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Sep 14 |
The Dole – There is a SolutionPosted in Irish Business by barbara |
We have spoken to so many business over the last few months and they all agree that they are competing with the dole for employees. We know from our own expansion plans that we certainly are in whatswhat.ie.
It’s hard for politicians to come up with workable, practical solutions when they’re so removed from the reality of business. What small businesses need is not yet another consultant report, expert group or investment in some future Smart Economy.
So this is how we think it is:-
Business owners are presently letting staff go and are working 60 to 70 hours a week themselves in order to keep going.
At the moment business owners are competing with the dole for staff to help their business.
People are terrified to leave the welfare system as it is hard to get back into it again.
In many cases, it is also not worth their while financially as they are getting so many benefits.
This situation is also helping the black economy where legitimate businesses are suffering
So why not:-
Allow a business owner to take a suitable person off the live register.
Allow the Employee to keep his dole and benefits for a year or longer maybe.
The Employer matches the dole money, paying €200 or €250 to €300, putting no financial strain on the business
As a result:-
the employee gets earning and gets their self esteem back.
The Government gets PAYE, PRSI and levies on the €450/500, which reduces the strain on the public finances.
The extra income earned is going back to the Economy which will help businesses and will also give VAT back to the Government.
The Employer is getting a cost effective way to get his/her business back on track without working all the hours God Sends
No doubt there are some pitfalls in this but nothing that can’t be overcome.
We would particularly like comments on this from other business owners.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Paraic Hegarty and whatswhatniamh, whatswhatkayla. whatswhatkayla said: RT @paraic: @whatswhatbarb's thoughts on The Dole – There is a Solution – http://www.whatswhat.ie/blog/2010/09/the-dole-there-is-a-solution/ [...]
Im a business owner, and finding it so difficult to keep going during this recession!
Brilliant Idea!!
Im so sick of this country i am self employed and trying to get people of the dole is impossible it makes me so angry…… and that idea sounds really good.
Brilliant idea, I am doing everything possible to take somebody on in my business but can’t afford to do it full time, could easily have work for someone, this government has got to go, becuase they keep slamming the door in the faces of the small business, there is just no help out there for anyone, surely it’s time that the Irish people show a united front and do something about this!!!
It’s with every small business. How can we help it out? Samantha is right that we all have to do some thing in this regard. We have to. Unless we will be unable to sustain this recession.
I do agree with that but I think the problem isn’t so much the dole as memory of the inflated salary they had 3 or 4 years ago. Some people think they are worth far more than they actually are. The other problem is the horrendous way in which contract staff are treated by the state: most people are forced to be self employed so that the client isn’t lumped with the responsibilties of having an employee. But then they take the dole away from the contractor: somebody who maybe is only working on contracts of as little as 1 week? They lose their dole entitlements after as little as 2 years which means that unless they have a huge daily rate and at lesat 6 months they won’t work.