Local officials anticipate 1,000 new jobs within six years in insurance and business administration.

In the last few years, growth at insurance-based call centers at Assurant Specialty Property and CodeBlue have grown when other industries have had to cut back because of the recession.

Since locating in downtown Springfield in 2010, CodeBlue has grown to a 175-employee operation and continues to hire.

Assurant, off Leffel Lane, has grown from 400 employees in 2002 to more than 1,800 employees now, and it still is increasing.

“We target (the insurance sector) in economic development efforts,” said Mike McDorman, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. “It always played an important role in Springfield’s economy … and we’re continuing to see successes happen in our area.”

Lehan Peters, deputy director of Job and Family Services of Clark County and WorkPlus OneStop, said she anticipates 1,000 new jobs in what she calls professional administrative services in financial and insurance industries in three to six years.

“We’re trying to provide employers with trained individuals that will be able to meet needs in a call center environment,” Peters said.

She cited companies such as Assurant and CodeBlue, but also Red Roof Inn’s call center and InfoCision in Dayton.

“We’re starting to see kind of a hub, and these companies are starting to grow,” Peters said.

The chamber worked with local government and workforce development to help lure CodeBlue to the area by marketing Springfield’s affordability and large workforce.

CodeBlue is a Wisconsin-based insurance claims processing company with what CEO Paul Gross calls a “command center” in the Bushnell Building in downtown. Gross said workers not only answer phones and have customer service training, but they are trained in different disciplines of insurance to help the customer.

Gross said CodeBlue chose Springfield because of the easily available and affordable training opportunities for the future workforce.

“It’s a special serum of a large workforce of dedicated hardworking people combined with (Clark State Community College’s) commitment to strategic training,” Gross said. “When you combine those two, it becomes a very, very powerful recipe for success. Very few communities are blessed with the resource that Clark State offers.”

Gross said the only deterrent to being in Springfield is the income tax structure, but the type of space available and the willingness of local officials to accommodate the company allowed CodeBlue to overlook that.

Assurant started in the Kissell Building with five people in 1995, but moved to its current location in 2002 because of growth. The business is the second largest employer in Clark County, according to a 2012 listing from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

That doesn’t include the fluctuating number of temporary workers used during busy seasons, said Ray Rafferty, vice president of Assurant’s Springfield facility.

“This is a great place for our employees to live,” Rafferty said of why Assurant has chosen to grow its Springfield operation. “And the work ethic. We have a really good talent pool, so we want to continue building here. This is an attractive place.”

Rafferty cited the low cost of living for employees and close proximity to other cities as other reasons for choosing Springfield.

Of the nearly 1,900 employees, many do work as call center representatives, but Rafferty said the company offers a wide range of services.

“We have positions of all types, training and development, IT — different jobs and career lines are supported here,” he said.

Assurant is continuing to hire temporary and full-time workers, some of whom may work from home or at the facility.

Local efforts to train the workforce are the main reasons companies like CodeBlue and Assurant invest here.

“It’s the training that’s here and we’ve got the local schools in close proximity,” Rafferty said.

He said Assurant’s human resources department partner with Clark State occasionally for classes.

The local department of jobs and family services works to use some federal funding to try and underwrite the cost of some of the training Clark State does, something Peters says is an investment in the workforce.

“It’s a benefit for places such as Red Roof Inn, CodeBlue, Assurant,” she said. “If you’re not suitable … you still have these national credentials and have gone through the soft skill training, so you have a leg up on everyone else. Everything that we do as far as training and education is to make sure it’s a skill set transferable to any industry.”

Clark State designs programs based on the needs of their customer — usually a business in need of trained employees, said Duane Hodge, manager of corporate and public services for Clark State.

He said besides general customer service classes, which provides national credentials for those who complete it, the school can customize to teach students insurance terminology or whatever needs a company has.

Clark State also developed programs for CodeBlue including the Disaster and Recovery Lab used to teach students how to measure and mitigate water damage to properties.

“We design a training program to close the skill gaps and eliminate skill deficiencies we’re seeing from people coming off the street,” Hodge said. “That’s the beauty of the pre-program.”

Hodge said a lot of time employers find applicants lacking in necessary skills.

“And because we can customize the training specifically for whatever employer, it really makes an ideal candidate,” he said. “We produce a better candidate than you can find on the street.”

Clark State, which partners with WorkPlus OneStop to work with employers, only runs classes if there is a demand for them. The school is gearing up to start a new class in mid-October, Hodge said.

And having multiple insurance call center types in the area also helps add to a skilled workforce.

“With other financial service companies in the area, there are people who have already learned the skills,” said Rafferty of Assurant. “It lends to the expertise of the local workforce.”

Ohio has become a hub for major insurance companies such as Nationwide and Progressive Insurance, both of which have headquarters in the state.

There were more than 95,000 workers in the insurance industry in 2011, accounting for almost $6.1 million in wages, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

“… I do see it as a terrific pillar of growth, and I think that it will become more prevalent in this community because of how this community partners between the city, chamber, Clark State and the Dayton Development Coalition,” said CodeBlue’s Gross.

The chamber’s McDorman is using the tag team of local support and trained workforce to try and lure some more companies to the area.

“We’re outside actively targeting other banking and insurance companies who could take advantage of some of the offerings put together through Clark State, and we’re marketing that,” McDorman said.

He said the next targets are major national banks with operations through out Ohio that may want to build a business unit in a place like Springfield.

“We can help you train and place those people that would fill those job here in Springfield with cheaper real estate and with an opportunity to grow those jobs outside those areas where it’s very competitive,” McDorman said. “That’s kind of our compelling story to tell.”