A Newsletter for Professionals Growing Greenhouse Crops in the Rocky Mountain Region

Contents

• The H2B Program and Your Busines

What would happen if the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) decided to visit your business today?  For many, this is a scary prospect.  Many business operations in the United States could lose at least half of their workforce in an instant.  This has potentially crippling effects for a business.  In many cases, work would cease or be at such a reduced capacity as to impact profitability.  Our businesses require trained individuals who cannot be replaced overnight.  Employee training is an ongoing process.  It takes weeks to months to train a new employee.

Luckily, there is a solution to this challenge facing employers.  There is a federal H2B program to acquire seasonal immigrant labor to come work for your company legally!  This program is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.  Luckily, there are new businesses that will help you through this process, so that you do not have to navigate the waters alone.  One of these companies is Seasonal Immigrant Labor for Contractors (SILC).

Through the H2B program, workers can come to your business to work for 6 months out of every year. This is an ideal solution for businesses that have a peak work season, such as early spring through summer.  Of course, many businesses need year-round employees.  The solution is to have a flexible labor force, with certain employees working half the year, and others working the remaining half year.  The employee rotations can be staggered throughout the year, to minimize the changeover.  Of course this program can be used to simply supplement your staffing.  The real benefit to this program is that it enables you to have legitimate employees with real social security numbers and driver’s licenses.  After working for your company for three years, employees in the H2B program are eligible for citizenship.  This is a program where both the employer and employee benefit.

Employees can travel to the U.S. to work, legitimately, without having to take the risk of making a clandestine and dangerous trip across the border.  The employees can work without fearing deportation by the INS.

Employers will not face the prospect of INS fines, or losing significant portions of their workforce through an INS raid.  The employer can have the confidence of a steady labor supply, and a repeat work force every year.  This decreased turnover means a reduced training cost for the business manager.

The costs associated with this program vary, depending on the approach utilized.  While working directly with the U.S. Department of Labor might save money initially, the time spent on the endeavor will be significant.  Working with a consultant to simplify and speed the process requires an initial investment that is costly.  However, the costs decrease in future years, and the realized savings in time and effort are experienced immediately.  Consultant costs vary.  SILC charges $5,600 total for as many workers needed, or $3,300 for up to 6 workers.  Program renewal only costs $1,200 total per year, for as many workers needed.

The process takes 120 days, according to law.  Workers are paid the prevailing average labor wage set by the state.  Employees are only allowed to work for your company by law, so they cannot leave to work for your competitor.  Your current employees can recruit their friends and relatives still living in Mexico to work for you through this program.

For more information about SILC, contact them at (979) 245-7577 or on the internet at:
http://silc-h2b.com

Chris Freeman
Regional Specialist for Commercial Greenhouses
Colorado State University Cooperative Extension