Glendo announces layoffs
Several full- and part-time positions eliminated
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Friday, February 20, 2009
Because of the economic slowdown, another Emporia manufacturing company has announced layoffs.
Glendo Corp. President D.J. Glaser said the layoffs started in January and continued for a couple of weeks.
Glaser said a couple of the positions were part-time and a couple were full-time.
“We go by full-time equivalence,” Glaser said, “so you might have four full-time people and two people at half-time, so that equals 6 people but five full-time equivalents.”
The company, which has been manufacturing tools and machinery for jewelry and engraving in Emporia since 1977, has also cut the salaries of the remaining employees.
“We did have a wage reduction,” Glaser said. “I cut my own wages more than twice anybody here, and I cut my own wages first.”
Glaser said that small businesses are having to make cuts to stay viable “and not end up like General Motors.”
“Glendo is a manufacturing company,” he said, “and if you look at what’s happening in the manufacturing world, a lot of companies are announcing layoffs. It’s a nationwide thing.”
Glaser said that in his 32 years in business he has never seen a slowdown this fast of this magnitude.
“If someone were to say that things would pick up by this fall, there probably wouldn’t have been any layoffs,” Glaser said. “You’ll weather some of that stuff because your workforce is trained and valuable. The problem is that the best minds are moving that target out further and further, and so while you’re making these decisions the data gets even more depressing.”
Glaser said 2008 started out to be such a good year the company was starting to entertain thoughts of expansion. But the fourth quarter was devastating, he said, especially by the end of the year.
“It happened in about 60 days,” Glaser said. “Just like that.”
The layoffs come after the company received a loan last month from the city that was meant to purchase a new piece of equipment and create new positions. Glaser said the details of that loan were worked out before the economy started its tailspin, and the job positions related to the machine are full-time and have not been cut.
“It’s still our intention to meet the requirements” of that loan, Glaser said. “... I want people to understand something: It’s not a grant, it’s a loan.”
Glaser said the company plans to bring back the employees who have been affected by the cuts as soon as the economy turns around.