Former executive at the fore of latest outsourcing trend After 15 years as a senior corporate and international business executive and federal prosecutor, Princeton University and University of Virginia law school – educated Noel Gordon found inspiration from his father, a plumber. “Three years ago, I had my son,” Gordon says.“I thought how my father had time to spend with me after work and on weekends, and I just looked at life before my son was born and after.” Gordon said he undertook a career change to give up the weekends in London and the frenzy of the executive suite for “something where I work harder, but I have more control.” He formed Reign Enterprises, a small Princeton-based firm, as “a professional services company that covers the full gamut of human-resources consulting.”Gordon, the chief executive, said: “I am the principal.I manage the project overall.I bring in clients.I am the rainmaker.” The hours, he said, are still long, usually 11 hours per day during the week and often on weekends.But he said he has the control he sought. “I can do what I want, and I can set my schedule,” he said. “During critical times, I can be home with my son.I can plan a lunch.I can tell him, ‘I can take you to the library at 5:30 pm.’ I can do that with him.” But being able to spend time with his son was dependent on building a business that produced, if not fully replaced, the income he gave up when he left the corporate world. University of Oklahoma professor Michael Buckley, J.C. Penney Leadership Chair at the Michael F. Price College of Business, said Gordon represents a trend in human-resources consulting. “We’re shifting from consultants who have only one responsibility to a solution-provider,” he said.“A consultant goes in and takes care of one thing and leaves.A solution provider says, ‘Any problem you have, you can call me.’” Paul Dorf, managing director of Upper Saddle River- based Compensation Resources, says “human-resources outsourcing is a very interesting concept because, for most companies, the largest expenditure is people.So, if someone can bundle all human resources together and put one price tag on it, then you’re way ahead of the game.” Dorf, who has been in operation for 21 years and has 25 employees, said the market for outsourcing of one type or another is upward of $80 billion.But consulting is both complex and competitive. “Consulting has its own problems,” he said.“If you can’t sell your business, you’ll starve to death.We sell aspirin, but you can only sell to someone who has a headache.Unless you have a headache, you are not going to use our services.” Gordon said his company was recently asked to handle the human resources issues for a global company, with facilities Germany, France, China and Puerto Rico, that wanted to revamp its employee health-care benefits. “There are different health systems in each country,” he said.My first five years, I was a lawyer in international matters.I told them we are not going to find one health system that goes across each country, I said I was going to get a person in Germany who knows Germany, has worked in Germany, and he or she is going to help choose the right system.” Gordon said the cataclysmic changes in many businesses spawned the rationalization that profit had to be generated by controlling operational costs. “Companies are saying they pay a lot for services, but recognize money is not being spent as efficiently as it should be,” he said. So far, Gordon said, the businessformula has been working.“Business is great,” Gordon said, although he declined to provide revenue figures. He said the first year and a half was difficult because he had to establish the company.The lead time on a contract engagement is a year to a year and a half. He said he sees the opportunity for big growth in the year’s ahead.But Gordon said he is intent on keeping the company small, so he can maintain direct contact with his clients to make sure they are confortable.
