Bill aims to add teleworker jobs

LINCOLN — An Omaha company would get incentives for training home-based “teleworkers” in rural Nebraska and areas of high poverty, under a legislative bill advanced easily on Wednesday.

Supporters billed the measure as a major job-creation tool that could create up to 1,000 jobs in Nebraska in the next year.

“This could help an unemployed person in my district or could help a mother in Scottsbluff wishing to return to the job market,” said State Sen. Heath Mello, who represents south Omaha and chose the measure as his priority bill.

Bellevue Sen. Abbie Cornett, who introduced Legislative Bill 1081, said her “Teleworker Job Creation Act” recognizes that technology has changed.

The state's business incentives, Cornett said, should recognize that jobs are being created for home-based workers who answer the telephone, not just at large corporations that move to Nebraska or expand here.

The bill was sought by West Corp., a 24-year-old Omaha firm that employs 15,000 home-based “agents” in 37 states, including about 300 in Nebraska.

Such workers answer customer-service related calls for about 20 hours a week on behalf of businesses such as banks, credit unions and cell-phone companies, according to David Mussman, the firm's executive vice president and general counsel.

It's a supplemental job, he said, sought by workers who want a flexible schedule while staying home with their young children or who can't travel to a workplace because of a handicap or long distances.

While such jobs offer relatively low pay — between $8 and $14 an hour — backers of LB 1081 said “teleworkers” also have lower expenses than workers at traditional jobs, without the cost of commuting or buying an office wardrobe.

Under the bill, companies like West Corp. could qualify for reimbursement for training expenses of up to $300 per worker.

Companies would have to give hiring preference to residents in counties of less than 100,000 in population — meaning all Nebraska counties except Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster.

They also would give hiring preference to residents of census tracts in which at least 30 percent of residents are under the federal poverty level and to adjacent census tracts, even in urban areas. That would affect a total of 32 census tracts in Douglas County, four in Sarpy County and seven in Lancaster County.

The reimbursement would come from an existing state job-training fund.

Mello said 1,000 jobs would translate into about $8 million in payroll.

Mussman said West Corp. needs incentives to locate jobs in Nebraska because the state's unemployment insurance rates are much higher than in other states.

Because about 5,000 people nationally have applied for these at-home jobs this year, the incentives will focus job-hiring efforts in Nebraska, he said.

The bill advanced from first-round debate by a 34-0 vote.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share