Bob Duff

Leone & Duff Praise Henkel Corporation’s Relocation of 266 Jobs to Stamford From Arizona

Senator Carlo Leone (D-Stamford) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) today released the following statements praising the Henkel Corporation’s decision to relocate its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care headquarters across the country from Arizona to Stamford, Connecticut. The company plans on expanding in a $50 million project that will create up to 266 new jobs in the state.

“This is more great economic news for our state, and particularly for Stamford, which will greatly benefit from the millions of dollars that Henkel plans to invest, and the hundreds of good-paying jobs it will create here,” said Senator Leone. “Henkel’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters to Connecticut is one of several recent examples of the positive direction our state economy is going in. Just last week I voted for an agreement that will keep Sikorsky in Connecticut where they will grow and create new jobs. Pratt and Whitney and Electric Boat have also announced their intention to each create thousands of new jobs in Connecticut. Henkel is just the latest piece of good news showing that Connecticut’s economy is moving toward a much stronger future.”

“This is good news for Fairfield County and it is good news for Connecticut,” said Senator Duff. “Businesses large and small are choosing to invest in Connecticut. Connecticut is an innovative state that offers a quality of life that is second-to-none, and boasts a highly skilled and educated workforce. Our work continues, though it is clear that the investments made by the General Assembly are helping attract businesses and are growing jobs.”

A number of recent studies have ranked Connecticut as a good place live, work and raise a family:

• Bloomberg named Connecticut in 2016 as the 5th most innovative state in the nation. In the January 2016 Bloomberg Innovation Index, states were ranked across six equally weighted metrics: R&D intensity; productivity; high-tech density; concentration of science; technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employment; science and engineering degree holders; and patent activity. Connecticut ranked 5th amongst all the states, behind only Massachusetts, California, Washington and New Jersey.
• Connecticut is the 5th best state for women to work in. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C., in their Status of Women in the States: 2015 Employment and Earnings report, Connecticut is the 5th best state in the nation for women with regard to their careers. The study measured earnings, equality and percentage of women in supervisory or managerial positions.
• Connecticut is the 3rd best state in the nation for working moms. This WalletHub report from 2016, 2016’s Best and Worst States for Working Moms, measured 1) professional opportunities, 2) quality of child care and 3) work-life balance.
• Because of all of these economic strengths, WalletHub announced on June 6, 2016 its finding that Connecticut has the 14th best state economy in the nation. This recent WalletHub report, 2016’s States with the Best & Worst Economies, measured all 50 states in three metrics, 1) “Economic Activity Rank”, 2) “Economic Health Rank”, and 3) “Innovation Potential Rank”. Connecticut came in 8th overall in Innovation Potential, 15th in Economic Activity, and 33rd in Economic Health, for a ranking of 14th best overall.

Henkel offers beauty and personal care, laundry and home care, and a broad portfolio of adhesives, sealants, and surface treatments for consumer and industrial use. Earlier this year, the company announced the acquisition of the Wilton-based The Sun Products Corporation, a leading manufacturer and marketer of laundry care products. With the acquisition of Sun Products, Henkel is now the number two laundry and home care products company in North America.

Henkel plans on relocating its Scottsdale, Arizona operations, which currently serves as Henkel’s Beauty Care and Laundry & Home Care headquarters, to Stamford, in a location yet to be determined. The relocation is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2017.

As part of the project, Henkel is committed to retaining the combined jobs from its former Sun Products facilities, as well as its North American headquarters and Adhesive Technologies General Industries division in Rocky Hill. Henkel has offered relocation services to its employees in Arizona.