Ken Carey was feeling good just thinking about two Hispanic workers he thought were on their way to work. He was picturing them settling into their new routine. It was their second day on their new jobs. Then his desk phone rang.

"Their car had broken down, and they just wanted to let me know they wouldn't be going to work that day." A former sales professional and Marine, Carey knew not working was not an option.

"You don't have to be in the staffing business to know how critical it is to earn an employer's trust early in a new job," said Carey, who with Dave Freireich is a co-owner of Agil Staff. The fast-growing company specializes in placing bilingual professionals and legally documented Hispanic workers.

Carey complained, "First, I offered to send a taxi to get them. I told them the cab fare would come out of their first week's wages." When the new employees backed off that offer, Carey asked them if they wanted to keep their jobs. His response to the situation conveyed to the new Hispanic employees how important it was for them to get to work.

Carey added, "Bridging cultural differences in the workplace is an important role Agil Staff plays in the placement of documented Hispanic employees. They caught on quickly."

Eventually, the workers got the broken-down car back to the dealer they had bought it from two days earlier.

"At first they were told it would cost $800 to fix the car," said Carey, shaking his head. "They had only had the car two days and had paid $1,200 for it."

Agil Staff's advocacy for its Hispanic employees already includes employee training and cultural awareness programs as well as verifying and managing payroll. That advocacy sometimes means guiding employees in the direction employers expect. Sometimes it means going to bat for a client's new employees. Carey went to bat.

"I called the company that sold them the car. Once the owner understood what was going on, he took another look at the car's needed repair and took care of it for $200. He did the right thing," Carey said.

Being able and willing to get personally involved is the benchmark of many small businesses. Clients have described Agil Staff as being ahead of the curve and also proving its worth in the workplace where legally documented employees are in demand.

"Our mission is to increase profit for our clients," said Freireich. "The client companies we have helped already realize the importance of having bilinguals as well as Hispanics on staff. These companies value diversity, and require a diverse workforce to grow and be profitable. The Hispanic population's growth in our area represents economic potential for businesses, so it only makes sense for them to have someone on board to communicate with this customer base."

Britt Hunt, a friend of the small company's owners, said Agil Staff's early successes underscores what he and his business partner, Alejandro Garcia, knew. "Their arrival on the scene shows that the talent pool of Hispanic workers has grown beyond the stereotypes of farm or construction worker."

Hunt said the company of which he is a principal, Comunicar, specializes in translation and interpreting, "So it is nice for us to have a collaboration with another company in the area of staffing. As businesses serving the Hispanic community, it is a big step to move from competition to collaboration for the benefit of both the Latino community and businesses who seek them as customers and employees."

Hunt said the business climate has changed quite a bit since 2002 when Comunicar opened its doors. "Back then, there was an enormous lack of trust among Latino-focused businesses. As the population grows and new players come in, those attitudes are beginning to change."

www.agilstaff.com