InformationWeek

eigh Fenneman was sitting in a bar in a tiny Mexican village in March, vacationing with his wife and blissfully oblivious to U.S. media reports, when he heard the news about his employer. "We were talking to some Canadians, and they asked, 'What do you think of Boeing moving its headquarters out of Seattle?'" he recalls.

Fenneman, an IT manager with Boeing's space and communications program, says the company's plan to move its headquarters to Chicago, Dallas, or Denver has intensified some of the anxiety workers were already feeling in his business unit.

So far, Boeing says it will relocate only about 1% of its 80,000 employees, mostly from its corporate staff. A spokesman says there are no plans to cut or move IT workers, and Fenneman plans to increase his head count. However, a companywide restructuring will give each of Boeing's three business units--commercial airplanes, military, and space and communications--more autonomy, resulting in sweeping management changes.

Fenneman says his Seattle workers also are mulling other issues facing the region such as layoffs at high-tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc. and Real Networks Inc., and the fact that some Silicon Valley dot-coms are shutting down their Northwest operations. Ultimately, the increase in workers on the market could weaken salaries at Boeing. And with recent spikes in energy and water costs, IT workers in Seattle are grappling with rapidly rising living costs.

Fenneman says his division has plenty of work because most jobs are long-term military projects that require specific skills; he plans to increase staff from 84 to 90 people in the coming year. But if the economy remains sluggish, he expects it eventually will affect salaries and raises throughout the company. "Next year, we'll see some pressure from unions or workers saying, 'I need more money.' But I'm not sure what the heck we can do as a company." Boeing reported a profit of $1.2 billion on revenue of $13.3 billion for its first quarter, compared with profit of $418 million on revenue of $9.9 billion for the first quarter of 2000.

Hard times elsewhere have meant more IT workers available to help Boeing fill open positions. The company usually pays about 7% to 8% more than what new employees were making at previous jobs--even though workers typically strive to increase salaries by 10% or more when they switch jobs. But Boeing continues to have difficulty finding workers with at least three years' experience in networking and systems architecture, and those with a wide range of knowledge in multiple platforms and various technologies. Boeing is always on the lookout for IT workers who specialize in Catia, the three-dimensional development platform. They're as "scarce as hens' teeth," says Fenneman. "If 10 of them walked in tomorrow, they'd all be hired."