Alene Candles seeks to hire 400, offers $1,200 signing bonus, three-day work week

NEW ALBANY -- Alene Candles, like many companies, is so desperate for employees at its New Albany facility, it not only offers new hires a job, but also a $1,200 signing bonus and four days off a week.

The New Hampshire-based company, which opened its Licking County facility in 2012 and expanded in 2019, announced in April it seeks to hire 400 for its operation in the New Albany Personal Care and Beauty Campus, including 300 candlemakers for seasonal work and 100 full-time, year-round positions.

Rod Harl, company president and CEO, said Tuesday there are still 80 open skilled positions and almost 200 factory positions available. The sign-on bonuses are for certain positions and a restructured shift schedule allows employees to work a three-day, 36-hour week with a minimum hourly rate of $14.50.

The company, one of the nation’s leading contract and private-label candle manufacturers, will increase starting salaries and hourly pay for all employees so everyone earns the equivalent of the 40-hour week previously worked while still enjoying four-day weekends. It has 200 full-time employees and 600 total.

"We need people now," Harl said. "We need people not just to sign on, but stay with us. We’d like to hire people, even temporary, looking for a full-time job. We’re adding people every week, but it’s a challenge.”



Ohio Means Jobs/Licking County workforce development administrator Angela Carnahan said many employers are using incentives such as signing bonuses, retention bonuses, referral incentives for current employees and wages increases.

A $300 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits will end in late June. Last year, unemployed received a $600 weekly supplement ending in late July/early August.

Harl said he believes the supplements to unemployment have delayed some people from returning to work, but Licking County's March unemployment was 3.8%, down from 4.7% in March 2020. Two years ago, the county's unemployment was 3.6%.

"Last year, we offered $600 bonus to come in early," Harl said. "We saw a change in applications. We’re seeing a similar phenomenon this year. It’s bringing people in, but we still are struggling.”

Alene Candles' productivity in 2020 eclipsed its 2019 numbers, despite closing its factory for several months to produce face shields for medical personnel and first responders. The company paid all of its 200 New Albany employees during the shutdown, but 20 to 25 employees volunteered to come in to make the face shields.

Two-thirds of its candles sold are in the second half of the year, and 40 percent in the fourth quarter. The company's growth is expected to continue into 2022.

“We’re finding our customers are asking us for as much product as we can turn out, even though it’s not typical holiday season," Harl said. "It’s the highest demand, at this time of year, we’ve ever seen.”

Alene Candles began manufacturing in a 100,000-square foot space in a multi-tenant building at the New Albany campus in 2012. Then, in October 2019, it broke ground on a $30 million, 280,000-square foot warehouse a mile from its manufacturing facility.

Harl said he's not sure if fear of COVID has kept job seekers away, but said the company has a good safety record.

“It’s tough to tell," Harl said. "We’ve had good success internally. There's no evidence of community transmission on site. We’ve let people go because they're not following safety protocols. Those following the rules have not gotten sick.

“I’d probably say child care, that may be a bigger impediment than fear (of COVID) at this point. We’re also looking at transportation, a bus service to serve people living some distance away, at a reduced or low cost."

He said the Newark-Granville market is important to the company, which also depends on immigrant workers, enjoying a good relationship with the Somalia community. Still, finding workers is a problem not likely going away, he said.

The county's workforce of 91,300 and employment of 87,900 is more than March of 2020 or March of 2019. There were 3,400 unemployed in Licking County in March, down from 4,300 the previous year.

“We knew the location of New Albany would, in time, be challenging for attracting workers, but it’s terrific from a supply chain and integration with other suppliers," Harl said.

“The central Ohio focus has been on attracting companies that create jobs, and that’s terrific for our economic development. But, it's time to get people to move (here). We’d love to help attract people to central Ohio.”