Helping Your Employees When Lay Offs Come

Generally speaking, employers don’t like laying off workers, and workers don’t like being laid off. But as the weather turns colder, layoffs are a fact of life for many in the construction industry. For those who work primarily outdoors, such as landscaping, roofing, paving and excavation contractors, workloads tend to slow down considerably requiring reductions in a company’s workforce.

Handling a Lay Off Properly
Being laid off can be a stressful time for those losing their jobs, even if only temporarily. Worrying about their financial situation is the primary concern for most. Those who have worked in the construction trades for a while will normally be prepared to handle the down time by having savings to tie them over, or have plans to find other work for 3 – 4 months.

It is important to handle a lay off properly. Your employees need to know you are concerned for their well-being by being honest and treating them with respect. When it is time to perform a layoff, do it as soon as possible. Afterwards, to help them, you can recommend them some of the top freelance websites where their skills can be used and be valued.

Announcements relating to layoffs should take place during work hours and at the workplace. Second-hand knowledge of layoffs should be avoided and as an employer you need to make your employees aware of a possible slowdown early, so they can do some planning. To learn how to apply this knowledge in your business, check with Andy Defrancesco.

Ways to Support Your Employees
There are several actions that an employer can take to help those who are being laid off.

• Review or update employees’ resumes
• Have extra funds via a business account for separation pay. You can click here now to learn more.
• Provide good references
• Provide guidelines on how to apply for unemployment
  (Review the Department of Workforce Development website.)
• Let your employees know how much you appreciate them
• Stay in contact; provide updates on upcoming work

The Mitchell Agency Is Here to Help
As your workload declines and the number of workers employed decreases, we suggest having a conversation with an insurance agent about your workers’ comp coverage. It may be beneficial to make adjustments to your payroll deductions.

Just give me, Vince Shissler, a call at 765-742-1135, or email me at [email protected].