Economic Development Opportunities – An Important Incentive in Attracting Companies to Your Region
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
When organizations try to create new jobs in their area – working with companies that are considering moving to, expanding to or expanding within their areas – skilled labor availability for many regional economic development strategies may include an offering that consists of one part skills assessment, one part general skill classes and a sprinkling of worker tax credits or grants. That seems to be what most incentive packages include, but is that because: A) that is what the other offers look like; b) it has been like that for decades; C) it is assumed that is all that is available; or D) all of the above?
For over forty years headlines sounded the alarm that those institutions that were training the workforce of tomorrow were not succeeding in their effort as discussed in, “An Anniversary That You Won’t Want to Celebrate: Years Later and The Skill Gap Grows – Is it Finally Time to Rethink The Nation’s Approach?“). Many skilled workers that are available to work do not have the skills that employers need today. Not completely satisfied with their answer to the inevitable question regarding the region’s skilled labor availability and how workers with specific skill needs will be found or developed, some economic development organizations are exploring other options and opportunities.
“Whether attracting new companies and helping them thrive and expand, or helping existing business to do the same, this approach is an important component of any economic development strategy.”
It is important to understand that the types of skills that employers are most concerned with – especially employer-specific task-based skills – most likely have not been in the local workforce, nor have any programs been available in local institutions to develop them, simply because these new jobs, with new skill requirements, have never been in the area. The types of skills needed for most modern manufacturing and advanced manufacturing have never been developed because the need was not present nor the data on these jobs available. Even if the need was present, by the time the skill is recognized, a program developed and a worker completed the learning, manufacturers either moved on or moved out.
Let’s face it, most organizations that successfully promote their region for economic development do so on the current low cost of labor, right-to-work status, low business and employment tax rates, economic incentives, availability of infrastructure and quality of life. They probably never needed a system in place to develop the skills necessary to attract modern and advanced manufacturing. Companies interested only in geographical, financial and aesthetic incentives have already moved. Other employers understand that if they want higher skilled workers, they need to expect to pay higher wages now or later when those skill levels are reached and competition for skilled labor kicks in. Read More
Increasing Worker Capacity – An Alternative to Cutting Workers for Short-term Cost Savings
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
In business, if you encounter market “softness” and believe that the business level that you were previously operating at is now unsustainable – even if for a limited period – you might be tempted to first cut time for training, then “cut labor costs” to extend short-term cash flow and/or make the balance sheet appear healthier for investors. It often becomes a slippery slope that can lead some organizations struggling to get off. Sometimes the pundits’ forecasts were inaccurate or the recovery is swifter than anticipated. Regardless, what appear as a benign short-term solution can have long-term repercussions as the market recovers and the employer is now struggling to regain the capacity the workers afforded, while watching opportunity slip by.
Sometimes investments are made in machinery and technology during the lulls to get ready for the economic up-turn, but too rarely is any effort made to determine the level of each worker’s current capacity (i.e. what percent of the tasks they were hired to “expertly” perform) relative to the job they are currently in and what could be done to increase it to handle not only existing technology and processes, but the new technology and processes as well. One might even think about cross-training workers to build “reserve capacity.”
Too often, in this age where every quarterly report has to be as good or better than the one before – actually earnings per share – even if the economy currently doesn’t allow it, well-run businesses are pressured to cut into the bone; driving down wages, cutting benefits and ultimately eliminating workers. Investment in worker training isn’t permitted. It doesn’t take an accounting genius to make sweeping, ill-informed cuts, but it does take a pretty savvy leader to recognize and avoid the perilous track or, worse yet, pick up the pieces after these mistakes have been made.
“That is the one point missed in all of the cuts to wages, benefits and staff; the first wave affects those who have no choice, the second wave affects the company as those with choice exercise it and move on.”
When the economy recovers and the company stumbles in regaining its capacity, heads roll, more cuts are made and finally the investors pull out – leaving the previously well-run company impaired or near collapse. No good has come from this, and why it is allowed to continue makes no sense – except that it takes little thought to order, gives investors the appearance of something good happening and something to report. That is why stocks rise when layoffs are announced – even in the face of predictable long-term effects of what the cost cutting means. That and the media’s cheering section that naively extols a short-term bump that may turn into a long-term fumble. Read More
Education-Employer Partnerships That Work
by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center
A lot is being said these days about “employer-responsive” worker training programs. I think all educational institutions want to believe they have all the answers to all of the challenges employers face. Although I have found that we had many of the answers for many disciplines, it was important to realize our limitations and either find other resources to fill the gap or be truthful with the client so that they might look elsewhere for those answers and solutions.
While a program manager for The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center, which I worked at since its early beginnings in 1996, I learned the value of listening to the employer and providing them what they needed. The Center was founded on the premise of providing educational and technical consulting services to business enterprises throughout the region to help them grow and prosper. Whether to help them train their workers to the latest in technical skills or train their management on the latest management theories and best practices, the Alber Center assembled an extensive network of institutional and private training providers to meet their needs and continued to expand their network to help employer-clients maintain their competitive best.
While we felt The Center did a good job of providing foundation skills for all levels of an operation, we recognized that an educational institution cannot, and really should not, provide employer-specific, task-based training. It is not economically feasible for The Center to maintain the staff and expertise to service every small, medium and large enterprise in our region on processes that are unique to each. It takes a high level of maintained excellence to perform the necessary job and task analysis, develop the employer-specific training materials, train the employer’s staff to effectively implement structured OJT and mange this “systems approach” to build on the foundation our other programs provide.
The Alber Center realized it could partner with such an organization, Proactive Technologies, Inc., early on in 1996, to provide that level of service to its customers in a partnership that provides “turnkey” project services to employers. This approach combined related technical instruction provided by OSU-Alber Center and its network of specialists and structured on-the-job training provided by Proactive Technologies and its staff. Employers that The Center worked with over the years had been not only receptive, but some clients had continued to utilize this approach for over 20 years. And today, many of these visionary employers realize that they were among the first to embrace and implement an approach for which other employers still to this day only wish and hope to experience. Read More
WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. – Staff
James Ruble. Director of CTE & Student Pathways, Tri-Rivers Career Center & Center for Adult Education and Dean Prigelmeier, Founder and President of Proactive Technologies, Inc. sit down for a 30-minute interview with Kayleigh Aiken, Anchor of “Public Affairs.”
Mr. Ruble discusses Tri-Rivers Career Center’s range of workforce development services to provide employers with prospective employees. The Center develops students with the foundation skills upon which employers can build employer-specific/work-specific skills they need. He elaborates on new school initiatives to help employers and position the Career Center to be more of a partner for economic development.
Mr. Prigelmeier explains the widening training gap he witnessed that drove him to leave manufacturing and develop a software-supported worker development infrastructure and system that provides all of the tools of the human resource development and performance management process. Any change to the job requirements and all of the tools are updated to include it. Proactive Technologies provides infrastructure development and technical implementation support to make sure the investment is maximized and the client employer can focus on business.
“I wanted to make available to small, medium and larger companies the training development infrastructure and support of a Fortune 250 company, except with far greater returns for a tiny fraction of the investment. This approach is efficient, economical and leads to higher worker ROI and clear justification for the effort,” explained Prigelmeier. “By building an infrastructure around what most employers already have – an informal, ad hoc, undocumented and immeasurable one-on-one training experience – this approach cuts the employer’s internal direct and opportunity costs of training and quickly increases each worker’s capacity to full job mastery. Full job mastery means increases in work quantity, work quality and compliance (e.g. ISO, AS, IATF, NADCAP and safety). Each worker’s development – no matter if a new-hire, incumbent or cross-trainee – is driven to the same level of expertise established by the employer’s existing experts, with the progress towards mastery tracked, documented and reported monthly.”
“I like to partner with educational institutions such as Tri-Rivers Career Center whenever possible to better align all of their good work in preparing workers’ foundation skills, industry-general and industry-specific skills with, now, an employer’s internally structured on-the-job training infrastructure,” said Prigelmeier. “That’s how you continue to build upon the foundation laid and give every candidate an opportunity to succeed – a win for the worker, the employer, the community and region.” Watch the Video
Read the full October, 2024 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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