My boss called me to her office Monday morning. It is always a bit nerve wracking when the boss calls you to their office. You start running scenarios through your mind of all the things you have done recently that they may not have liked. Why? No one knows. Very few people expect to get good news.
I was pleasantly surprised however. She informed me that I was being promoted. Not a lateral promotion but a full promotion including a raise in salary, access to the higher benefits level and a company vehicle. Then she dropped the other shoe. I would have to move. Part of becoming chief of operations for the new call center would require that I pick my family up and move them from Los Angeles to Toronto, Canada.
I conditionally accepted the offer with the explanation that I had to speak with my spouse first. Quickly my employer threw in that I would have a corporate relocation package to help with the expense of moving.
When I got home that evening I explained to my spouse what had transpired. We discussed the pros and cons of moving in general, then did quite a bit of internet research on Toronto and found that the move would be beneficial to all of us. I went into work the next morning and told my employer that I would accept the position. She handed me all the necessary paperwork to complete for the promotion along with the information on the corporate relocation package. In that list there were several companies to choose from that specialized in cross country moving.
I pointed out that we would not just be moving across the country; we would be moving to another country. My boss said that those companies were chosen because they were used to dealing with the small details between Canada and the United States. I was welcome to contact other companies specializing in corporate relocation if I wanted but only a portion of their costs would be covered.
I gave all the information to my spouse that evening. We had less than one month to pack and relocate. The stress of moving around the corner is high. The stress of moving to another country is much higher. My spouse contacted the corporate relocation companies from the list and chose one. They sent us a check list of things to do, arranged for a moving company, and invoiced my company comptroller for all costs. Talk about stress relief.
The only things we had to make sure were done ourselves were on the check list. We gathered all of our personal documentation (birth certificates, wedding certificate, medical records, etc). We packed for what seemed like forever. We had several moving sales and dispersed some other goods among friends and family. We went house shopping online with the help of the corporate relocation company.
The decision had been made to rent until our house in Los Angeles was sold. Finally moving day came and we were actually ready to go. Sad and happy tears and good byes were exchanged with friends and family and we went to the airport while our belongings were loaded into the moving van. We were staying in a hotel until our belongings arrived. It was the most organized move I have ever participated in.
The mere mention of Los Angeles is enough to make most of us think of the city's wonderful climate, movie stars and the Hollywood sign. But Los Angeles is also a business and manufacturing powerhouse. In fact, the city's bustling economy, which is built on international trade, music, television and the movies, aerospace, technology, oil, fashion and tourism, makes the City of the Angels the biggest manufacturing center in the United States.
One of the best ways to zero in on the business sectors that make the Los Angeles economy tick is to look more closely at the five Fortune 500 companies that call Los Angeles home. Listed in alphabetical order according to the business sector they represent, these companies are Northrop Grumman (aerospace), Occidental Petroleum (energy), Health Net (health care), KB Home (home building) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (metals).
Here's a synopsis of each of these five companies:
Founded in 1927 in Denver, Colorado, aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman now calls Los Angeles its home base. With estimated annual revenues of 30 billion dollars and more than 120,000 employees worldwide, Northrop Grumman is the third biggest U.S. defense contractor and the number one maker of naval vessels for the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman's Corporate Headquarters are located at 1840 Century Park East, Los Angeles, California.
Occidental Petroleum, also known by the nickname "OXY" for its trading symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, is now the fourth biggest American oil and gas company. Headquartered at 10889 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, OXY employs about 9000 workers at locations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. Occidental Petroleum is the biggest Texas oil producer and also California's biggest producer of natural gas.
Health Net, Inc. is a provider of managed health care solutions, including HMO, POS and PPO programs, to nearly 7 million people in all fifty states. Based in Woodland Hills, a district within the city of Los Angeles, Health Net drew national attention in 2007 when a California woman, who claimed the company improperly stopped her care during a course of chemotherapy, sued it. This case is still pending as of this writing.
Originally founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad, KB Homes is one of America's biggest homebuilders. KB Homes erected homes for some 37,000 American families in 2005, the last year for which this kind of data was available. Based in Los Angeles, KB Homes has four main divisions within the United States: West Coast (California), Southwest (Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico), Central (Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas) and Southeast (Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia). KB Homes' Corporate Headquarters are located at 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.
A hometown success story, Reliance Steel & Aluminum was founded in 1939 at Los Angeles, where it originally manufactured steel reinforcing bar. Today, the company sells a complete line of more than 60,000 metal products through a network of more than 180 locations in the United States, Belgium, Canada, China and South Korea. Still true to its roots, Reliance directs its global operations from its Corporate Headquarters at 350 South Grand Avenue, Suite 5100, Los Angeles, California.
Contact the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce at 350 South Bixel Street, Los Angeles, California, for more information about the Los Angeles economy.
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