Jefferson City based company RR Donnelley laid off close to 500 employees Tuesday after announcing the layoff in August.
The company, which was the town’s 12th largest employer, was struggling financially. It is based in Chicago and has operated a printing and business services plant in Jefferson City since 2007.
When a company makes a large lay off, they are expected to contact the Missouri Department of Economic Development, said Director of Communications and Management Amy Susan. From there, she said, the business can decide to utilize the department’s employment transition services.
“We’ve been working with them since we were notified of the layoff,” Susan said. “It’s a group of veteran staff that essentially connect with their employees, let them know about potential job openings, help them with employment services, such as what classes or networking activities are available to them, and in addition to that, we provide them with information about their unemployment benefits if in fact they are not able to find anything following the layoff.”
The employment transition team functions as an extension of the department’s human resources, Susan said.
“We meet with these individuals one-on-one and try to find a path that works for them that they will be successful in,” Susan said.
Susan emphasized that the transition services help the newly unemployed as well as the businesses by cutting back on potential unemployment taxes.
“We can help reduce some of that stress involved, but also transition their affected employees to new employment as close to the layoff as possible,” she said. “That’s going to be a benefit for not only the affected workers but also for the businesses”