Facing potential layoffs at Sandvik Mining and Construction in 2009, then-Human Resources Director Donna Burdge worked with the regional workforce board FloridaWorks to implement a little known program that would save jobs, maintain productivity and retain talented workers. The Short Time Compensation Program allowed Sandvik to keep employees by reducing hours to four days a week with employees receiving unemployment pay for the fifth day.
“In the middle of continued bad news, this is great news,” Donna said. “For a human resources person, these are the fights you fight on behalf of your staff.”
Sandvik was the first company in the Alachua/Bradford county workforce region to use the short-time program, as Donna and workforce staff developed a plan for the complicated program that made it easier for other area companies to use it.