Atlantic Grows in Tough Placement Environment BY SHERI QUALTERS JOURNAL STAFF Staffing firms have stagnated with the economy, but one small information technology placement outfit says its general no-fee policy for temporary-to-permanent workers is fueling its growth at a time when many companies opt for overseas outsourcing. Launched in early 1998 by two former colleagues at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Boston-based Atlantic Associates Inc. now has $5 million in revenue, or about a 20 percent jump over last year’s take, according to co-founders Jack Harrington and John Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, its average Atlantic Associates co-founders John Fitzgerald, left, and Jack Harrington have carved out a competitive advantage for their information technology staffing firm by rarely charging fees for temporary-topermanent placements. number of contractors working at any one time has ballooned from about 45 last year to more than 60 this year. Temporary-to-permanent placements are Atlantic’s forte, said Fitzgerald, but the company also shops out its workers for shorter term assignments. More than 80 percent of Atlantic’s placements are eventually hired by the client company, according to Atlantic. Atlantic settled on the no-fee gambit with its first client, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harrington said. “We used it as a selling tool to get more business,” Harrington said. “It gave them the flexibility to convert staff.” Atlantic’s contracts protect it from companies seeking a cheap way to hire permanent workers by calling for a conversion fee when new clients claim they want a low-cost temporary worker that is quickly converted to a permanent hire, Harrington said. So far, about 95 percent of its placements have not entailed a fee, Harrington said. Eschewing fees for temporary-to-permanent placements is “not unheard-of, but it is uncommon,” said Steve Berchem, vice president of Alexandria, Va.-based trade group American Staffing Association. The association represents about 1,300 companies with roughly 15,000 offices, Berchem said. “Usually where I have heard of no fees is when it has been negotiated or there’s a long business relationship between the staffing firm and client, so there’s an ongoing fee arrangement anyway,” Berchem said. Despite the rarity of across-the-board nofee arrangements for temporary-to-permanent placements, Berchem noted that fee rollback arrangements often kick in when the worker has been on the job at the client company for several months. Yet Atlantic’s clients — including Boston- based chemical manufacturing company Cabot Corp. and Partners Health Care Inc., the parent of Brigham & Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospital — call its selling proposition fairly uncommon. Atlantic is the only company Partners works with that offers no-fee temporary-topermanent workers, said Stacia Talberth, Partners’ corporate director of telecommunications and network services. Many staffing companies offer a reduced fee if the candidate has been placed at Partners for at least six months, Talberth said. “We have converted many of their contractors to perm employees,” Talberth said. “It is a very strong selling point.” Cabot has been working with Atlantic for about 18 months and has been pleased with its pre-screening of candidates, service and rates, said Ted Kelley, Cabot’s sales and e-business applications manager. “Once they got the first one, we’ve been inviting them to bid on other work,” Kelly said. “They’ve won some and lost some.” In one instance, Atlantic found an expert from Houston for a three-week project, Kelley said. Doing the legwork for companies that would otherwise be overwhelmed with hundreds of résumés for any open position is key to client service, Harrington said.