Skip to content

In the News

Employees face financial peril with ‘benefits cliff’

Blog Categories

BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) — When can a raise, a promotion, or more work hours be a bad thing for employees?

When it pushes them over the "benefits cliff."

It is a workplace problem employers may not even be aware they have, but it is becoming more of an issue in today's tight labor market, where employees often are being asked to work longer hours by companies that are struggling to fill open jobs.

"People are very rational," said Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "They look at this and they say, 'I can’t take that overtime because I’ll hit that cliff, and I’ll lose food for my family, or I’ll lose my housing, or I’ll lose something.'

Read more here.

Related Posts

David Robinson: Hiring stagnates as companies come to grips with an uncertain economy

By mcotter@thepartnership.org | November 22, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) —Just when it looked like hiring was starting to pick up across the Buffalo Niagara region, it stalled out again. A Buffalo Niagara Partnership survey this fall found that finding and retaining qualified talent was their biggest concern, trumping rising labor costs, which ranked as the second-biggest challenge.

Worker shortage top of mind for employers

By mcotter@thepartnership.org | November 14, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (Buffalo News) — With the region’s unemployment rate running at historic lows, companies are scrambling to recruit and keep talent. But it’s a complex problem for employers to solve.

Are Buffalo Niagara employers embracing diversity?

By mcotter@thepartnership.org | November 1, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (Buffalo News) — Local employers are making headway on diversity, equity and inclusion, but they’ve still got work to do. Those are some of the themes from the latest assessment by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, two years after the business group conducted an initial survey.

WNY business leaders lay out concerns to candidates for governor

By mcotter@thepartnership.org | October 24, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WGRZ) — The Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the region’s chamber of commerce, is making sure the concerns of Western New York’s businesses are heard ahead of election day.