EMPLOYMENT

TJX now state's top private employer

Adds 17,000 jobs as others slash

By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 5/20/2003

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ough economic conditions in 2000, 2001, and 2002 forced many companies to slash payrolls. But TJX Cos. recruited 17,000 new workers, making it the largest private employer headquartered in Massachusetts.

The retail chain, based in Framingham, jumped from second to first place on the Globe's list of 50 top publicly traded companies with the largest number of employees worldwide. Some of the growth occurred after the newspaper compiled the rankings, reflecting TJX's aggressive expansion in the United States, Britain, Canada, and Ireland.

The latest figures peg total personnel at 94,000, said Sherry Lang, vice president of investor and public relations.

"We are expanding all of our divisions, including TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, an off-price home fashions concept," she said. "In Canada, we have Winners, a TJ Maxx clone. We bought that five-store chain in 1990. Winners ended last year with 146 stores."

The company opened eight HomeSense stores in Canada last year, bringing the total to 15. HomeGoods, the US version of HomeSense, grew 27 percent; AJ Wright, a discount retail store, grew 67 percent. TK Maxx, the British version of TJ Maxx, grew 22 percent.

Raytheon Co., which was first place for two consecutive years, moved to second place on the list of top employers. The Lexington defense contractor reported 76,400 employees worldwide last year, down from 87,200 in 2001 due to divestiture of its aircraft integration systems and 600 layoffs at its aircraft facility in Wichita, Kan.

Spokeswoman Amy Hosmer said Raytheon expects to hire 1,100 employees in 2003. "They will be engineers, financial professionals, and IT-related employees, with a mixture of experienced hires and college graduates," she said. Raytheon will also continue the cost-containing strategy it began a few years ago, and says it will strengthen its balance sheet by devoting more attention and resources to its core segments.

Two chains, Staples Inc. and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., reported employment gains, suggesting that the office supply and low-priced wholesale consumer markets continued to thrive in a sluggish economy.

"Essentially, we went from about 55,000 employees to close to 58,000," said Paul Capelli, vice president of public relations at Staples. "In Europe, we acquired a delivery business. We also acquired a direct marketing firm in Minneapolis that focuses on office supply products geared to the medical industry, and we are continuing to open new stores."

Last year, Staples was fourth on the Globe's list of top employers, with 53,918 employees worldwide. The company has since moved to third place, with 57,816 workers. Those numbers will probably increase this year as Staples opens 90 stores.

Staples attributed its work force growth to two recent acquisitions:

Guilbert, a European mail-order business. The acquisition, for $946.7 million, will allow the chain to move into the office supply mail-order market in France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium while strengthening its presence in Britain. BJ's staff increased to 15,800, up from 14,700. The change moved the company from ninth place to eighth place on the Globe's 50-member list. The wholesaler posted a 0.8 percent same-store sales gain in December, according to news reports.

Gillette Co. remained in fifth place. Its staff dropped to 30,300, down from 31,500 after the Boston company closed two underperforming battery plants abroad and consolidated other units.

Said spokesman Eric Kraus: "We also consolidated resources overseas, including sales organizations, and we created a shared financial services center in Europe."

Two leading banks remained among the state's top 10 employers. FleetBoston Financial Corp., the seventh-largest US bank, reduced its work force by 6,000 last year, to 50,000. It was fourth on this year's list of top employers.

James Mahoney, director of corporate communications, said FleetBoston closed Robertson Stephens, an investment banking firm in San Francisco. About 2,000 people were employed there. The company also sold AFSA, its student loan processing unit. That firm closed in June 2002.

FleetBoston also closed operations in Asia and most of Europe. "The company has refocused on its core consumer business, personal financial services, and the commercial banking business," Mahoney said. "We are also expanding the number of tellers in our branches, and we will be increasing our customer service capabilities in 2003."

State Street Corp., ranked seventh last year, is now the sixth-largest private employer in Massachusetts. With the purchase this year of Deutsche Bank's global securities service business, State Street added more than 3,000 workers, bringing the total to 22,500.

"That acquisition brought more European clients and more capabilities in Europe," said Hannah Grove, senior vice president of corporate communications. She added that State Street plans to reduce overall staff by 1,800 by the end of the second quarter, due to cost-cutting. A further reduction of about 1,000 employees is expected because of the merger.

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.

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