IBVI will be bringing back hand assembly associates to Janesville and West Allis locations starting next week
The construction on the new addition to our Janesville facility is now finally complete, and we have the final city inspections set for Friday, May 1. We do not anticipate any issues and therefore plan to fully move into the newly expanded facility on Monday, May 4. Initially, we plan to use the new space to spread out the current hand assembly workstations. This expanded layout will allow us to operate, fully staffed, with safe social distancing.
Barring any issues, we plan to bring back all of our Janesville associates on Tuesday, May 5. We are in the process of planning the shipments of raw material to that facility later for this week.
This expansion will double the square footage of the Janesville facility, and also allow us to hire more blind and visually impaired candidates from the surrounding Janesville, Wisconsin area.
In addition to the Janesville expansion, we also plan to bring our West Allis hand assembly associates back to work starting on Monday, May 4. This work area still presents a challenge with safe social distancing when fully staffed. To combat this, we will split this workforce into two teams—one team will work on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the second team will work on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The returning associates in both facilities will also receive the added on-site duty pay that was announced and implemented earlier this month.
As we had previously communicated, any associate choosing to stay at home will be allowed to do so and any attendance policy penalties will remain waived.
We’re looking forward to having these critical IBVI team members return to work!
Sincerely,
CJ