La Administración Baker-Polito lanzó hoy un nuevo programa de subvenciones para empleadores de contratación y capacitación, "HireNow", que ayudará a los empleadores a contratar y capacitar rápidamente a nuevos trabajadores y lograr que más personas vuelvan a trabajar. El nuevo programa proporciona a los empleadores elegibles una subvención de $4,000 por empleado, que se puede usar para cubrir los costos de capacitación o como un bono de firma para nuevos empleados. Al brindarles a los empleadores estos fondos flexibles para facilitar la contratación rápida, la Administración se enfoca en abordar los continuos desafíos de contratación que enfrentan los empleadores y aumentar la participación en la fuerza laboral. Los empleadores pueden obtener más información sobre el programa y presentar su solicitud en commcorp.org/hirenow/ The program is open to all Massachusetts employers, including both for-profit and non-profit entities (excluding federal, state, and municipal governments). Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta announced the launch of the program today at LabCentral, a Cambridge non-profit that provides support and working space for start-ups in the biotech and life sciences sectors. LabCentral plans to hire lab operations and other technical and administrative staff this year and will use funds from HireNow to support training costs. “Our Administration is focused on supporting Massachusetts’ economic growth and getting more people back to work, and the HireNow program is one more tool at our disposal to meet employers’ workforce needs and grow our labor force,” dijo el gobernador Charlie Baker. “The flexible funds from this program will be distributed to employers quickly to help them with training costs, tuition support and other needs. We are grateful to our partners in the Legislature for allocating the ARPA funds necessary to make this program happen.” “We know employers are ready to grow and expand by hiring new workers, and we’re excited to deploy flexible dollars as part of the HireNow program to jump-start those efforts,” dijo la vicegobernadora Karyn Polito. “Massachusetts’s economic recovery from the pandemic is off and running, but we know there are still persistent workforce challenges that we must address. To boost our local economies, it is critical that we help both for-profit and non-profit employers meet their workforce needs and get more people back to work. We appreciate the partnership of the employer community as we developed this program and look forward to putting these funds to work alongside our existing, proven job-training programs.” HireNow aims to address hiring challenges faced by employers that have been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there are over 85,000 workers not participating in the labor market compared to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, employers’ need for workers has continued to increase, with unfilled job postings up 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels and approximately 200,000 open jobs available across the Commonwealth. The Administration is focused on addressing these challenges through a variety of efforts, including by expanding access and awareness to its existing, aprendizajes, programas de formación de trabajadores titulares, los Iniciativa para Carreras Técnicas (Career Technical Initiative, CTI) and more. Local MassHire Workforce Boards are also expanding resources to match employers and workers with training programs, and regions are hiring new staff members to serve as regional “Market Makers” to connect companies to graduates of new education and training programs starting up in their areas funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.  These staff members will be regional points of contact to help match employers’ needs with both job-seekers and the skill-building programs needed to successfully fill open jobs.  In addition, MassHire Centers are adding staff to work directly with job seekers who want to enroll in new training programs to gain more skills. The HireNow program will build on these efforts by providing resources directly to employers that make it possible to immediately hire new employees and provide them with necessary training to fill open roles. The program will be supported by $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. “We are excited to add HireNow to our growing number of grant programs that aim to close job and equity gaps across the Commonwealth,” dijo la Secretaria de Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral, Rosalin Acosta. “We hope these funds will encourage employers to expand their hiring strategy to include those with potential for learning and growing on the job, over a direct-skills match, as this will widen the candidate pool and help both jobseekers and businesses.” “Getting people back to work is a key element of our strategy for economic recovery and the ‘HireNow’ program allows us double down on these efforts,” dijo el secretario de Vivienda y Desarrollo Económico, Mike Kennealy. “I look forward to this program’s success not just in enhancing access to employment opportunities, but accelerating it.” “HireNow will be an excellent complement to the Career Technical Initiative we launched two years ago which expands access to high-quality vocational programs for high school students and adults by creating three shifts, one during the regular school day for vocational students, one in the afternoons for students enrolled in their local high school, and one in the evening for adult learners looking to change careers or upgrade their skills,” dijo el secretario de Educación, James Peyser. “Los empleadores podrán reclutar estudiantes de los programas de CTI y utilizar las subvenciones de HireNow para ofrecer una capacitación más profunda a sus empleados”. Detalles del programa:
  • Elegibilidad del empleador: Cualquier empleador de Massachusetts que esté al día con las obligaciones del Departamento de Asistencia por Desempleo y el Departamento de Ingresos y que no esté inhabilitado por el estado es elegible (excluyendo los gobiernos federal, estatal y municipal). Las solicitudes deben ser presentadas por el empleador, no por un socio de educación o capacitación.
  • Proceso de solicitud: Los empleadores deben registrarse previamente en línea en Mass.Gov/HireNow proporcionando la información del empleador. Luego de la contratación del empleado y el período de retención de 60 días, los empleadores presentarán una solicitud final de financiamiento. El Commonwealth también aprobará el uso planificado de los fondos (costos de capacitación, bonificación por firmar, etc.) al aprobar la solicitud.
  • Contrataciones elegibles: Las contrataciones deben realizarse después del 23 de marzo de 2022, conservarse durante un mínimo de 60 días y colocarse en trabajos de al menos 30 horas por semana. Los nuevos empleados deben ser residentes de Massachusetts empleados en Massachusetts. También hay límites en la compensación:
    • Compensación mínima elegible: $14.25 / hr (salario mínimo)
    • Compensación máxima elegible: $42.50 / hr (~$85K anualizado)
  • Fondos: hasta $4,000 por cada empleado elegible contratado, con un límite de $400,000 por empleador. Los fondos se proporcionarán por orden de llegada.