By Tim Tresslar
Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News
With moves and mergers behind them, Wayne Essex and Donald Hutchinson Jr. say they have positioned their company to more than double its staff over the next couple of years, despite the recession.
Essex Corp., which had more than 30 on its payroll in 2008, looks for that number to reach 75 accountants, benefits consultants and support staff within two to three years, said Wayne Essex, who founded the company in 2003.
Helping to drive the growth, Essex and Hutchinson said, will be the addition of Essex HR & Associates, the human resources division launched last year, expanding the company's reach beyond tax and accounting services offered through Essex & Associates.
A Dayton native, Hutchinson had been living in Arizona, running a payroll and human resources company connected to a bank. But as the mortgage and banking crises continued to unfold, he started looking for new opportunities. This led him to contact Wayne Essex, whom he'd known for several years, and ultimately resulted in their collaboration in 2008.
The HR operation handles such tasks as administering payroll, paying payroll-related taxes, recruiting, providing health benefits and getting workers' compensation coverage for its clients.
As the recession forces companies to cut staff, Hutchinson said business owners often find themselves doing back-office work such as accounting and benefits. This distracts them from priorities such as strategic planning or scouting for new clients, when instead they could outsource the work, he said.
Hutchinson said it saddens him when he speaks to business executives who have seen sales drop and they respond by saying they hope something will change.
"They need to apply some energy to it," he said. "They can still hope, but put some action in it."
In addition to the merger, the company has moved from Beavercreek to 7501 Paragon Road, Washington Twp., where it occupies part of a 24,000-square-foot office building.
Essex, is also a tax and accounting professor for Edison Community College and Indiana Wesleyan University's Dayton campus.
Essex Corp.
Address: 7501 Paragon Road, Washington Twp., Ohio 45459
Business: Provides accounting, tax and human resources services
Phone: (937) 432-1040
Web: www.essexinc.biz
