Kelley C. Smith, a 47-year-old benefits manager for Skokie-based Brunswick Corp., got the call in late November. His Fourth U.S. Army Reserve unit stationed at Ft. Sheridan was being sent to Saudi Arabia.
For the next six months the reserve army colonel would use his finance and business background to help build bases in the desert, not health insurance plans for employees. For his co-workers in Skokie, Smith`s absence meant more work from everyone else.
”We`re struggling with a lot of work right now,” said Mary Kay Bottorff, director of compensation and benefits for Brunswick and supervisor of Smith and nine co-workers in normal times. She gave half Smith`s workload to his assistant, and she took on the rest. ”When you have a small department and you lose one person, it makes a difference.”
While their sacrifices are small compared with the contributions of active military personnel and their families, many U.S. businesses and their employees will have to cope with the loss of key personnel to the armed services during the war in the Persian Gulf.
Since the crisis began in August, the Pentagon has activated more than 161,000 reservists, including 3,400 from Illinois. Call-ups from the 1.2 million-member force are expected weekly. Many of the reservists have the critical medical, financial and administrative skills needed to support the rapid buildup and deployment of battle-ready troops.
That often can leave a void on the home front. ”Some of our reservists are skilled blue-collar people, who are hard to find right now,” said Ron Gidwitz, chairman of Helene Curtis Industries Inc., which so far hasn`t seen any of its estimated two dozen reservists called away to war.
Most firms that have lost employees are spreading the workload among existing workers rather than hiring temporary personnel. ”They just kind of doubled up,” said Gary Gadzinski, director of human resources for SEC Cos., an Oak Brook-based group of employment agencies that specializes in providing temporary professional help.
Gadzinski, who spent 8 years as a full-time naval officer, was called up Aug. 20 by his Forest Park-based naval reserve unit. He returned to his old job Dec. 21 after spending four months on active duty scouting naval ports in the Middle East.
The economic downturn may be behind the absence of replacement hiring.
”The call-up has been offset by the recession,” said Jeff Kida, financial manager of Salem Technical Services Inc., which provides professional temporaries. ”We`ve had more inquiries than actual business because of the loss of reservists.”
American Airlines, which blamed a pilot sick-out for the cancellation of many flights during the recent holiday season, lost 350 of its 8,700 pilots to military reserve duty shortly after Iraq`s invasion of Kuwait. ”We`ve covered the shortages caused by the military call-ups,” said Thomas Stack, a spokesman for American.
United Airlines, which lost 110 of 8,000 pilots to reserve duty, has covered its routes through its hiring campaign, which is tied to its overseas expansion, according to a spokesman.
Amoco Corp., which lost 50 employees around the country to reserve duty, and Illinois Bell, which lost 12, also will spread the work among existing employees while the workers are away. ”With a company this size, where we`ve eliminated over 900 management positions in the last year, we can certainly handle the temporary absence of another 20 or 30,” said Larry Cose, a spokesman for Illinois Bell.
But there are a few companies that will hire to cover the loss. Harza Engineering Co., a downtown civil-engineering firm with 400 employees, will bid a temporary farewell to 21-year-old Mike McMullen next week when his reserve unit reports for active duty. The University of Illinois at Chicago student was working 20 hours a week at the firm as a computer operation assistant.
”We can`t expect someone else to fill that job,” said Pat Saletta, human resources manager for Harza. ”We`ll have to go out and find somebody else.”
Like full-time employees who leave for reserve duty, McMullen will have his old job waiting for him when he returns from military service. It`s the law.
Many of the reservists will pay a financial penalty while they`re away, however, since their military pay in most cases is far less than their civilian earnings. That`s especially true if they work for small, privately held firms that don`t have the financial resources of a larger company.
”There`s not a consistent policy across the board,” said Gadzinski, who had his pay subsidized by SEC for the first four weeks of his reserve duty, but took a ”little loss” thereafter. ”My rank in the military is somewhat comparable to my civilian pay scale, but some of the enlisted people in my unit took tremendous pay cuts.”
Among the firms surveyed Friday that are continuing a full benefit package and making up the difference in pay while employees are on military leave are Illinois Bell, Amoco Corp. and Helene Curtis. Kelley Smith of Brunswick also can look forward to maintaining his full salary while abroad.
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Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc., which has seen nearly 50 of its 41,000 U.S. employees leave for military service, has different policies for its management and blue-collar ranks. Both groups will get their military pay subsidized to full pay for 30 days and health insurance and other benefits continued for six months.
After that, though, hourly workers will have to purchase dependent coverage. Management employees will get theirs covered by the company for the duration of the conflict.
The recently negotiated United Auto Workers contracts at the Big Three automakers called for granting 30 days of full pay for reservists. That is twice the level of the previous contract, but still far less than the extended tours of duty of most reservists.
Pilots at American Airlines, among the best-paid U.S. workers, with average salaries around $100,000 a year, will go off the company payroll after only seven days on reserve duty. Their family health-insurance plans stop after 15 days. Pilots and other reservists can continue purchasing insurance through the company plan, however.
That won`t be a problem for the four medical technicians at Children`s Memorial Hospital in Chicago who were called into action last month. ”Their benefits will continue,” said Julie Chelsky, spokewoman for Children`s Memorial.