East Hartford jet-engine builder Pratt & Whitney, underway with its biggest hiring ramp-up in a generation, says it’s offering financial packages to urge its longest-tenured workers to either retire or leave.
Pratt spokesman John J. Thomas confirmed Monday the company’s voluntary early-retirement/separation offer, but declined to specify terms of the separation package or the number of workers or job categories being targeted.
Pratt’s Connecticut headcount numbers around 12,000 at its East Hartford and Middletown campuses, and its separation offer also applies to qualified employees globally, Thomas said.
“… We have made a commitment to our shareholders to deliver increased operating profit margins in order to continue to invest in our future,’’ Thomas said via email. “We are doing this by, among other things, improving efficiencies and reducing costs … . The [separation program] is part of our efforts to reduce cost and improve profitability, while continuing to grow our business.”
Typically, corporate worker-separation packages involve one or a combination of incentives, such as a week’s pay for each year of service up to a maximum and extended health coverage for up to a year, to entice volunteers.
Employers often deploy voluntary separation incentives to encourage staff departures ahead of layoffs. Pratt did not say whether its voluntary-separation plan involves layoffs.
“We’re optimistic employees who meet the qualifying conditions will find the offer worth carefully considering,’’ Thomas said.
The staff-reduction incentives come just as Pratt is hiring thousands of engineers, technicians, quality inspectors and other technical and professional expertise amid the greatest staffing ramp-up since right after World War II.
Pratt, with economic assistance from the state, in recent years invested tens of millions in a new engineering office building on its East Hartford campus. Farmington parent United Technologies Corp. also has its global research and development center on the campus.
Last November, UTC Aerospace Systems completed its $30 billion acquisition of former aerospace rival Rockwell Collins, creating Collins Aerospace Systems.
UTC also proposes to merge with Massachusetts defense contractor Raytheon Co., which is set for a vote of both companies’ stockholders in October.
