Layoff aversion is about keeping companies in business by providing strategic alternatives to keep workers in their present jobs or quickly move them into comparable new jobs.
What can the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development do to help employers avoid or minimize layoffs?
Our Business Services Representatives can help you develop customized solution strategies using private and public sector resources.
What private and public sector organizations does the Department of Labor and Workforce Development work with to implement layoff aversion strategies?
Here are some examples:
- State, county and municipal economic development authorities
- Urban Enterprise Zone Authority
- NJ Business and Industry Association
- Small Business Administration
- Small Business Development Centers
- SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
- NJ County College Consortium and the 19 county colleges
- Mid-Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (MATAAC)
- NJ Restaurant Association
- Rutgers University
- Regional Employment Development Initiative (BioNJ, Newark Alliance/North Jersey Partners, Green REDI)
- Industry trade associations
- Chambers of commerce
- One-Stop Business Resource Centers
- NJ Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP)
- Unions
- NJ Manufacturing Excellence at Rutgers
What are some of the solution strategies?
New Jersey is passionate about working with business to help enhance local and state economies. From loan programs to incentive programs, New Jersey is committed to investing in businesses as they invest in the Garden State making New Jersey their home.
• New Jersey Business Action Center
Business advocates from the Lt. Governor’s Business Action Center will meet with you at your location and through a consultative process assess your business needs and offer tangible incentives and guidance to improve your business’s prospects for continuation and success. To learn more, please call (866) 534-7789.
Ensuring an appropriately skilled workforce that can communicate with customers effectively, follow written and verbal instructions, minimize the waste of time and materials, show up for work on time, and meet international quality standards are challenges many businesses face as they compete locally, regionally, and internationally. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development offers customized training and literacy grants to businesses helping to ensure their success in New Jersey.
NJ EDA can offer loan guarantees, loans and other incentives to small and medium sized businesses:
Why Does Your Business Need Financing? |
Here’s What the EDA Can Offer*: |
To cover my operating expenses |
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To purchase or renovate a building, machinery or equipment to accommodate my business growth and expansion |
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To grow my business located in an urban municipality |
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To grow my business by adding employees |
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For training that will help me start and grow my business or get a better understanding of how to run my business more efficiently |
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NJ EDA can offer grants, loans and other incentives to large businesses:
What’s Your Business Financing Goal? |
Here’s What the EDA Can Offer*: |
To purchase or renovate an existing building, or to construct a new building |
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To purchase or renovate machinery or equipment |
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To expand by building a facility located in an urban municipality |
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To obtain additional capital to cover operating expenses |
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To add employees at a NJ facility or relocate employees to NJ |
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NJEDA Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Act Grant (BRRAG)
The Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Act Grant (BRRAG) program is designed to preserve jobs from being relocated out of state. The program offers a grant of up to $1,500 per job retained, payable in the form of a tax credit against a company's corporate business tax liability.
Program requirements include:
An eligible company must relocate a minimum of 50 full-time jobs from one or more locations in the state to a new or substantially rehabilitated business location in New Jersey. A qualifying company must demonstrate that receiving a BRRAG grant is a "material factor" in its decision not to relocate outside New Jersey.
A qualifying company must maintain the retained full-time jobs for five years.
TAA is a federal program that provides financial assistance to manufacturers and as expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 service industry firms affected by import competition. This cost sharing federal assistance program pays for half the cost of consultants or industry-specific experts for projects that improve a company's competitiveness. The Mid-Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (http://www.mataac.org) provides technical assistance to firms from the initial certification process through implementation of the adjustment proposal.
Improving information flow through the use of technology can assist downsizing companies and hiring companies more seamlessly transition workers. This is the concept behind the Rapid Reemployment initiative at jobcentral.com which seeks to match downsizing employers with employers looking for workers with similar skill sets as those being laid off.
The New Jersey Women's Micro-Business Credit Program is a collaborative economic development program implemented by DCA's Division on Women and New Jersey Redevelopment Authority (NJRA), a DCA affiliate. The program helps women with minimal business experience become successful entrepreneurs. Participants learn how to start, market or expand their small business, as well as increase their business skills through training and mentoring opportunities.
NJAWBO's Women's Business Center at Peapack-Gladstone Bank
311 Main Street, 2nd Floor
Chatham, NJ 07928
Phone: 973-507-9700
Web: www.njawbo.org
The New Jersey Small Business Development Centers (NJSBDC) network helps small businesses expand operations, manage growth or launch new ventures. With offices in every county of the state, NJSBDC consultants help small business owners finance, market and manage their ventures.
Rutgers Business School: Graduate Programs- Newark and New Brunswick
1 Washington Park
Newark, New Jersey 07102
(973) 353-1927
The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations.
Two Gateway Center, 15th Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102
(973)645-2434
You can receive a federal tax credit to offset some of the salary paid to selected new hires.
Your Business Representative can fill you in on our various On-the-Job Training programs designed to help you succeed by defraying some of the cost of bringing new workers up to speed at your company.
New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) is a not-for-profit organization that works with New Jersey's small to mid-sized businesses to help them improve their bottom-line while meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
NJMEP's fee for services are greatly reduced compared to businesses and productivity consulting firms because they receive federal funding. Training processes and methodologies are designed to specifically meet the needs of manufacturers. NJMEP provides you with the training, tools, and know-how to continuously improve productivity, grow, and compete both locally and globally.
Can you explain how the process works?
If you're contemplating a layoff, please call 609-292-2074 to get the process started. We will assign a trained Business Representative as your single point of contact with the Department.
The Business Representative will meet with you and conduct an initial assessment. Our team will discuss ways to avoid layoffs or closing by exploring options for loans, grants, flexible finance programs, and tax and other business incentives; customized training to improve the skills of the workers or achieve industry recognized certification, through technical assistance; and/or evaluate whether a company or group, including the workers, could purchase the plant or company and continue operations.
We'll then work with you from start to finish making sure that a plan is created and that implementation is smooth and effective.
What if there is no hope of avoiding a layoff?
Besides helping companies regain their competitive footing, we recognize that due to global competition, consumer appetite, and other factors some companies or industries are naturally in decline. In these cases, we want to help workers prepare for transition well in advance of a closing or layoff.
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development may be able to provide skills training so that workers in declining industries can be seamlessly transitioned to expanding industries. Business Representatives will conduct a skills assessment of the workers in the downsizing industry and map those skills to hiring employers. Where there are gaps, customized training may be provided to match the workers skills to the demand occupations.
