Soon-to-be-unemployed workers getting help

WILLIAMSBURG — When Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg knew that it would lay off 215 employees in late June, the company made plans to help those workers transition to new jobs.

Employee-assistance workshops were held July 8 and July 9 at the Kinze Innovation Center in Williamsburg. The workshops, open only to the furloughed workers, included a variety of career-related information and assistance with writing and printing resumes.

On that second day, the manufacturer hosted a career and job fair at its Kinze Innovation Center, on its campus, giving former employees an opportunity to interview for new jobs with interested area employers.

'Shortly after the word got out that we had made the (layoff) announcement, we had employers from the local area calling us and asking how they could meet and screen previous Kinze employees,' recalled Jeff Vogts, director of human resources at Kinze, a 40-year-old manufacturer of row crop planting equipment and grain auger carts.

'We said that we would be glad to host something for employers and our former employees. It kind of evolved from there.'

Forty-six companies sent representatives, and 62 former employees turned out for the event.

'I didn't know how many people would show up because going through a reduction in force is very emotional' Vogts said. 'Everybody was very positive, and I think a good portion of the employees walked out of the career fair with job offers in hand.

'We had employers who were ready and willing to make offers on the spot.'

Sue Schoenfelder. human resources shared services representative at Whirlpool-Amana Division, said her company was able to make job offers to former Kinze employees because it had positions that needed to be filled.

'It was a great event, and I'm really grateful that we were a part of it,' Schoenfelder said.

Schoenfelder, who has worked in human resources for a number of years, said it was her first experience with an in-house job fair hosted by a former employer.

'Typically you have IowaWorks and the city putting together a job fair,' she said. 'This was a little bit different. Jeff and his group at Kinze made sure that everything was set up correctly.'

'We don't take sides'

Scott Mather, operations manager at the IowaWORKS Region 10 office in northeast Cedar Rapids, said his agency can aid companies in offering their soon-to-be-out-of-work employees a number of resources.

'We can do a variety of workshops, including applying for unemployment insurance, work readiness, career counseling, skills enhancement and educational opportunities, and resume workshops,' Mather said. 'In some cases, employees need to decide, where do they want to go from here?

'They may have worked for an employer for 25 years and they don't know what they want to do now. We can help them take an inventory of their skills, which may not be in high demand, and how they (those skills) may be transferred to other occupations.'

Mather said IowaWorks in effect has two clients when a work force reduction occurs — the employer and the affected employees.

'We don't take sides. We're here to help both parties,' he said. 'In a lot of cases, the human-resources person who contacts us also will be affected by the layoff.'

Carla Andorf, director of the IowaWorks Region 10 office, said employers planning a layoff should contact her agency early in the process.

'We recommend that they contact us as soon as possible, even if they don't have all the details,' Andorf said. 'It will help us talk through all that we have available to help them and the employees that will be affected.

'We can tell them what it's going to look like when we come out and talk with their employees about the services that are available. We can discuss whether it should be held on-site or at a different location, and what time of day, evening or night would be best for us to meet with the affected employees.

'We also can identify if the employees will be eligible for other services, like the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. We can determine if they should file an application and help them get that paperwork started.'

The TAA program provides eligible workers job training, job search and relocation allowances, income support, and assistance with health care premium costs. The U.S. Department of Labor determines whether the job loss is the result of foreign trade.

Kim Becicka, vice president of Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education and Training Services, collaborates with IowaWorks to recruit Eastern Iowa employers for job fairs targeting those out of work.

'We work with our economic development partners to give them a sense of what kind of skills and years of experience are being impacted by a work force reduction,' Becicka said. 'We really work on a grass roots, ground floor level to get that information to employers that are hiring.

'It's a little more proactive than in past years because of the tight work force situation. We want to keep those people in the Creative Corridor.'