1167

RANDY WILBURN, from page 5

Norman says that since the building is situated on landfill, the Millennium will probably prompt building officials to at least look at, and even levy, additional regulations that could add cost to future projects. “Nobody’s panicking except the people who live there. It’s a huge deal that they’re losing property value.” Meanwhile, those who own condos in the Millennium are in danger of losing out on their multi-million dollar invest- ments. “Nobody’s panicking except the people who live there,” Nor- man says. “It’s a huge deal that they’re losing property val- ue.” As of August 11, there were nine Millennium listings rang- ing in price from $1M to $3.5M. Dan Knise, president and CEO at Washington, D.C.-based Ames & Gough, a specialty insurance brokerage with a fo- cus on architects, engineers, and law firms, says a lot of peo- ple and businesses will likely be affected by the Millennium case. Unfortunately, in a case this big, the liability is likely to outpace the coverage. “Any engineer or architect involved with this project or the neighboring project is likely concerned that they will be dragged into this suit,” Knise says. “Someone is likely to raise an issue as to whether or not there was a design er- ror. In any event such a claim is likely covered by the design firm’s professional liability insurance. The only issue there is that most firms only carry $1-5 million, or maybe $10 mil- lion, in coverage.” throw any old offer out there and expect it to be accepted because your company is so great. You have to take into consideration any leverage that the candidate may hold based on their current work situation. Now, if this project engineer came to us and was looking for new opportunities, then this conversation and negotiation and hiring process may be different. But, that’s not the case. We told our client that if this engineer checks off all of the boxes for them based on the current need they should move forward and make an offer. We didn’t want them getting hung up on the PTO issue. You should always make room for negotiation in every offer you make. And, you should take stock of all benefits the candidate currently has so that you can structure your offer correctly. Whether it’s an extra week of vacation, student loan payments, health care co-pays, or timing of the first salary review, it should all be up for negotiation. You just have to figure out a way to make it work. It may sound daunting, but it’s not. The more you get creative with your offers, the better chance you have of landing that great talent. RANDY WILBURN is director of executive search at Zweig Group. Contact him at rwilburn@zweiggroup.com.

Another issue that came up with our client was that they compared this candidate’s situation to a family member of one of the principals who was seeking a job moving from one company to another in a totally different industry where the supply of workers was plentiful. He said, “She was willing to take a cut in vacation time to work at the new firm!” We acknowledged this but had to remind our client that his family member was looking for a job, and this good project engineer was at her firm for more than a decade and was not currently looking for work. Big difference! “When great candidates are sitting in front of you, work hard to not only sell them on your firm and the opportunities that exist there, but also help them overcome any objections that may come up.” At Zweig Group we deal with candidates that are not actively looking, and this raises the bar in the recruitment process because firms have to remember that you can’t just

MILLENNIUM, from page 7

just because a case gets filed doesn’t mean that any particu- lar person or entity actually did anything wrong.” Millennium, of course, says it’s not at fault. Instead, the Transbay authority is to blame. “They built a half-mile tunnel 60 feet underground and next to our building, and they were supposed to [protect the Mil- lennium] – and they just didn’t,” a Millennium spokesper- son said to the San Francisco Chronicle . In turn, Transbay denied responsibility. In a statement re- leased before the lawsuit was filed, Transbay says, “The res- idents’ claims against the JTPA are misplaced; as demon- strated by data collected over more than seven years, full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement of the building lies with Millennium Partners, the developer of the Tower.” “Someone is likely to raise an issue as to whether or not there was a design error. In any event such a claim is likely covered by the design firm’s professional liability insurance. The only issue there is that most firms only carry $1-5 million, or maybe $10 million, in coverage.” With all the finger pointing, drilling down to the true cause of the problem will take time. “They’ll bring in experts,” Norman says. “It’s hard to say how far it will go. It will take a while to figure out who is at fault.”

THE ZWEIG LETTER September 12, 2016, ISSUE 1167

Made with FlippingBook Annual report