How Is “NH Working” Working?

Six months into “New Hampshire Working,” Front Door Politics checks on how the program is playing out.

When Gov. John Lynch signed the program into law with Senate Bill 501 in May, it received broad bipartisan support and was hailed as an innovative way to help workers and companies during the lean economic times. By tapping existing resources in new ways, it would make more available and not cost taxpayers a dime.

“New Hampshire Working will help companies and employees work together to avoid layoffs, help people get back to work if they have lost their jobs, and help ensure New Hampshire workers have the skills they need to compete for good jobs,” Lynch said at the time.

New Hampshire Working comes in three parts. According to Commissioner of Employment Security Tara Reardon, while her department continues to work on improving the programs, the initial results have been positive.

“We are very grateful to have these creative tools to work with,” she says. “Our goal is to make reemployment as effective as possible.”

Part 1: Stay at Work

Reardon says the first part of the program, “Stay at Work,” has been most active. It’s designed to prevent large layoffs by allowing workers to collect, for example, as much as 50 percent of their eligible unemployment benefits while still working 50 percent of the time. This essentially creates a different way to access unemployment funds, rather than reserving them for only situations of complete unemployment.

Reardon says that four New Hampshire companies with 323 employees have been accepted into this program, with more applications under consideration. Still others have been rejected, and some companies have simply not applied because they aren’t eligible.

The way unemployment works, a company pays into its own fund. If that company has already tapped its fund and the money is gone or there is a negative balance, the company is not eligible for Stay at Work. Only companies that can make a dollar-to-dollar match from their own unemployment account are eligible.

“This is to be fair to all companies,” Reardon explains, and to keep healthier companies who have a surplus of unemployment funds from subsidizing struggling ones.

Overall the program is working as intended, Reardon says. It’s modeled after a similar approach in Missouri, which she says has saved 37,000 jobs in that state.

Part 2: Return to Work

The second part of the program, “Return to Work,” has drawn considerable interest, Reardon reports. It allows workers to train with new companies up to 24 hours a week for six weeks—in essence, a lengthy job rehearsal—even while collecting unemployment benefits.

More than 2,100 unemployed workers and 600 companies are signed up for Return to Work, but not all are in gear with the program yet. Reardon did not provide exact numbers of people active with the program, but she says her department has had a problem with matchmaking, or putting together the right workers with the right companies.

Of the workers who have taken part, half have gotten jobs from the companies they trained with, according to Reardon. But, she would like to see a greater volume. Reardon says the Department of Employment Security is setting aside time and resources to create a “speed dating” approach to better match worker with company needs.

Part 3: Get Ready to Work

The third part of the program, “Get Ready to Work,” will go into effect on Jan. 1. It is designed to enhance math, interviewing or computer skills for unemployed workers. The $1 million program, which will be financed from existing agency accounts, puts together workers with local training assets such as the community college system. The goal is to pass assessment tests and receive a “Key Certificate” to give to potential employers that demonstrate competency with math, interpersonal and computer skills.

>> Are you an employee or an employer who’s experienced NH Working first-hand? What do you think about how it’s working? Share your thoughts or questions using the comment form below. We’d love to hear from you!

This Daily Update was written by Michael McCord.

Posted by Hilary Niles on Nov 5 2010. Filed under agencies & departments, business taxes, Commerce, Education, Government, jobs & unemployment, Money, taxes, Weekly Briefing, Work, workforce training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry