The SMART Business Resource Center offer many services to help businesses and workers deal with the effects of layoffs and plant closures, including those that result from increased competition from imports, natural disasters, and other events.
One such service is Rapid Response. Rapid Response is a pro-active, business-focused, and flexible strategy designed to respond to layoffs and plant closings by quickly coordinating services and providing immediate aid to companies and their affected workers.
Rapid Response Serves:
- Rapid Response for Laid-Off Workers who have been displaced. Access a comprehensive range of direct services, benefits, training opportunities, and income support.
- Rapid Response Services to Employers Avoid future layoffs, access specialized worker training programs and skilled job seekers, and become familiar with employment rights and regulations such as the WARN Act, administered by the Department of Labor.
Our Rapid Response team will work with employers and any employee representative(s) to quickly maximize public and private resources to minimize disruptions associated with job loss. Rapid Response can provide customized services on-site at the affected company (we come to you), accommodate any work schedules, and assist companies and workers through the painful transitions associated with job loss.
Benefits to Your Company:
Working with Rapid Response during layoffs or plant closings will result in multiple benefits to you as a business. The more quickly the Rapid Response strategy is implemented, the better off your company and workers will be. Providing Rapid Response to your 
workers will help to insure:
- Higher productivity and worker morale and lower absenteeism during the layoff event due to reduced stress
- Lower unemployment insurance costs as workers are re-employed more quickly when services are begun before the layoff
- Decreased likelihood of sabotage or work disruptions
- Media and rumor management. Rapid Response teams understand the often confidential nature of layoffs and will work with the company to ensure confidentiality at all times
- Better public relations for an employer. Rapid Response teams can also work with the media to highlight services an employer is providing to its workers during a layoff period, which will improve a company's public image
Benefits to Your Employees:
The decision to lay off employees is one no employer wants to make. However, as layoffs do occur, partnering with our Rapid Response team to meet with affected workers before the layoff will allow your employees to access services and programs that will help them through this difficult time. Our Rapid Response team can provide your employees with a range of information and services, including:
- Career counseling and job search assistance
- Resume preparation and interviewing skills workshops
- Information on the local labor market
- Applying for Unemployment Insurance
- Information about education and training opportunities
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