Back in March, Edward Grey was looking for a new job and was visiting Westchester/Putnam Workforce Investment Board (WPWIB) One-Stop Employment Center in White Plains. And now, he is working full-time at a Tile City store in New Rochelle.
It”™s a result of a successful partnership between WPWIB and the business community. In this case, Tile City was a beneficiary of a partial wage-subsidy program that makes it easier for small companies to hire new employees who might require a costly training period.
For a six-month period, beginning in March, Tile City has been getting a 50-percent wage reimbursement for the new employees through WPWIB. It”™s a win-win for both the employee and the employer.
“I was looking for a job in the home-goods and furnishing business and that”™s how I went about it. I really looked around all over. But it was the One-Stop that really helped me because they gave me what I was looking for specifically,” Grey said.
“The One-Stop (centers)Â offer a lot of jobs and I submitted my resume,” he recalled. “The people at the One-Stop matched me up with possible jobs, (to) see what job openings I would be compatible with, what jobs would match my needs and qualifications. And I was referred this job opportunity and I got hired. I got a call-back very fast. People at the One-Stop were very good about it.
“I am very, very, very satisfied. It”™s my dream come true. I got a good job, a good environment to work in, good people. They have really been taking me under their wing here at the company.”
Sharing the cost of new employees
Tile City owner Jamie Soning said this program makes it easier for people like him to hire new workers who may require a training period. “For the length of the program, which for us is six months, they reimburse 50 percent of the salary,” he explained. “So let”™s say I take someone on, and he earns $20,000 in that first six months, I would get $10,000 back from Westchester County. It encourages you to hire people. It doesn”™t just ease the burden, it halves the burden.”
Soning said he had a meeting with WPWIB assistant director Clyde Jones in March to apply for the wage-subsidy program. “And since then, we hired two people. We are going to be hiring at least three more people. I must say they definitely helped. It”™s a fantastic program,” he said.
Tile City was founded in 2002 and Soning has one aim for his business: to become the store to go to for low-cost, high-quality tiles for local residents.
Business of Your Business in White Plains, an accounting outsourcing solutions provider for not-for-profit and small businesses, hired two employees in the last two years. The company was matched up with potential candidates registered with the One-Stop center. It also participated in the subsidy program.
Over the last couple of years, Business of Your Business was able to hire two employees. But each one needed to be trained, according to Wiley Harrison, president of Business of Your Business. “(The) One-Stop program was very instrumental in helping us get those employees and then subsidizing a percentage of their wages for the first six months. So it made it an easy opportunity to bring somebody in that needed a job, and at the same time not incur all of the cost associated with bringing that person up to par.”
Classes ”˜open up horizons for expansion”™
WPWIB is also successfully partnering with local businesses to offer subsidized classes for staff and managers. This gives business owners and workers skills to expand their operations. One example is Sclafani Petroleum in Mahopac in Putnam County.
Last summer, eight employees from Sclafani Petroleum took a subsidized two-week training class on energy auditing and offering improvement upgrades to homeowners, said Maureen Sclafani, co-owner of Sclafani Petroleum. “About 80 percent of the class costs are subsidized. We pay for any equipment, we pay for the books. But the actual tuition was paid for by them,” she said. Her employees will take two more classes this summer.
“They have been very good to our company,” Sclafani sad. “There is a limited opportunity for small businesses to expand their knowledge base and what they offered us was ”˜inroads”™ education classes that open up new horizons for expansion.”
Linda Rey, co-owner of Rey Insurance Agency in Sleepy Hollow, also took advantage of a training class for entrepreneurs when she was growing her business. Called “Academy for Entrepreneurial Excellence,” the course was offered at the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. It covered accounting, HR, marketing, branding, legal and insurance topics.
“I wanted to take the course to be able to grow our business and to learn various aspects that the course provided, to have an overall, grounded training to running a business,” Rey said.
Her business has grown to include five full-time employees. “It helped us to, instead of just survive, thrive to get to the next level.”
