The Shared-Work Program
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The program allows you to reduce the work hours of your full-time employees, while the workers collect partial unemployment benefits to replace a portion of their lost wages.
The program helps you retain your skilled workers, reduce your payroll costs and avoid the expense of recruiting, hiring and training new employees when the economy improves.
Participation
Any company, large or small, can participate as long as the company is registered in Washington for at least six months prior to applying for the program.Your participating employees must:
- Be full-time and hourly;
- Have worked at least 460 hours for you in the quarter prior to the quarter you apply for Shared Work;
- Be eligible for regular unemployment benefits; and
- Be able and available to work all hours offered by the shared-work employer.
Reductions in work hours
You must reduce the weekly work hours of your participating employees by at least 10 percent, but not more than 50 percent. For example, the work schedule for a full-time employee who typically works 40 hours a week must be reduced by at least 4 hours, but not more than 20 hours.Length of plan
A shared-work plan can last up to one year. If your request is for less than a year, it still counts as your one plan for the year. In most instances, it is best to open a plan for the full year so it will be available if you need it.Similarly, employees can receive up to 52 weeks of shared-work benefits in each one-year plan as long as there is a balance available. The weeks do not need to be consecutive.
Administration
You will deal directly and exclusively with the Shared-Work Administrative Unit in Olympia, Wash., on all matters about your plan and your participating employee’s unemployment claims.The bottom line
The Shared-Work Program saves you money and keeps your skilled work force intact.Employees are spared the hardships of full unemployment and get more income than if they were fully laid off.
For more details see shared-work compensation plan - benefits and shared-work regulations.
Shared-Work forms and publications
Shared-work forms are available online as Microsoft Excel, Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. You can download this free software directly from Adobe.Select a link below to open a form, then select "Save As" to save a copy to your hard drive. If you prefer, place your cursor over the link and then right-click your mouse button to open the dialog window. Select "Save Target As" to save the document to your computer.
If you use Word or PDF to complete the shared-work compensation plan application, you can use our new Web form link to upload your application.
If you use Excel, Word or a PDF file to complete the participant list, you can use our new Web form link to upload your participants.
Shared-Work upload form instructions: Save the shared-work application and participant list to your hard drive. Please include your company's name in the file name. After completing the forms, select the "Shared-work upload form" link. Select the "Browse" button to choose the completed document files to upload from your saved documents. When the name of the document you chose to upload appears in the text box, select the "Upload" button to send the documents to us.
- Shared-Work compensation plan application
- Shared-Work compensation plan participant list
Contact information
For assistance with your application, or more information, call:- 800-752-2500 (toll-free)
- 360-902-9350 (Olympia area)
- 360-902-9260 (fax)