Sykes Enterprises is a multinational business processing and computing consulting company that maintained a Bismarck branch at 1721 Sykes Drive from February 1996 to July 2013. John Sykes founded the Tampa, Florida-based Sykes in 1977.
At the time of its initial announcement, Sykes unveiled plans for a 42,000-square-foot Bismarck branch housing 600-650 employees, with an estimated payroll of $6.5 million. In exchange, Sykes was set to receive roughly $4 million in incentives, including 18 acres of land donated by the City of Bismarck, $2 million from the Bismarck Vision Fund, and tax breaks.
While Sykes did become a major local employer, it never achieved the mass originally touted. When operations commenced on February 5, 1996, the Bismarck branch employed 120 people. By 2003, Sykes was estimated to employ 150 locally. Employment numbers frequently fluctuated at the center, with several rounds of mass-hires and layoffs.
Sykes shuttered its Bismarck branch in July 2013.
