During his most recent virtual town hall meeting with employees, Josh Olmsted, President and Chief Operating Officer-Americas, noted that a tight labor market is being made all the more challenging at sites where housing options are limited.
In fact, housing has been so scarce at remote sites including Bagdad and Morenci that workers have cited this issue as a factor either in not accepting a job offer from Freeport-McMoRan or leaving the company altogether.
To help ensure there is sufficient housing to attract and retain the workforce necessary to meet its safe production targets, the company has assembled a project team to look at housing challenges across its remote sites. The team’s goal is to find creative short-term and long-term solutions to this issue. Current and prospective employees can expect to hear more in the coming months.
While not necessarily a biproduct of the project team’s work, an example of a creative approach to housing can be found in Leadville, Colo., where a historic bank building is being used to help solve a modern-day housing crunch that has made it a challenge to recruit workers to the Climax mine.
Bank used for new hire housing
Climax Molybdenum bought the old American National Bank Building last year for $4.5 million with the intent of using it to provide short-term transitional housing for new hires. The property was built in 1891 by one of the community’s most prominent citizens of the time as the headquarters for his bank. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was vacant for years before being converted into a 15-unit apartment complex in about 2000.
Climax purchased the bank building to provide new workers with a place to live for up to 120 days rent-free while they save up enough money to move into an apartment, which typically requires a security deposit plus first and last months’ rent, said Aaron Hilshorst, Manager, Land and Water Resources-Colorado.
Leadville and nearby communities have become quite the trendy location among wealthy ski buffs looking to buy winter vacation homes and work-from-home professionals looking for mountain getaways. As a result, the price of housing has skyrocketed, making it tough for new workers in entry-level positions at the mine to get settled, Hilshorst said. An average one-bedroom apartment in the area rents for about $1,500 to $2,000 per month, he added.
“When we looked at the challenges facing our entry-level employees, most of them can’t come up with the money right away to move up here,” Hilshorst said. “So, many of them who wanted to be truck drivers, mill operators, welders or mechanics would accept a position and then, when they started looking for housing, would have to decline the position because there was no way they could afford it.”
New workers given priority
For now, new workers in the mine and mill operations will get first dibs on the apartments. They will get free rent with the understanding money saved will go to the deposits needed for a regular apartment. The company also is connecting those workers with a realtor to help them find long-term housing, which is available in the area but at a high price.
Having a place to stay in Leadville made a big difference for Jeff Harmon, Truck Driver Trainee, who moved in last October.
“It’s given me a good transition instead of having to drive two hours to get to work,” Harmon said. “Two hours one way and two hours home after a 12-hour shift – that wouldn’t have been good.”
Innovative approaches to housing
Buying the bank building and using it for short-term transition housing is one of many creative approaches being used to deal with the housing crunch in the Climax and Henderson areas, said Tom Green, Manager, Human Resources-Climax Molybdenum.
For about a year, Climax has contracted with a real estate agent to help new hires find available housing and prepare the paperwork that would allow them to prequalify for a lease. The idea is that when a property becomes available, those employees will be able to move quickly to get it and not get bogged down in paperwork.
“The bank building is one piece of the puzzle to see if we can have an influence on housing,” Green said. “It’s become a real staffing, hiring and recruiting challenge for us.