We took advantage of the Work-Sharing program across Canada in an effort to avoid layoffs and reduce workweeks while employee who participated received EI reimbursement. The length of time before we were approved took a bit longer than we had anticipated this was due to the Service Canada offices being inundated with a large volume of Work-Sharing applications. Generally it took 40-50 days before we were approved, depending on the province.
The Work-Sharing program created a lot of work for our Human Resources Department. This included providing instructions and assistance to employees on how to apply for EI online. Assisting employees if they had issues with their EI payments. Completing and submitting a utilization report each week to Service Canada that including information such as hours actually worked by the employee, days the employee was not available to work and the number of Work Sharing days taken. The good news is that Service Canada created a new online tool called Data Gateway that allowed us to send our utilization report via the intranet rather than by mail. Also the Service Canada Program Officers and EI Reps were very helpful.
The locations in Ontario were we utilized Work-Sharing included Perth, Mississauga, Burlington, Hamilton, Oshawa and Milton.
All in all the Work-Sharing program was a lot of work but it was successful and worth it. Employees kept their jobs and received EI payments for any reduced work weeks.
Lia Messina, Human Resources Manager, Eaton Corporation
