Sperry hires himself as new Express Employment owner

Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by yvettedavis in News

by Yvette Davis

For some local temporary workers and job seekers, there’s a new boss in town and a new place to pick up their paycheck.

Jim and Karen Sperry purchased the Wenatchee Express Employment Professionals office from Dusti Elfving on Sept. 25 and have moved the office from 230 N. Mission St. to 411 N. Chelan Ave. Suite B, next to Pioneer Title Company. The office re-opened at the new location Sept. 28.

This is the Sperry’s second purchase from Elfving. The couple also bought Elfving’s Moses Lake office in 2001. With the new acquisition, the Sperrys’ franchise territory now covers Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties. The sales price for Wenatchee was not released.

Jim Sperry said buying the Wenatchee franchise from Elfving had been a goal all along if he proved to be successful in Moses Lake. He said he and his wife worked 50 to 80 hours a week for three years to grow the Moses Lake office to where it is today. And his hard work has paid off, he said. When measured in terms of hours their employees have worked, business at the Moses Lake office is up 20 percent over last year.

He is eager to apply the lessons learned from Moses Lake to the Wenatchee office and hopes to make the Wenatchee franchise more profitable within the next six months through increased outside sales presence. The Sperrys employ one full-time salesperson now who will handle both offices. Eventually he would like to add a second one just for Wenatchee. In the interval he will go out and promote the company’s services to local employers as well.
Sperry currently has four employees at each location.

Express Employment Professionals — which until early 2008 was known as Express Personnel Services — provides temporary and flexible staffing, pre-hire evaluations, upper level executive search and direct hire services. His office’s fee is paid by the employers.

In the past 12 months Sperry has received more requests from companies for temporary and flexible staffing as employers wait until the economy recovers before hiring additional full-time staff. But Sperry said he sees signs the economy is recovering and expects to see more full-time hiring requests next year.

If that happens he may need more room, Sperry said.

He signed a three-year lease on the 1,500-square-foot space. Ron Singleton at Premiere One Properties was the leasing agent.

Before buying his first Express Employment Professionals office Sperry worked as a store manager for Safeway in the Tri Cities and Milton Freewater, Ore. He has 15 years of management experience.

The Express Employment Professionals franchise arrived in Wenatchee in 1985. The original owner was Gene Anderson, who later brought on partner Elfving. Anderson retired from the employment agency in 2000.

Express Employment Professionals is based in Oklahoma City, Okla., and operates 550 offices nationwide and in Canada, Australia and South Africa.

Sperry said he does not plan on buying any additional offices at this time.