The Jackson Laboratory reduces workforce to weather recession
| Date: March 6, 2009 |
The deteriorating conditions in the world economy will force The Jackson Laboratory to reduce its workforce by about 55 people and temporarily curtail the workweek to 37.5 hours for about 315 of its hourly employees.
These actions, announced to Laboratory staff on Thursday, follow a careful, six-week assessment of the Laboratory's financial situation by senior managers and are part of a wide-ranging plan to cut operating costs and boost revenues. A hiring freeze implemented in January also remains in effect except for positions funded by external grants and a few select positions deemed mission critical.
The reduction in force brings the Laboratory's total staff to 1,372 positions, about a 4 percent decrease from the previous 1,427. Those affected are in administrative, operations and support jobs throughout the Laboratory. The research faculty is not affected.
"We deeply regret the loss of these employees, but this action is necessary to keep the Laboratory on solid financial footing in an increasingly challenging world economy," said Rick Woychik, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Laboratory. "We will do as much as we feasibly can to soften the economic impact of their separation."
The approximately 55 employees will receive severance packages including two weeks' pay and one additional week's pay for every year worked at the Laboratory, plus assistance with continued health insurance coverage through COBRA, the federal law more formally known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. They will be notified of their termination by their supervisors within the next couple of weeks. (Editors: To respect their privacy, the Laboratory will not disclose the names of affected employees.)
The 315 hourly staff, mostly animal care and operations technicians who work in the Laboratory's mouse rooms, will work 37.5 hours per week instead of the normal 40 hours, effective March 30. The Laboratory expects all will resume a 40-hour work week within the next eight months, with many returning to that schedule sooner as sales return and due to normal attrition. The reduced workweek will protect the jobs of 25 technicians from being eliminated.
"We greatly appreciate the understanding, flexibility and sacrifice of these employees during this temporary reduction in hours," Woychik said. "We will restore their hours as demand increases and production ramps back up."
The Laboratory depends on income from its JAX® Mice & Services operations, as well as private philanthropy, to fund the costs of conducting research that are not covered by research grants. Sales of mice and mice services for biomedical research have increased much more slowly than projected in recent months, due to reduced spending by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and by academic research labs during the global economic recession.
Like most nonprofit institutions across the country, the Laboratory has also suffered investment losses in its endowment due to sharp declines in the financial markets. Since last fall, the endowment has dropped from more than $80 million to less than $50 million.
The Laboratory's senior management team is closely monitoring the financial landscape and taking every necessary step to ensure that the organization remains on solid financial footing and is able to fulfill its mission of improving human health through genetics research, while providing good jobs for Maine people.
"We are positioning the Laboratory to weather this economic storm," Woychik said. "We have overcome major challenges in our 80-year history, including two devastating fires, and we will meet this latest test. We believe economic conditions will eventually improve, and when they do, we plan on coming back quickly and strongly."
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the biomedical community. The Laboratory's work is contributing to a future of personalized medicine tailored to each individual's unique genetic makeup.
Contact(s): Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058
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Media Relations, Communications Office
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6058 (journalists only)
Main Jackson Laboratory phone: 207-288-6000
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org
