Digitial Offers 700 Employees a Lure to Quit

Digital Equipment Corp. has offered 40 to 104 weeks of pay to 700 employees if they voluntarily leave the company.

Digital, the nation’s second-largest computer firm, has never had a layoff in its 31-year-history and says it has no plans for one.

The company is, however, undertaking what it calls a “work force transition” to reduce its manufacturing payroll by 4,000 jobs this year through redeployment and retraining. Jeff Gibson, a Digital spokesman, said today that the voluntary severance package is being offered separately.

The severance package was offered Tuesday to 500 workers at Digital’s former systems manufacturing plant in Salem, N.H., and 200 employees based at other sites whose jobs are related to the Salem facility.

Digital said it expects several hundred employees to accept the offer. Those who choose not to leave the company may be transferred.

Under intense price competition and declining U.S. sales, the company in May froze the salaries of all of its 73,500 employees in the United States. Employees at foreign facilities were not affected because sales overseas have remained strong. Digital employs 125,800 people worldwide.

Digital spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the severance package will include 40 weeks of pay for employees with fewer than two years of service.

Employees with three to 10 years of service are also eligible for 40 weeks of pay, plus three additional weeks for every year of service over three years. That means a 10-year veteran would get 61 weeks of pay.

Employees with more than 10 years of service would get 64 weeks of pay, plus four more weeks for each year between 11 and 20. The maximum award is 104 weeks of pay.