Employers: Maximize Worker Development by Better Utilizing Local Resources

by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center

Every year millions upon millions of state-provided worker development aid is either not utilized or not utilized efficiently and effectively. It represents a frustrating, protracted stalemate between employers who are not sure what skills they need in employees and what to do to maximize an employee’s core skills once employed, and educational institutions that lack the current, accurate and stable (i.e. targeted skills that won’t be changed in 6-months as the next Wall Street hype emerges) workforce needs data to design better products and services for employers.

The current state of workforce development is frustrating from everyone’s standpoint; employers who seem to go through workers like they are changing clothes, employees and potential employees who have given up turning to education for help in developing skills for a long-term career opportunity that pays for the education and can sustain a family, and who skip from job-to-job to find the best opportunity/compensation mix, and workforce development agencies that have the funding resources to support credible projects but are disappointed when employers bail in the middle of a project that seems to be working.

Short-term thinking has progressively eroded the effectiveness of worker development models around the country. Fundamental to any good worker development project is an accurate target upon which to build an accurate and effective worker development model. Someone has to take the lead to organize the uncertainty into clarity, so whatever is done feeds a purpose in a deliberate strategy. Drifting for decades is as toxic to a trainee’s or worker’s optimism and mental health, as it is an employer’s sustained success.

It all starts with the employer. However, many companies have allowed private equity firms into their lives and are finding that, in many cases, the PE firm’s interests is short-term and focused only to cut costs to improve balance sheets for sale or justify share price increases by manipulating “earnings per share.” Someone in upper management has to advocate to the PE firm for preserving the incredible wealth of intellectual capital (“tribal knowledge and wisdom”) for which the investment has been made and which will be sorely needed after the PE investors have flipped the company and sold off the assets it could. Often during the “turn around” phase the core company forgets their original purpose and previous reason of success.

To get the most out of available worker resources, the employer needs to:

1. Forecast the firm’s workforce needs at least three years out
   1. Which job classifications are critical and likely to be maintained
   2. Who are the “subject matter experts” for these critical positions
   3. What is the likelihood they will retire or be promoted in the three years and need to be replaced
   4. Which jobs may be created through innovation, technological advances and new product/services introduction
2. Job-task analyze each critical job classification
   1. Data collected can be used to ensure known best practices (“tribal knowledge) are captured for transfer to others
   2. Aligning the training effort with actual tasks employees are expected to master helps to support not only internal quality efforts such as Lean and process improvement but, also, external mandates such as those of ISO/AS/IATF and OSHA.
3. Determine which skills can and should be developed by local educational institutions and which can, and should, be logically developed by the employer
   1. Create a credential that completely summarizes the worker development experience and value to the employee and employer
4. Identify local resources who seem best qualified to develop the core-skills and competencies needed and flag them as a source of quality candidates
   1. If local resources are not available, or not available to the level required, work with the open-minded and cooperative institutions to develop a “pre-apprenticeship” program
   2. Share the core skill and competency data from the job/task analysis to help them focus their contribution to your unique program
5. Develop and implement your structured on-the-job training program to develop incumbent, cross-training and new-hire workers to master your unique tasks and processes
   1. Periodically revalidate the job data and materials developed from it (i.e. “continuous improvement”) to ensure validity;
   2. Share this updated information with your workforce development partners.
6. Once you have your strategy to the point it is clear, credible and operational, contact local grant providers for funding to offset the company’s investment to set-up and implement the program
   1. Funds are available to support and employer’s core skill and “related technical instruction”
   2. Funds are also available to support structured on-the-job training if request:
      • Is comprehensive
      • Is credible
      • Is measurable
      • Is documented
      • Is impactful
      • Leads to a credential

The job task analysis helps to create not only “content valid” and legally defensible structured on-the-training programs for the employer, but also establishes a sound basis for core skill and related technical instruction requirements and subsequent learning product selection to help your workforce development partners help you.

Having grant assistance to help your firm offset most, if not all, of the investment to set-up and implement a structured OJT program that also justifies further funding for related technical instruction – all while lowering the internal costs of training and raising worker capacity, work quality, quantity and compliance – should make any open-minded CFO or PE investor take notice especially with the empirical evidence to back it up!

Almost every employer is allowing unstructured, undocumented and unmeasurable informal on-the-job training to go on anyway. Doesn’t it make sense to structure it and get the absolute best out of it? Besides, having a structured on-the-job training system instills confidence and hope in both workers and management, as well as those who would gladly contribute funding if they believed your firm was serious about developing and maintaining workers and had the infrastructure to prove it.

Most states are currently searching for employers who want to create apprenticeship programs for their job classifications and employees. One of the reasons I have partnered with Proactive Technologies, Inc. while in my capacity at The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center but in my current capacity as an independent Workforce Development Advisor is because their “accelerated transfer of expertise™ programs are so efficient and effective. They require very little employer management and resources, and establish a credible infrastructure with which an employer can attract financial support from funding sources and have better luck helping educational institutions to more accurately and cost-effectively support the employer’s worker development efforts.

Every general and plant manager I have talked to over my career have expressed their desire to institute better, more deliberate and documented, development of their workers. Maybe it is time to revisit that desire and take steps to make it happen.

If you recognize these challenges and have shed your fear of even looking for other solutions, check out Proactive Technologies’ structured on-the-job training system approach to see how it might work at your firm, your family of facilities or your region. Contact a Proactive Technologies representative today to schedule a GoToMeeting videoconference briefing to your computer. This can be followed up with an onsite presentation for you and your colleagues. A 13-minute promo briefing is available at the Proactive Technologies website and provides an overview to get you started and to help you explain it to your staff. As always, onsite presentations are available as well.