update on the Mexican economy by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Formal sector employment in Mexico — jobs with government benefits and pensions — grew at an annualized rate of 3.0% in September, falling slightly below the post-recession average of 3.2%. Year-over-year job growth remained strong at 3.9%.
Total employment, representing 54 million workers and including informal sector jobs, increased 3% year over year in the third quarter.
The unemployment rate for Mexico was 3.3% in September, about the same as a year ago.
Looking to the overall economy, Mexico’s gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.6% in the third quarter after the second quarter showed a 0.6% decline.
PeopleScout, a division of TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) that provides MSP and RPO services, appointed Guy Bryant-Fenn as managing director of its Asia-Pacific region. Bryant-Fenn has designed and developed talent management solutions that span both RPO and managed service provider services across the Asia-Pacific region. He is based in Sydney, Australia.
Professional employer organization TriNet Group Inc. (NYSE: TNET) appointed Samantha Wellington as senior VP, chief legal officer and secretary, reporting directly to President and CEO Burton Goldfield. Wellington joined TriNet in 2016 as VP and associate general counsel; she previously spent 12 years at Oracle, where she held senior legal positions.
TechServe Alliance, an association of IT and engineering staffing companies, named Dr. Jay Cohen to a one-year term as president of its board of directors, effective Jan. 1, 2019. The founder and CEO of Signature Consultants has been a board member of the TechServe Alliance for two years, most recently serving as its vice president.
Jobs website ZipRecruiter announced three new board members: Blake Irving, who most recently served as CEO of GoDaddy Inc; Cipora Herman, former VP of finance and treasurer at Facebook and former CFO of the San Francisco 49ers football team; and Emilie Choi, formerly VP of corporate development at LinkedIn
RocketPower, a provider of outsourced talent solutions to technology companies, announced Jeff Baumgarten joined the company as chief operating officer and partner. Baumgarten most recently was head of growth at CloudPassage and previously founded sales enablement at executive search firm Tricendent. Chris Graham also joined RocketPower as partner, executive search; he most recently was at boutique search firm Arete Partners and previously was head of recruiting for mobile commerce company Shopkick. RocketPower provides RPO, recruiting for recruiters, executive search, and HR process outsourcing. It is based in San Francisco.
Lucas Group, an Atlanta-based executive search firm, announced Managing Partner Nick Tucker will oversee the new manufacturing branch within its Denver office. In addition to experience in the US Marine Corps, Tucker has 12 years of experience within staffing and recruiting companies and previously co-founded two companies providing contract staffing and direct hires: Velocity Energy Partners Inc. and Echo Mountain Resources.
The Americas SIA Daily News will not publish Thursday and Friday because of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. The next issue will be published Monday.