THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510140379
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Sentara Health System is offering voluntary early retirement to more than 500 employees in South Hampton Roads and on the Peninsula in order to cut costs and reduce its work force, a company spokeswoman said.
The Norfolk-based health care company announced the offer to its employees this week. Sentara expects about 340 workers to accept the offer, spokeswoman Deborah Myers said.
Employees 55 years old and over will begin receiving packets Monday explaining the offer.
``It's just one of the ways we can go ahead and reduce without having to lay people off,'' Myers said.
Sentara has been on a growth spurt lately, with its work force expanding from 10,400 early in the year to more than 11,000. It is the largest non-military employer in South Hampton Roads.
This is the first early retirement plan the company has ever offered, Myers said. Sentara is in the early phases of a systemwide re-engineering effort that seeks to cut $50 million annually from its budget to reduce its costs in the competition for HMO customers.
Employees eligible for the program will have a ``window'' beginning Nov. 1 and ending Dec. 31 during which they must decide whether to retire. To qualify, a Sentara employee must be at least 55 years old and have five years' experience with the company.
To entice employees, Sentara will add five years of service and five years of ``age'' to a worker's profile. A 55-year-old worker with 10 years at the company, for instance, would retire with the benefits of a 60-year-old with 15 years at Sentara.
The company will also provide a Social Security supplement until the worker is 62 and a medical plan until the worker is eligible for Medicare.
Personnel experts have told Sentara a rule of thumb is to expect 64 percent of eligible employees to take the offer. Sentara's human resources department conducted a survey last year asking employees about benefits, Myers said, and ``early retirement was one benefit they requested.'' by CNB