By ALLISSA KLINE
Business First

In the down economy, more businesses are cutting costs by adjusting work schedules.

Some companies are offering voluntary and mandated unpaid leaves of absence to employees. Others are shortening their workweeks, either informally or through a state Department of Labor program.

The benefit of either approach: Employers don't permanently lose their skilled workforce.

"Nobody really wants to go through the whole layoff process," said Colin Adams, president of the Buffalo Niagara Human Resources Association. "You've spent time and energy to train employees, and once they're there, you don't want to lose them unless you have to."

So companies are coming up with ways to keep employees on the payroll. An increasingly popular option, especially among the manufacturing industry, is the state Department of Labor's Shared Work Week, a voluntary program that allows companies to temporarily reduce hours and wages for a group of employees, said Carolyn Bright, business-services coordinator at the Buffalo DOL office.

"It's an alternative to laying your workers off 100 percent," she said. "It's really a vote of confidence for your business. You're saying, ‘We're slow right now, but we feel it will be better.' "

Under the Shared Work Week program:

• Employers can choose to temporarily shorten work weeks. For example, a 40-hour week may be cut to 32 hours.

• Workers, who are paid by the company for the hours they work, also are eligible to receive 20 percent of the total unemployment money for which they qualify. A worker making $400 a week would receive $320 in wages from the employer and $40 in shared work benefits, for a total of $360.

• Employee benefits such as health-care coverage remain constant for workers participating in the program.

At least 25 percent of the client base at Mercer Human Resources Consulting in Rochester have implemented some form of strategy to retain workers and avoid layoffs, Mercer consultant Lynne Allen said. Besides voluntary leaves of absence and the Department of Labor program, some companies offer vacation-purchase programs that allow staff to buy additional vacation days.

"The economy is the driver," Allen said. "(Employers) need to be able to reduce costs immediately in the hope that they're going to see business picking up again and allowing them to bring back full employment in the near future."

The Department of Labor is holding seminars to make companies aware of the Shared Work Week option, Bright said. Interest has picked up since the end of 2008.

"Some companies have shut down the whole facility on Fridays," she said. "They're saving on utility bills and paying their workers. This is a win-win for most businesses."

For more information, check www.labor.state.ny.us/ui/dande/sharedwork1.shtm.