Last year, Seek Professionals Inc. LLC, a Grafton-based company affiliated with Seek Careers/Staffing Inc., purchased reEmploy Inc., a payroll services company, from Curt Gielow, a former state representative from Mequon.
ReEmploy offers services to companies that want to re-engage their retired professionals without disrupting the retirees’ benefit plans and without having to be concerned with their own payroll and health care costs.
ReEmploy also offers services for independent contractors and workers involved in temporary assignments, special projects, mergers and right-sizing.
“Our mission is to re-engage retirees and to make companies aware of the fact that this vehicle exists,” said Carol Schneider, chief executive officer of Seek Careers/Staffing. “There are people who would like to work, they have the brain power to do it and they can make serious contributions to the welfare of their companies.”
ReEmploy serves as the employer of record for individuals who retired from a company but wish to go back to work for the same company on a part-time or temporary basis.
The company works on a nationwide basis through its Web site, www.reEmploy.com.
People who have recently retired or are about to retire from a company have a wealth of experience and knowledge that could be very useful to a company for training, mentoring or consulting purposes.
Many current clients of reEmploy also use the service to hire back retirees in response to recruitment and retention issues, said Mary Lou Harris, client services coordinator for reEmploy.
Harris herself retired from Seek last October and has come back to the company on a part-time basis to work at reemploy.
“It is harder to find quality help these days, and the demographic is working against us,” Schneider said.
ReEmploy was established by Gielow about three years ago, based on the needs of his clients. ReEmploy turned out to be more work than he originally thought, Schneider said. Last year, he approached her to see if she was interested in buying the business.
ReEmploy now serves as a separate company from Seek Careers/Staffing, but operates under the Seek Professionals division, a direct hire and placement business run by Schneider.
“Curt Gielow created the company out of retained searches at the executive level, and a lot of those companies had defined benefit plans,” Schneider said. “ReEmploy started from companies openly expressing the wish that a service like this was available.”
“The challenge is not to get companies to like and use the service, but to know it exists and that it is easy and cost effective,” Harris said. “Most people retire because they have another part of their life that they want to develop. But some want to work. And for those who are still vital, it works both ways as a victory.”
