Defense contractor 3 Phoenix, which made Wake Forest its third office in 2010, laid off 24 employees in those three offices last week, according to Executive Vice President Joseph Murray. He did not specify how many of those layoffs were in the Wake Forest office and had not sent a second message with that information by mid-afternoon Wednesday.
A letter provided by one of those who lost a job says the decision was because “changing business circumstances do not support the current labor force and thus you are being separated as part of a reduction in force across the entire company.” The letter also says those laid off are employees in good standing who will receive a positive recommendation to any future employer.
Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce President Marla Akridge said Tuesday it was her understanding the company had “lost a couple of contracts.”
Akridge and her staff have met with some of those laid off and are actively sending out their resumes. She said some have already begun interviewing potential employers without the chamber’s help. “The first priority for me is to find these people jobs.”
Akridge and the chamber are also going to be helping those laid off at The Body Shop, which is leaving Wake Forest and establishing a new U.S. headquarters in New York City. About 145 employees are affected, and Akridge said the company is trying to retain as many of them as possible as it prepares to close local operations in July.
“We’ll be going in there with a rapid response team,” Akridge said. The affected jobs are clerical, computer, sales, marketing and finance, and she said, “These people are going to find jobs” though they may not be in the immediate area.
She is also fielding responses about future uses for the building and apparently has some promising leads.
Town voted money to help 3 Phoenix expand
Less than a year ago, in June of 2014, the Wake Forest commissioners voted unanimously for a $90,000 grant to help the firm build its third Wake Forest building, counting on the estimated tax value of $3.5 million helping the tax base plus the demand for housing and services from new employees, as many as 100.
At that time, planning for the building was underway with construction in the second quarter of 2016 and the second building, built for about 100 employees also, was nearly complete. The first building held about 90 employees. It is not clear how many employees have been in the Wake Forest office.
After that vote, there was some reconsideration on the part of the board, and Finance Director Aileen Staples said the town has not made any of the planned three installments of $30,000 each, money which was to come from the town’s Futures Fund.
The commissioners had acted because there was a fear the company would relocate the Wake Forest office to one of its other locations.
Also a year ago 3 Phoenix was acquired by Ultra Electronics for $70 million initially with additional payments of up to $17 million over the following three years subject to earnings growth.
It acquired the management team, including the five founders, and the 182 employees 3 Phoenix had in 2014.
Ultra Electronics is a group of companies with interests in electronics and other fields besides defense.
