Acrobat Research closure hits 40 with layoffs at Calais branch

Jeannine Lank of Robbinston was part of the first training class in January 2008 when Acrobat Research opened its doors in Calais with much fanfare -- and with the projection of employing as many as 200 people in an area hungry for jobs.

"I did a lot for that company, and I was good at what I did," Lank says. "I helped others learn what they were supposed to do, who came in after me. I felt I got a raw deal."

Lank learned on March 12 that she was being laid off by Acrobat Research for the second time in two years. She was one of "35 to 40 workers" -- the 200 jobs never materialized -- who were told the company's doors were being closed temporarily.

Acrobat is a Toronto-based international research and data collection firm. The company had opened the Calais facility in January 2008 with dignitaries on hand and the promise of delivering 200 jobs in a challenging economy. But the company never reached that level of employment, and the 40 or so workers who were let go with no notice earlier this month never had steady work from the start.

"It's been a long winter," Jayna Smith, the center's former manager says. "It's been a long two years." Smith's position was terminated in the sudden announcement, which caught both Calais and Washington County officials by surprise. The Acrobat Research president, Tim Sinke, says that the news of the company's "closure" in Calais is actually misleading, because the intention is to call back the workers when the business climate improves.

"I don't have a definite start-up time, and I don't know how many people we'll hire when we start up again," Sinke says. "But we don't expect a permanent closing.

"We have seasonal ups and downs. We are busier in April, May and June, and from September through December. We took the decision at this point because March had slowed down all of a sudden. We decided to temporarily halt the activity there, although this also gives us the chance to retool with some technologies and cost efficiencies."

Acrobat Research's opening in Calais, its first expansion into the United States, was considered strategic for its proximity to the border with New Brunswick. But work has proven uneven, and the plans for new business clients never panned out. The office even closed for six weeks in the spring of 2008.

Within the international market research industry, the British magazine Research reported the announcement of the Calais closing with hopeful remarks. Sinke told Research, "We'll reopen in a month, but not with everyone." Even today, Acrobat Research's website indicates "new employment opportunities in Calais, Maine," with an invitation to submit resumes and applications.

But Smith, who worked as the Calais center manager since its beginning, isn't sure herself what may happen next. "Any company president will hope a closure is only temporary," Smith says. "But you can't run a business with work one week and not the next. The employees are frustrated and stressed out. Some have already found other jobs. If they do reopen, they won't have all their employees."

Acrobat Research provides both telephone and online data collections services such as opinion polls and customer satisfaction surveys for clients. From the Ontario headquarters, the company operates a center in Nairobi, Kenya, plus two other facilities in Nova Scotia, at Greenwood and Capreol. Last fall, two other Acrobat Research centers in two small towns in Nova Scotia -- at Cheticamp, on Cape Breton Island, and Canso -- also closed. "That's what makes me not so optimistic about Calais reopening," Smith says. "Two other Acrobat centers had to close in the last six months, as well."

When Smith arrived at the office on Friday, March 12, she was told to deliver the news of temporary layoffs to the day-shift workers who were coming in at 1 p.m. "It was a shock to me, but I had kind of thought in the back of my mind that you can't run a business like this," she says.

Acrobat Research had been drawn to the region because of the reputation of the local work force. More than 230 applications had been received by November 2007 after the initial hiring announcement. That was in anticipation of Acrobat filling 80 full-time and 130 part-time positions.

The Calais workers "struggled as it was," Smith says. "They would have work one day and not the next, and that's not easy to make arrangements for. The pay started at $8 an hour, and they had to survive off that. They didn't get health insurance, but because the pay was low, many of them still qualified for Mainecare."

Jeannine Lank, who has since found a new job, says she won't consider returning to Acrobat Research, even if she is called back. She endured a nine-month layoff starting in February 2009, before returning last November. But instead of the $9.50 an hour she had been earning at the time of the first layoff, she was put back to the beginning pay scale, $8 an hour. She also lost the benefit of holiday pay that she had achieved.

"I feel like I did a lot for the company, and then they turned their back on me and let me go," Lank says. "Now that's happened twice. There is a lot of fear now that, if they do reopen, employees would have to start back at $8 with no holiday pay.

"It's been a rough year. This is horrible, especially if people have kids. No one can live like this, because we wonder: Will this happen again?"

The Calais workforce consistently ranked as the company's most productive, says Harold Clossey, executive director of the Sunrise County Economic Council. The council, along with the Eastern Maine Development Corporation had worked closely with Acrobat Research to bring the Canadian company to this side of the border. Clossey had known of the company's slowdown and had met with Acrobat officials last November to consider other ways of boosting the business. But Clossey himself was caught unaware by the closing. Company CEO Roland Klassen had alerted Calais Manager Diane Barnes in a phone call and further told Clossey in a short email last week that the closing was "temporary."

"We had tried to identify other types of work that they could use the people in Calais for, such as telemedicine and other things," Clossey says of the November meetings. "We have been aware that their business overall has been stagnant and declining.

Just in January, Acrobat Research had been honored by the Maine Development Foundation as one of a dozen eastern Maine employers for their efforts in supporting employee higher education. Smith says she had made continuing education a priority and coordinated workers' schedules around their classes. She has told the laid-off employees that she is available to help them develop resumes, and has offered to be a professional reference in their job searches.

"I do sincerely hope they find a stable working environment, whether it's Acrobat Research or another employer," Smith says.