Be honest...when you think of Reno, Nevada, what immediately comes to mind? Casinos, gambling, slot machines, keno, 21, roulette and other games of chance? You're only part correct. This city of almost 187,000 people in Washoe County, Nevada has not only those opportunities, but you may be surprised to know that it has a thriving, growing call center industry as well. Over 50 companies (at last count) have found the area to be quite conducive to business growth and development while also delivering world-class customer service and generating new sales and revenues. Thanks to the offices of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN), I was able to spend a few days visiting several of the call center enterprises in the community and talk to many corporate executives in the area about their experiences in operating call centers, administrative support centers, technical support centers and customer service centers.

EDAWN, as it is best known in state and national economic development circles, is a non-profit public/private partnership created to work on behalf of companies looking to launch, expand or relocate operations to the Reno/Sparks/Lake Tahoe area. Working closely with EDAWN is the economic development group at Sierra Pacific Power Company, an investor-owned utility which provides electric gas and water service and stands ready to service even more call center operations moving to the community.

Following are some facts for you to review and consider about the area.

Population

According to the Nevada Department of Taxation and the Nevada State

Demographer's office, the numbers are:

Reno:186,883

Sparks: 71,753

Washoe County: 353,271

The Reno/Sparks MSA population average growth rate was 3.0 percent from 1980 to 1989, 2.8 percent from 1990 to 2000 and 3.3 percent growth from 2000 to 2001, which was almost three times the growth rate for the United States during those same periods. Ancedotal information suggests a number of people moving from California to the area.

Age Distribution

In the population most likely to be employed in call centers, the Reno/Sparks MSA boasts the following numbers:

Age Group           Numbers of Persons
20 -24                    23,677
25-34                     49,088
35-44                     56,040

Racial Profile
White                      73%
Hispanic or Latino         17%
Black                       2%
Asian                       4%
Native American             2%

Income
Household Income
Under $15,000              13%
$15,000 - $24,999          17%
$25,000 - $34,999          20%
$35,000 - $49,999          21%
$50,000 - $74,999          19%
over $75,000               12%

Per capita income in the Reno MSA/Washoe County has grown from $28,603 in 1995 to $34,879 in 2000.

Labor Force

The labor force in the Reno MSA was 195,600 as of April 2003 compared to 197,300 in April 2002, representing a 1.7 percent decrease, with decreases being recorded in the leisure and hospitality industry, but with increases in the financial services industry and the services-producing sectors, This means that new call centers in the market will likely draw workers from the hospitality and gaming industries. The result will be the availability of workers with great customer service skills and backgrounds, as well as workers with information technology skills on which the gaming industry is based.

It should be noted that the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week worker availability is a part of the local workforce due in large part to the gaming industry. This works favorably for those centers seeking a 24x7 workforce.

The April 2003 unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, with 9,200 people seeking employment.

It is interesting to note the projections by the Nevada State Department of Employment with the following predictions from year 2000 through year 2010:

* Management occupations will increase from 13,150 to 17,147,

* Business and financial occupations will increase from 5,155 to 6,726,

* Sales and related occupations will grow from 22,977 to 28,933, and

* Office and administrative support will grow from 38,039 to 45,906.

The educational institutions in the area are also a great source for workers. The University of Nevada Reno has 13,510 students, and the Truckee Meadows Community College has 10,750 students enrolled. Both institutions offer an additional labor supply as well as educational and technical assistance to employers in the area.

Nevada Is A Right-To-Work State

Additional valuable resources are available through Nevada Works, which is the northern Nevada workforce board. It targets federal and private resources to assist employers in developing and training employees. This organization coordinates the efforts of all training partners to provide maximum response to meet employers needs. The Nevada JobConnect, an agency of the stare, provides up-to-date job postings and a reliable system for anyone in the U.S. to review these jobs and e-mail or fax their resumes to Reno for employer consideration. The people I spoke with in this office were extremely committed and dedicated to responding to the employers and the job applicants.

Wages

Some selected wage data for the year 2000 for the Reno MSA are compiled and provide some interesting comparisons:

* Retail industry average annual wage is $21,619, with an average weekly wage of $416,

* Service industry average annual wage is $28,521, with an average weekly wage of $548, and

* Hotels and gaming average annual wage is $22,134, with an average weekly wage of $426.

Many of the call centers related that their starting wages were in the $8.00 to $10.00 per hour range. According to one survey conducted by a local staffing company, an average call center wage is $9.35 per hour.

Call Centers

There are 53 call centers in the area, employing over 3,600 people. Based on my conversations with many of the call center executives, they are planning growth and predict no problems in finding new people to fill the jobs. Some of the larger call center employers are Wells Fargo, West Teleservices, Harley Davidson, Excel Communications, America West, Intuit and SBC, each with several hundred agents.

Table 1 provides you with information on the variety and functions of call centers in the Reno area

It is interesting to note that several of these centers have multilingual agents and offer customer support in both Spanish and Japanese.

Telecommunications

There are multiple telecommunications providers in the area, with extensive fiber optics availability, including Nevada Bell, part of the SBC Global network, and Sierra Pacific Communications, The telecommunications infrastructure in highly digital and redundant with excellent Internet access and wireless capabilities which are in some cases present in selected buildings. AT&T, MCI and Sprint have points of presence in downtown Reno.

It is worthy of mentioning that the Reno Tahoe Tech Center (RTTC), encompassing some 70 acres and 850,000 square feet of Class A office space, is being developed and will have the latest technology advances available, including a point of presence and fiber optics. Redundant Networks is another company bringing state-of-the-art telecommunications and data facilities to Reno. The company will provide highly secure colocation data centers with bulletproof glass, walls laced with chemical fiber and backup systems. This system will be duplicated in Reno and in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Office Space

Class A office space in the Reno central business district ranges from $16.20 to $24.00 and Class B ranges from $14.40 to $16.80 in the same area. Outside the central business district space ranges from $18.00 to $19.20 for Class A space to $13.20 to $14.00 for Class B space.

Reno Recognition

Reno has been recognized for its business attractiveness by a variety of entities.

* The Milken Institute rated Reno as one of six emerging technology centers in the U.S.,

* The American Electronics Association ranked it second in high-tech job growth,

* Inc. magazine has ranked Reno as one of the best places to start and grow a business, and

* Forbes-Milken Institute ranked Reno as one of the top 50 places for business and career advancement.

Expanding your call center to Reno would be a great move. This area has shown admirable growth and stability, coupled with an exceptionally pro-business environment. To find out more about the area, contact EDAWN at www.edawn.org.

I always welcome your comments and ideas for new subjects regarding locations. Remember to visit www.callcentersites.net, the official site for call center and back-office information worldwide for the latest announcements on locations for call centers. You can e-mail me at any time at jbeatty@callcentersites.net.

Table 1

Reno area call centers.

NAME                     INDUSTRY           TYPE OF CENTER

Alee                     medical            customer service
America West             airline            reservations
American Call Center     service bureau     customer service
Answerwest               answering service  customer service
Apria Health Care        medical            customer service
BHC                      service            customer service
Bonanza Nuts & Bolts     manufacturing      customer service
CDS Health Care          medical            customer service
Charter Communications   cable              customer service
Circus Circus            casino             customer service/sales
Cisco Systems            financial          customer service
Comm'l Tele Exch         service            customer service
Credit Payment Systems   loans              customer service
Darby Group              service            sales
Employers Insurance Co.  loans              customer service
Excel Communications     service            customer service/sales
Gizmo Wireless           telecom            customer service
Harley Davidson          insurance          customer service
Hartford                 insurance          customer service/sales
Henry Schein             wholesale          customer service/sales
Hilton                   casino             customer service/sales
Hometown Health          medical            customer service
Horizon USA              wholesale          customer service
Infosearch               service            customer service
Inter-Tel                telecom            customer service
Intuit                   software           customer service
JB Dental                wholesale          sales/research
MDA                      service            customer service
Microflex                manufacturing      sales
Nevada Wireless          telecom            sales
Norwood                  manufacturing      customer service
Omnitrition              wholesale          sales
ORC                      service            customer service
Patagonia                manufacturing      customer service
Quadravision             cable              customer service/sales
Reno Disposal            service            customer service/sales
RGJ                      media              customer service/sales
RSR                      wholesale          customer service/sales
SBC (Nevada Bell)        telecom            customer service
Sierra Pacific           utility            customer service/sales
Sportif                  wholesale          customer service/sales
State Farm               insurance          customer service
Summit Racing            wholesale          sales
Tele-com                 service            customer service
Trinet                   payroll            customer service/sales
Tessco                   service            customer service
UDS Innotrac             fulfillment        customer service
United Blood Services    service            customer service
University of NV Reno    fundraising        sales
UNR Surgery Center       research           research/survey
Wells Fargo              banking            customer service/sales
West Teleservices        service            customer service/sales
Zhermack                 medical            customer service/sales

Source: Hire Dynamics; Reno, Nevada Call Center Executive Forum EDAWN,
Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.