Businesses quick to offer support for Intersurgical staff
AUTOMATIC interviews and immediate job opportunities have been offered to former Intersurgical employees.
About 90 people Intersurgical lost their jobs on Tuesday as the manufacturer and supplier of medical devices shut its local operation.
‘While it can be a traumatic and worrying time to lose employment, from dialogue with our members there are staff shortages across the board, so hopefully this will help former Intersurgical employees obtain gainful new employment,’ said Confederation of Guernsey Industry chairman Dave Newman.
It is understood staff were given a month’s pay in lieu of notice, and redundancy payments have been offered in the form of one-and-a-half weeks’ pay for each year of employment beyond a year.
Several employees have been kept on for an additional six weeks as a closure team to deconstruct machinery for its shipment to one of the company’s other sites.
Aurigny used social media to invite former Intersurgical staff for an automatic interview, despite it having practically full employment. Several people have already submitted applications.
‘Ninety people are suddenly out of work and we are offering automatic interviews to them due to the uncertainty of this situation,’ said an airline spokeswoman.
‘From what we understand, Intersurgical had employees who had been there a very long time, which makes the required five-year employment history very easy to obtain.
‘This is an opportunity for us to assist the staff in a mutually beneficial way.’
Ross Le Brun, of Labour Force, also took to social media to share his own experiences of unemployment and offering short- or long-term work.
‘It goes without saying that if anyone needs work who can’t find something straight away, just give us a call,’ he said.
‘We are happy to offer short-term work while you need it and can keep you in work on an ongoing basis if needed.
‘Truth be known, you’ll be doing us a favour as much as we might be helping you out.’
Channel Islands Co-op CEO Mark Cox tweeted, encouraging former employees to contact him or a member of the Co-op team, and Offshore Electronics has advertised factory-based work in various areas.
Unemployment fell to its lowest level in 14 years last month, with 239 people out work, against 467 Job Centre adverts.
