Make Sure You Don’t Fall Into This PR Nightmare
Consider this regrettable tale. If you’re a business owner/manager/supervisor, file it under Make Sure This Never Happens to Me.
Consider an unnamed NFL franchise. It’s the start of the playoffs. Team officials are waiting at their stadium for temporary workers who are desperately needed to shovel snow in the parking lot for the impending crush of fans.
Little did they know.
The customers asked us not to use their name — they’ve had their fill of negative press, thank you — but what happened was, before the playoff game, 60 workers en route to the stadium were intercepted by federal immigration authorities. All of the workers — immigrants from South America — were detained, and a number of them were eventually deported. And the next day, it was the lead item in all the newspapers and on TV stations. (Along with the dust-up with the Feds, the matter was made even worse because a number of the workers were ill-equipped for the freezing temperatures, wearing sweatshirts and frozen sneakers.)
A spokesperson for the team explained that they were as shocked as anyone that undocumented, unprepared workers were sent to the stadium — and they immediately severed ties with the temporary firm.
So, in all, it was what you could call a PR disaster.
But there was a silver lining.
The day after the government crackdown, shaken team officials called the local Labor Ready branch to provide workers to replace the illegal workers. The branch sent over 80 motivated, dependable, fully documented workers.
A good move.
Labor Ready partners with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) organization. ICE forms these partnerships only with companies it considers to be leaders in compliance. As an IMAGE partner, Labor Ready implements ICE’s suggested best practices to ensure that workers are properly documented.
Also, it’s Labor Ready policy to put all new workers through the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system.
“Right away, they felt more comfortable with Labor Ready’s diligence on compliance,” said the Labor Ready District Manager who ended up servicing the team after the ICE clampdown. “Service excellence requires 100 percent compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations. In this case, our commitment to compliance was the differentiator and has set us up for a long-term partnership with the team.”
Would you like to find out more about how Labor Ready can partner with your team on the issue of worker-eligibility verification? Call 800-24-LABOR to be connected to your closest branch, visit LaborReady.com and use our branch locator to find a branch near you or send us an email. We look forward to partnering with you!