Forty-five people were laid off Tuesday at Dealer.com, one of Burlington’s largest employers.
The layoffs at the Pine Street tech company amount to about a 4 percent workforce reduction, according to company spokeswoman Alison von Puschendorf.
Employees were aware of the looming layoffs. Cox Automotive, Dealer’s parent company, announced plans last week to trim from its 35,000-person worldwide workforce by approximately 3 percent — a total cut of about 950 employees.
The impact on Burlington was unclear until the layoffs Tuesday.
“We held discussions with those impacted today and are working closely with them during this transition,” von Puschendorf said in an email. “In addition to providing severance, employee assistance programs and outplacement support from Cox Automotive, we are also working closely with several city and state agencies and officials to provide additional assistance to help with job placement. The types of positions impacted varies across the business.”
Dealer.com had about 1,000 employees prior to the job cuts.
The company had seen steady growth in recent years to become one of Vermont’s most successful startups. With edgy interior and exterior designs, a gym, tennis court, and two cafés, the Burlington business has helped revitalize the Pine Street corridor and brought a youthful energy to the city.
Tuesday’s layoffs are not an indication of ill health at the company, according to von Puschendorf’s statement.
“We are confident the changes we make today will position the company for greater long-term growth, stability and profitability,” she wrote. “Dealer.com is committed to staying in Burlington and has experienced unprecedented growth since it started nearly 20 years ago, and we are proud of its community involvement and business leadership as one of the largest employers in the state. During these two decades, the technology and business sectors in Burlington have grown tremendously with the support of the city and state, along with a growing sense of entrepreneurism. While it is difficult to say goodbye to members of the Dealer.com family, we will use all of the resources available to assist impacted team members so they may remain in the local workforce and we can all maintain a strong and vibrant Vermont.”Jill Badolato, director of corporate social responsibility at Dealer.com, was among those laid off. It was tough day for everyone at the company, she said.
“The mood has been really stressed and really charged,” Badolato said. “A lot of people were let go today and a lot of people are feeling really sad and scared about losing our culture and still being the same Dealer.com that we were, that we were founded on.”
She declined to discuss the details of her severance package other than to say that she will be paid through the end of September. Badolato was hired back in 2005 when there were only 35 employees — including her.
“I’ve had a really good ride,” she said. “It’s been a blast for the last twelve and a half years.”
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WOW!! Jill Badolato Worked to build this company for over a decade and gets less than 2 months of severance.
For the record, Dealer.com has been awarded $6.3 million in business “incentives” over the years, along with over $500,000 in training grants.
Auditor Hoffer,
That $6.3m was money well spent! We can debate its effect on Vermont-based employment using different data and modeling, but here in Vermont we spend a fraction of what Progs deem “corporate welfare” compared to states like Massachusetts and Texas. These states are eager to steal our jobs and–more importantly–members of Vermont’s skilled labor force that are employed in those jobs. The lack of an urban center/tech hub like Boston or Austin already puts our state at an incredible disadvantage when attempting to lure skilled workers and firms. We all know the lengths Mass and other states will go to lure jobs and corporate headquarters (eg, recent GE move to Boston).
Sure, there are plenty of examples of wasteful VEGI grants. But http://Dealer.com's appropriation resulted in incremental employments gains of middle-class jobs paying $60-110k. As auditor, your office should be the ones flagging the wasteful incentives like the money awarded to Husky Injection for the creation of hourly manufacturing jobs that pay $13-$16/hour.
We all can agree our state doesn’t need more low-wage jobs. We need higher income jobs that will result in both higher-skilled people moving into our state and the retention of more higher-skilled graduates from our colleges. Dealer.com growth mitigated what would’ve been more damage to our economy and stagnation of labor force. The $6.7m VEGI “incentives” should still be heralded as a banner public-private success, despite these recent layoffs!
Mr. DeFrancis – I am grateful for all the good jobs at Dealer.com. The only question is whether the company would have grown here without the subsidies. Notwithstanding your obvious faith in the value of the program, I cannot audit it because it rests entirely on an assertion by management that “but for” the “incentives,” the growth would not have occurred. Such assertions are too subjective for an audit and I can’t audit faith. I am not alone in thinking that much (if not all) of the growth attributed to the “incentives” would have occurred with them.
Needless to say, the final sentence should have said “I am not alone in thinking that much (if not all) of the growth attributed to the “incentives” would have occurred with[out] them.”
Complaining about the “cost” of VEGI is analogous to those in rural counties who complain about TIF debt and its impact on the VT Ed fund.
VEGI and TIF are funded by new revenue; its entirely incremental which is very exciting! Giving back some of the gains in new income tax and property tax to firms that create the growth is fair and responsible.
Vermont’s cash-strapped and needs mor revenue? That’s a result of bloated AHS and Medicaid spending on the GF side, and spectacularly low student-teacher ratios on the ed fund side. Don’t penalize those who are trying to invest private capital in our state. Let’s focus on the root cause of our fiscal woes: out-of-control Medicaid (including Dr Dynasaur) and $28k/pupil spending.
Mr. DeFrancis – You said “VEGI and TIF are funded by new revenue.” As I said, that is only true if the economic activity would have occurred without the “incentives.” That is an assumption that cannot be audited or proved.