SPECIAL NOTICE TO OHIO EMPLOYERS
The Ohio Incumbent Worker Training Voucher Program Round 5 Application Window has Open! Submission Deadline October 14th!
by Proactive Technologies, Inc Staff.
There is still an opportunity for those employers who have not yet conceived of a project and prepare an application for grant funding for the Ohio Incumbent Worker Training Voucher Program Round 5. Applications must be submitted October 14, 2016 at 10:00 am ET.
For well crafted applications this is, by far, the easiest grant money for employers to apply for, use and obtain reimbursement. Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing are two of the targeted sectors.
click here to expandProactive Technologies, Inc. specializes in setting up, managing and supporting structured on-the-job training for the accelerated transfer of expertise™, and has worked extensively with all types ISO/AS/TS compliant manufacturers and manufacturing positions such as Maintenance (all crafts), CNC machining, Tool & Die, Tool & Gage, Mold and Die Repair, Assembly (all levels) and more. Many were registered as apprenticeships. Proactive Technologies has assisted client-companies to successfully apply for, manage, document and receive reimbursement for almost $2,000,000 in projects in just the last 3 years alone! A substantial amount of that amount was reimbursed to the clients by the state of Ohio to lessen their initial out-of-pocket investment on a project that leads to capacity building, quality improvement for maximized results and return on worker investment! Click here for more information.
This is a reimbursement program. Once the employer applies and is accepted, the employer completes the approved training and submits the receipts and rosters to the OH IWT, the employer will be reimbursed for 50% of the cost. If the proposed training isn’t held and no training cost is incurred, the employer simply has nothing to submit for reimbursement. No risk, no penalties.
If you would like to discuss a project for your organization, contact us immediately and we will help you create a sensible project containing structured on-the-job training (for transferring task-based expertise) and related technical instruction (building core skills needed to learn the tasks), and we will put together a proposal that meets your needs. If the proposal is to your satisfaction, we will put together a proposed application (that meets the state’s requirements and your specifications). If that is to your satisfaction, we will input the application into the State of Ohio’s website so you can review and be ready to submit it by the deadline.
Proactive Technologies has made several trips to the area for onsite presentations in the last three months, and there will not be time for more onsite presentations before the deadline. However, several live online presentations are scheduled for October 6 – 10th and you are invited to attend one. Select the one – from the schedule in this newsletter or from our website that fits your schedule from the website page and we will send you a teleconference invitation for your viewing at your computer. If you would like to schedule one for an alternative date and time, contact us with your request.
We recommend that you do not delay. If you miss the deadline for this round, you will have to wait until 2018 (if an OH Incumbent Worker Grant round 6 is offered).
The Key To Effective Maintenance Training: The Right Blend of Structured On-The-Job Training and Related Technical Instruction
Dr. Dave Just, MPACTMaintenance and Reliability Solutions
I spent a lot of my career as Dean of Corporate and Continuing Education at community and technical colleges, in several states. Where we could, we tried hard to deliver the best core skill development programs for technical job classifications that the employers in our community requested. We often did this working off the limited, and often suspect, job information the employer could provide to us.
Often we were up against budgetary constraints that limited our efforts to keep the programs up to date, even when the instructor was willing to maintain the relevance of the program. If that wasn’t enough, school leadership often showed ambivalence toward adult and career education due in part to the fact that its demand was driven by gyrations in the economy. Furthermore, the institution was built upon, more familiar with and understood better credit courses for more stable subjects such as math, science, literature, history and the social sciences.
click here to expandWe tried a lot of innovative programs for employers in the community within the constraints mentioned, but if I was to be honest we rarely kept up. What we thought we knew of the targeted job classifications and their requirements, and upon which our programs were built and measured, seemed to become increasingly misaligned within just a few years. Not only was advancing technology putting pressure on the content of our learning materials and program design – a constant push toward obsolescence – employers were continually rethinking the design of their job classifications to meet their business goals and budgets. We were finding less and less similarity in job classifications between employers, by job title and job content.
The “Maintenance” job classification was a perfect example and could be incredibly different from company to company. Read More
Finding the Zen in Workforce Development Strategies – Structured On-The-Job 
Training and Job-Relevant Related Technical Instruction
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Many employers still feel locked into the old model of worker training. Waiting for the local educational institutions to crank out the qualified labor supply they need. If that is not sufficient, they search for available workers with relevant transferable skills from previous employment. If that doesn’t work, they settle for workers they find, hire them into the organization and hope for the best – maybe throwing in some classes and/or online training as if that alone will make up the difference.
Looking back, can one honestly say that this is an approach that inspires confidence? Or has worked well? Is it a matter of doing what we have been doing all along, not satisfied with the results and cost, but thinking that it is what every employer does? This is an area that cannot improve on its own. It needs to be brought into balance like all of the other organizations in the company.
click here to expand“Employers do not need to keep themselves locked in the antiquated model of worker development. They can break free and make the worker development system operate like all of the other manageable and measurable subsystems in the organization.”
Comparing this approach to all of the other, more systematic, approaches one sees in manufacturing it seems underwhelming, uninspiring and many ways inexplicable. What is the point of LEAN manufacturing efforts to streamline processes for efficiency if the participating employees are not properly trained to absorb the improvements? What is the point of analyzing processes for best practices if the employees are not properly trained for them now or when they are further improved later? Training in a manufacturing setting must be interactive and evolving, not stagnant and irrelevant, if it is to be viewed as anything more than a cost the accounting department would like to minimize.
Many past Proactive Technologies Report articles have addressed the need for highly job-relevant task-based training that can only come about from a comprehensive job/task analysis. If the reason an employer hires workers is to perform specific tasks that the business model requires to be profitable, then the proper attention and effort must be given to ensure each worker performs their tasks in the most efficient and effective manner. This moves the expenses associated with labor from the “cost” column to the “investment” column. Each employee’s task performance could be, and should be, managed just like all of the technology investments in the plant for maximum return. Read More
The Efficacy of Employee Fitness Trackers: Where is This Leading?
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
In a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article “Wearable Devices Help Employees Stay on Track” on May 3, 2016, the author described the employer trend of utilizing wearable technology in the workplace to monitor employee health and wellness activities. “Because physical activity delivers a number of health benefits — including lower risks of diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure — health plans are now taking advantage of wearable technology to improve employee wellness programs.”
“For example, UnitedHealthcare recently launched UnitedHealthcare Motion, a wellness program that provides employees with a wearable device (at no additional charge) that tracks their activity and shows them statistics about the frequency, intensity and total steps taken each day. Employees can earn daily money bonuses for hitting specific activity goals. The money is deposited directly into their health reimbursement account.”
click here to expand“Employers also benefit through savings in insurance premiums based on participants’ combined results.”
But with all the perceived benefits wearable devices offer, the author cautioned employers, “Companies that want to incorporate wearable fitness trackers into their wellness programs should make certain the health plan will keep private data secure.” Read More
Read the full October, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
Proactive Technologies, Inc.®; PROTECH; Human Resource Management for Tomorrow...Today!® and logo;