Principal To Expand Operations Company Plans To Establish A Computer Center In Spokane

The Principal Financial Group has decided to locate another of its operations in Spokane.

The Des Moines, Iowa, company will locate a computer operations center here that could employ 100 people by the end of 1999.

The decision to locate this “technology satellite office” here is a combination of the company’s favorable experience with its Spokane Pension Center, which opened in 1995, and the intense competition The Principal is encountering for computer information systems workers in other markets.

“The information technology area is particularly tight and competitive right now,” Susan Houser, a spokesman for The Principal in Des Moines, said Thursday.

In Des Moines, workers are so difficult to come by that The Principal offers a bonus of $3,000 to any employee who refers a successful new applicant to the company.

“It used to be $1,000,” Houser said, “but we recently increased it.”

The Principal opened the Spokane Pension Center here with three employees. The center administers plans for The Principal’s pension operation in western time zones, and currently employs 160 people. That number will increase to 200 by the end of the year.

“I would guess 97 percent of those people are local hires,” said Judy DeBord, the pension center’s director. “We have had very good luck in finding qualified people in Spokane.”

She added, “I call Spokane home now, and when I go back to company headquarters, I’m always saying how good a place this is.”

When local colleges and universities agreed to adjust their curriculums to include those sets of computer skills needed by The Principal, the company decided to make Spokane the site of its newest pension business systems satellite. The company has three similar operations in Iowa and Nebraska.

“The Midwest graduates lots of technology grads,” DeBord said, “but they are going to the Silicon Valley and California. Even though we will be competing with companies like Microsoft for workers in this state, we think we can recruit successfully from the east side of the state.

“We think the demographics are looking really good for Eastern Washington and Washington State graduating the masters of information systems workers that we need.”

DeBord said salary levels for the employees of the new operation have not yet been set but, “We have decided we will be very competitive within the state of Washington.”

Initially, The Principal expects to transfer three to five employees from Des Moines to Spokane to start the operation, which will be housed temporarily in the company’s Spokane Pension Center offices at the RockPointe complex near downtown.

DeBord said they plan to hire five additional employees from the Spokane area by year end. The company estimates it will need up to 25 employees in 1998, and up to 100 employees in 1999.

The pension business systems satellite will develop and maintain computer systems that support The Principal’s vast pension business. The jobs initially will include a manager, systems analysts and programmers, requiring strong programming and COBOL knowledge, and excellent communication and analytical skills.

For further information about job opportunities at The Principal in Spokane, contact Debra Hoag, 324-7703.

, DataTimes