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Local NY times office outsourcing

Five Infosys employees from India are training at the SSC in Norfolk and will be in town for five weeks. The accounts payable work will be performed at the Jaipur campus of Infosys in northern India.

Affected employees were notified of their terminations in January. After training their replacements, the employees will be laid off in May.

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  • 1 month later...

Recent moves gives region more clout in recuiting corporate headquarters :thumbsup:

Lillian Vernon is not the only company in recent years to stake out a spot in Hampton Roads for its corporate base. Wolseley PLC, the parent company of Ferguson Enterprises, has established its North American headquarters in Newport News. French shipping company CMA CGM is building its North American head
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  • 5 weeks later...

Outside investers come calling

Mostly about Nova, but they've got some good stuff about Norfolk too. I guess our profile is really heating up.

Meanwhile, Norfolk is also drawing suitors. The Adler Group Inc., based in Miami, wants to acquire more than $300 million in commercial properties in its home state and in Norfolk. The company likes the Norfolk area because of its similarities to certain areas of Florida, says Vice President Matthew Adler.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been saying that since graduation in 2003. I'm only in the area because I'm from Norfolk and it was easier to rebound here after college than anywhere else. Me and my wife are looking to relocate within the next few years to Charlotte or a place like that. I found out that I'm being underpaid 22-30 grand based on figures around here. I was actually told in a salary disagreement that "they would not let me pay you that kind of money at your age" (what kind of BS is that). I was told that my knowledge base surpassed my age and was politely given an out if I wanted to. In my field (Information Systems), age speaks louder than "plain ole knowledge". I was a teacher upon graduation at a tech school at age 23 and I'm now an Project Manager at 27. Between that time I switch between two jobs and at the second job I was promoted three times, still being underpaid at every promotion. At this company, they consider my salary high; it is compared to other type of employees. That doesn't make it fair. I love my city but they are killing me!!!!

Ok, I'm off the soap box now!!!

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I've been saying that since graduation in 2003. I'm only in the area because I'm from Norfolk and it was easier to rebound here after college than anywhere else. Me and my wife are looking to relocate within the next few years to Charlotte or a place like that. I found out that I'm being underpaid 22-30 grand based on figures around here. I was actually told in a salary disagreement that "they would not let me pay you that kind of money at your age" (what kind of BS is that). I was told that my knowledge base surpassed my age and was politely given an out if I wanted to. In my field (Information Systems), age speaks louder than "plain ole knowledge". I was a teacher upon graduation at a tech school at age 23 and I'm now an Project Manager at 27. Between that time I switch between two jobs and at the second job I was promoted three times, still being underpaid at every promotion. At this company, they consider my salary high; it is compared to other type of employees. That doesn't make it fair. I love my city but they are killing me!!!!

Ok, I'm off the soap box now!!!

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One thing that has definitely made it more difficult is the price of real estate. I was looking at possibly purchasing a home that 4 years ago was $140k and now it's $280k - double the value in 4 years. In nearby NC (Charlotte and Raleigh) you can get much more bang for your buck if you will drive a few miles. In addition wages tend to be higher as well.

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I think it's been said before in the forum....this is not a place where young people settle other than the military....that is why our growth is at a snails pace...there are simply no jobs here. It should be no suprise to anyone that we are at the bottom of that list especially if you've done much traveling outside of HR. Quality of life and housing prices are so much better in place like Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Richmond...I could go on. Competition is really fierce...our little seven cities area really needs a regional plan if we want to improve the quality of life here...I know our leaders are trying....right?

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I don't dispute that salaries in many positions are lower in this region than other nearby cities of decent size. However, they are not picking on you. It is supply and demand. They, like any business, pay what they need to hire someone with the qualifications and ability to do the job. I assume there must be others with your qualifications and ability who they could hire at your salary if you left. If there are not others around willing to work at your price, you need to ask for a raise.

Some places with higher salaries, such as the DC metro area, can also have higher housing costs and more expensive commuting costs, so you need to look at all factors when deciding you are underpaid.

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One thing that has definitely made it more difficult is the price of real estate. I was looking at possibly purchasing a home that 4 years ago was $140k and now it's $280k - double the value in 4 years. In nearby NC (Charlotte and Raleigh) you can get much more bang for your buck if you will drive a few miles. In addition wages tend to be higher as well.
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I agree with many of the fellow forumers in that this region needs to step it up in order to see more growth to be more competitive with other areas...however I also feel that being in the bottom third of this list is better than not being on the list at all. Richmond didnt even get ranked.

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Well Norfolk will never become anything until the state and feds let us move away from the military. Until the DoD loses its rank as the biggest employer in the region we will never grow in business. Plus with all the new taxes on us for roads it makes it less marketable to companies.

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Well Norfolk will never become anything until the state and feds let us move away from the military. Until the DoD loses its rank as the biggest employer in the region we will never grow in business. Plus with all the new taxes on us for roads it makes it less marketable to companies.
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I don't believe it is an either or thing (DoD or Civilian business). NOVA effectively used DOD and other federal institution to further civilian business notably the IT sector. The same can be done in HR with the proper regional vision. But I have heard far to many HR natives say "we are a military town and thats all we'll ever be."

Also, the Roads projects ,although flawed, saved our economic market ability rather to hurt it. We are a port town. The ability to move products efficiently it crucial to our viability. I would much rather market a region with higher taxes with an excellent transportation system than a metro plagued by Gridlock but with low taxes.

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As someone perfectly willing to challenge the conventional wisdom :D , I have to agree that this lack of vision is the chief obstacle in the development of HR.

I have wondered many times what is the root of it. Is it a satisfaction with the status quo? There are many RE developers that have become quite wealthy here by taking the steady military incomes, coupled with a lack of military family housing amidst rising military pay and allowances, and building homes as far as the eye can see. They don't see a problem.

There is another possibility -- that HR is just a junior version of New Orleans. I have spent plenty of time in NO -- starting in my childhood. NO is an oligarchy -- a banana republic if you will. There is a strata of NO that has money, has had money, and will always have money. They view upward mobility as threatening to their social strata, so as a consequence, there is no investment in the community. All kids who can, go to Catholic schools, and the poor are doomed to inferior, underfunded public schools. Is there a strata in HR in general, and Norfolk in particular, that have the same view point? Someone once made the same observation about Charleston (another Southern seaport -- like Norfolk and NO) -- you can come there with armored trucks of money, and unless your familiy has lived there 300 years, you aren't going to be accepted. I've also spent enough time in Charleston to know that is the truth.

Then, there is the possiblity that it is just inertia -- that change causes friction, that friction causes pain, and people just want to avoid pain. Nothing sinister, just human nature. I noted last fall here, that having been to Charleston off and on since 1970, that Charleston is a better place since the Navy left -- just that no one would have believed it before it happened. Inertia is a powerful force -- those that try to challenge it, like the nail that sticks up, get hammered down.

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Nice post. I'm not sure the old money analogy works here, simply because most of the old money left themselves a long time ago or have long since squandered it. There is always a small elite with money that have a disproportionate influence in any city. There is no grand colusion amongst them to prevent others from acheiving wealth or bettering the area, merely that birds of a feather flock together. For well over a hundred years here in Montreal, a small group of Anglophones living in an a couple hundred homes packed together in an area appropriately called the "golden square mile" ran not just Montreal, but all of Canada (~70% of the entire wealth in all of Canada was concentrated there).

Hampton Roads is handicapped by a number of issues, not least of which is transportation, a lack of a major research university, and a relatively high poverty rate. Things are changing though, including people's attitudes, but as you point out that takes time in and of itself. People are always resistant to change, that is human nature and though we would all like to see HR suddenly become a hotspot for prominent corporations, R&D, and a just a general economic boom, those things take time. HR has no natural resource commodities to base a boom on, nor will there likely be a sudden new technology developed here that drives an entire industry. The waterways are both a blessing and a boon for the region, it makes creating roads and linkages expensive, but gives us the ports. Norfolk should be a major city today, but bad luck, wars, and economic malaise, and poor leadership have conspired to prevent it. But for all of its problems, the city is making headway today after decades of falling apart. Portsmouth, in my opinion, is where Norfolk was 15 years ago, turning the corner in other words. Today's announcement not withstanding, VB seems to be realizing that building outward doesn't work forever, and that smarter and better quality higher density development is the city's future key to continued growth. However, we're all impatient to see the dividends.

I just came back home this week from my first trip down there in 2 years, and I noticed a lot of small changes for the better, not just the big developments that we talk about here. I saw a lot of positive development in Portsmouth and downtown Norfolk. ODU is growing and EVMS seems to have gotten past the worst of its financing troubles (though I still think a formal link with ODU would be for the better of both institutions). The biggest thing the region can do for itself is improve transportation links, lobby the state for more money for ODU/EVMS, and work on encouraging and expansion of the expertise that is in HR.

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