The South Dakota Retailers Association has awarded its 50th check to out-of-state workers who moved to South Dakota via its $1,000 Workforce Incentive Program. Since its January launch, the program has helped bring workers to 45 different employers in 23 South Dakota communities, the association reports.
“We know that workforce is the number-one issue facing South Dakota businesses,” says Nathan Sanderson, Retailers Association executive director. “As workers around the country look to our state as a new place to call home, we hope this incentive will make our businesses even more attractive.”
The $1,000 Workforce Incentive provides a cash payment to an employee hired from out-of-state to work in a Retailers Association member-business. To be eligible, an employee must work at least 30 hours per week for 90 days at a physical location in South Dakota. Recipients have included grocery and retail clerks, hospitality and food service workers, auto repair technicians, bakers, customer service specialists and many others.
“The workforce incentive has been very beneficial for us,” says R.F. Buche, president of Buche Foods and Gus Stop Convenience Stores, based in Gregory, South Dakota. “It’s one more recruiting tool to attract new team members to our great state!”
The Retailers Association notes that the program has brought workers to South Dakota from 23 different states, including New York, Hawaii, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Washington, North Dakota and Iowa.
“Because of this program, I was able to hire and retain an employee [Kayla Lawrence], whose family relocated from New York,” says DeLon Mork, owner of Dairy Queen in Madison, South Dakota. “Kayla has had a great experience in our store and was incredibly appreciative of the incentive from the Retailers Association.”
The association is celebrating Workforce Incentive week November 7-11, and will feature more than two dozen Workforce Incentive recipients on its Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/SDRetailers.
