Dell, the US direct-sale computer-maker, is investing $50,000 (about €47,000) in a workers' lottery and in other initiatives aimed at overcoming a staffing crisis at its manufacturing plant in Limerick.
Prizes in the effort to retain and attract workers for the Christmas rush include cars, holiday vouchers, weekends in New York and London, televisions, bicycles and a "trolley-dash" in a local supermarket.
The company wants to recruit up to 550 permanent workers in Limerick, where it already employs 3,400 people.
However, such are its difficulties in filling positions that it is issuing a letter to every household in the city, offering 65 hours temporary work each week this month. The pitch in the letter offers potential employees the opportunity to earn up to £1,200 in that time. Dell's human resources manager, Mr Pat Casey, said the Limerick manufacturing plant would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week this month and the company was willing to accommodate people who were not available to work 65 hours in a week.
The current hourly rate for manufacturing work on the factory floor is £4.72, although Mr Casey said "a fairly substantial increase" is planned after November 1st.
The company is seeking 150 professional workers with specialisations in IT, engineering, materials management and finance at grades from graduate level to general manager. The remaining 400 vacancies are for manufacturing workers. "To fill these permanently is the preferred solution," said Mr Casey.
Other inducements designed to help retain workers include the granting of stock options to permanent workers at all grades. "Flexible" shift patterns offer staff the opportunity to work during weekends or at particular times of the day or night only.
