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Paper giant Two small lumber companies, Boise Payette and Cascade Lumber, merged in 1957 to form Boise Cascade, and the company has since emerged as one of the country's leading manufacturers of paper, wood products, and building materials. The company is best known for its paper and paper products, including newsprint, business forms, premium commodity grades, and corrugated packaging containers. Not just paper But paper products are only one part of Boise Cascade's business. In 1997, that segment accounted for about 30 percent of the company's revenue. The company's largest business, accounting for about half of its sales, is its office products distribution business, a wholly owned subsidiary, Boise Cascade Office Products. The subsidiary distributes paper products, office and supplies, and furniture. Also, the company is shifting its product mix to a focus on engineered wood products, and it is expanding its building materials distribution. Let's restructure and restructure again Boise Cascade has had its difficulties. The international economic turbulence in 1997 and 1998 hurt the company's exports of building products and paper overseas. In July 1998, the firm announced the closing of four plants, three of them in the Northwest. Close to 500 employees were laid off because of the closings. Further, in December 1998, the company announced another cost-savings restructuring effort, which cut about 400 jobs, including its paper R&D facility in Portland and numerous positions at its headquarters. The initiative was expected to save $70 million annually. After its 1998 slump, Boise Cascade recovered. In 1999, the company undertook a joint vending-machine venture with Hewlett-Packard; it acquired Furman Lumber; and it employed 300 additional employees when it opened a new plant in Norman, OK. The year's annual report exhibited significant gains in revenues and net income. Boise Cascade's success continued in 2000 when, despite problems with environmental groups, the company continued to prosper. In summer 2000, it acquired Canada's AllJoist.
Boise Cascade lists job openings on its employment web page, www.bc.com/company/jobs.html, as well as on its job hotline. Applicants who find a position on the web page can e-mail their resumes; those who find one on the job hotline should send their resumes via fax or regular mail. In either case, applicants should include a cover letter that names the position for which they are applying and that details their career goals. Boise Cascade accepts resumes at its corporate headquarters in Boise for specific job openings only. Applicants interested in working at another facility should contact that plant or distribution center directly. Students interested in the company should know that the company "does some campus recruiting - they are looking primarily for chemical, electrical engineers, and forestry types." Job seekers can relax in interviews with Boise Cascade. Reports one insider: "Interviewing is thorough but I would not say unusually stressful." Another agrees: "The interviews are not stressful at all; I found that they are pretty relaxing." One insider notes that "the process involved some basic testing and then a series of interaction sessions to assess people skills." Candidates are then "rated by a panel and placed in a hiring pool."
Cyclical business Boise Cascade has created an "open" corporate environment in which management "listens to employee input and takes it seriously." Employees say that the company "takes pains" to care for its employees even during the regular "down cycles" of the paper and timber industry. "Paper is a very cyclical business," explains on longtime Boise Cascade insider. "There have been some layoffs and early retirements recently. Boise Cascade is not alone in this; the whole industry is in the same boat." Most report equal treatment Workers appreciate the effort that Boise Cascade places on both women and minorities in "key positions." Says one insider: "No company I know of treats everyone as equally as BCC." Another reports that "discrimination based on sex or race is non-existent." However, says one contact: "Women and minorities travel up the pay scales with white males equally when they belong to the union. The rate of progression in management ranks is more political for all." Can be tough hours Working at Boise Cascade can mean long workdays. "Work hours can run a little long sometimes," says one longtime engineer with Boise Cascade. Also, shift workers can be put on difficult schedules. For example, one insider reports working "seven graveyard days, two days off, seven swing, two days off, seven dayshifts, then three days off." Says that contact: "This is very hard to adjust to. If I had children, I don't think I could handle it." However, employees comment that they "enjoy the challenges" as well as the rewards that the company gives them. Some pleasant benefits For union workers at BCC, benefits are negotiated by the union. For medical insurance, the union "pays for 80 percent of the medical bills." Also, "we pay $5 for all name-brand prescriptions and $3 for all generic brands." Line workers average about $20 an hour. The company also pitches in with additional perks here and there. "Safety is a very big issue in the corporation," says one Oregon-based plant worker. "As a matter of fact we just passed a million man hours without a lost-time accident. Each employee was awarded $225 in gift certificates." Sums up one contact: "The pay and benefits are competitive - near the middle of the pack," reports one contact. Employees at the company can also take advantage of casual dress codes, depending on their position. "Depending on what facility you work at, the dress code ranges from jeans and flannel shirts at the mills to suits and ties at corporate headquarters," reports one insider.
Human Resources (208) 384-4900
Paper and paper products;Packaging;Office products;Engineer wood products;Building products
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