Feb 24, 2009 5:17 pm US/Pacific
Companies Avoid Layoffs With Work-Share Programs
EDD Program Seeing an Increase in Interest
SAN JOSE (CBS 5) ―
There's a little known state program that can help struggling companies cut back on hours, not on jobs. It's the EDD's Work-Sharing Program. It has been around for 30 years, but not many companies have participated in it. During this recession, the EDD is seeing an increase in interest.
Sprig Electric in San Jose is taking advantage of it, and saving 20% of its workforce. With construction projects thinning out so is business at Sprig Electric. Electrician Valerie Swope feared massive layoffs and a job search in the worst possible time.
"It would be bleak. It could be 8 months to a year to find something," Swope said.
Instead, the company turned to the Work-Sharing Program offered by the Employment Development Department.
Swope and her coworkers would each work 3 days and receive unemployment benefits for the remainder of the week.
Dominique Estrada said she's paid about $90 a day in unemployment benefits for each day she's not working.
"There's that initial feeling of panic and then there's time to have it sink in. It's not that bad and it's a great alternative to people being laid off."
General Manager Mike Jurewicz said the cost associated with the program is much less than paying full unemployment insurance benefits and investing in hiring and retraining a new work force when the economy picks up.
"The goal is to bring everyone back to full employment and full wages as soon as we can," Jurewicz said.
Dominique Estrada spends her 2 off-days watching her children and saving on daycare costs. Valerie Swope enrolled in a construction energy management course at a local community college.
"It's hard to take a paycut but I have a job and an opportunithy advance myself so it's working out for the best," Swope said.
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