Workforce Developments

Too many old people?

Are older folks bad for economic development? An article in the (Charlotte County, Florida) Sun-Herald reports that "As a Charlotte County resident, you are more than likely over 50, white, and have a high school diploma. That's not a bad thing, but in order to stimulate economic growth, officials say the demographics need to change."

The economic development director for the county says they don't target young people specifically, but that they do try to attract companies that will offer high-skilled, high wage jobs and diversify the tax base. A common enough approach. The area was founded as a retirement community, but has grown and expanded since then.

America's workforce is aging, and more people are continuing to work long after retirement age. The current Chronicle of Philanthropy says that "If 60 is the new 40, then working for the public good is the new retirement." I'm not convinced that changing demographics is the answer - or is even possible, considering national trends - for Charlotte County.

Don't write the obit on manufacturing yet

The other day I was explaining the basics of workforce development at a dinner party, when a schoolteacher I'd just met asked me, "Are manufacturing jobs really so hard that people have to be trained to do them?"

The National Association of Manufacturers says so. Their 2005 Skills Gap Report found a "broadening  gap between the availability of skilled workers and the employee performance requirements of modern manufacturing." More than 80% of the companies they surveyed reported having difficulty finding workers with the right skills. The Department of Labor agrees. Earlier this year DOL launched a competency-based set of resources advanced manufacturers can use to attract and train workers, and this summer announced up to $10 million in grants for advanced manufacturing training.

This Manufacturing Career Pathways document created by the Center for Manufacturing Excellence at Shoreline Community College in Seattle shows just how complex and skilled the opportunities are in this industry. The Advanced Manufacturing Career Collaborative in Pittsburgh shows career opportunities in this brochure.

Much has been written about the demise of manufacturing in the U.S. Certainly, there aren't nearly the same number of blue collar jobs that once provided good wages and benefits to workers with limited education. But look at the Milwaukee region in Wisconsin, home to Harley-Davidson and other companies. Manufacturing is still the top employer in the region, accounting for 17% of jobs there. And they're having trouble filling those jobs. Don't forget, research has shown the best way to ensure that laid-off manufacturing workers don't see lowered wages when they find new jobs is to place them in other manufacturing jobs.

Perhaps reports of manufacturing's death - and its lack of skills - have been exaggerated.

Transportation to work - cars needed!

Just got an email from a colleague in Maryland who runs a transportation to work program called Vehicles for Change.  Ever since the IRS changed the rules limiting how much people can write off on their taxes when they donate a car, donations of cars to programs like his have fallen.  Vehicles for Change and other car programs like it are trying to get the word out - you can still write off the full value of your donation IF you donate your used car to a program that uses the car to help low-income people get to work. 

Vehicles for Change is part of a national network of programs, policy experts and researchers who are trying to help overcome transportation barriers to work.  The problem is that many jobs - especially good jobs with family-supporting benefits - are often located in places that are physically distant from where poor people live.  Too often, public transit doesn't connect those places efficiently - or at all.  Without a car, low-income parents sometimes can't access better jobs.  They sacrifice time with children in order to take multiple buses to work.  Children lose out on opportunities to participate in after-school programs. 

Programs that sell low-cost cars accompanied by fair bank loans can help low-income people not only get to work but also clean up or establish good credit, which can put them on the path to home ownership.  This is especially important for women and single mothers.  A study of Port Jobs' Working Wheels program last year showed that participants who purchased their cars increased hourly earnings by 10%, spent more time with their children, and got their children into after-school and other enrichment activities. 

Of course improved public transportation would help us all, but the reality is that people have to get to work today, and transit systems require hundreds of thousands of dollars and tremendous public will that takes years to develop.

Many of the nonprofits that take donation of your car turn around and sell it, then keep the cash for their programs.  A lot of good organizations use that money well.  But if you want to take the full write-off on your taxes and have your car help a low-income mom get to work and her children to school, consider donating it to a car program in your community.

Best companies to work for

A new take on the best jobs - how about the best companies to work for?  Fortune magazine ranks the top 100 annually, and in 2006 Genentech, Wegman's Food Markets and Valero Energy made the top three.  Three companies were singled out for offering some of the best benefits, including SAS Institute for child care, Republic Bancorp for telecommuting, and American Century Investments for work-life balance. 

There is an interactive "Find the Right Company for You" tool on the site, but I kept getting the message, "There were no companies to match your requirements."  I suppose I'll just stick with  being self-employed.

The rest of the Fortune top ten are rounded out with

• W.L. Gore and Associates
• Container Store
• Vision Service Plan
• J.M. Smucker
• REI
• S.C. Johnson

Fortune selects these companies based on "our evaluation of the policies and culture of each company and the opinions of the company’s own employees."  This includes a 57-question employee survey administered by the Great Place to Work Institute.  To participate in the study, a company must be nominated.  The companies must be at least seven years old and must have more than 1,000 employees in the U.S.  As we know from yesterday's post, that eliminates the majority of businesses in America.

Workforce development for small businesses

A new study by Indiana University finds that half of the state's workforce is employed in small businesses with 100 employees or less.  The largest share of workers (17%) work for companies with 20-49 employees.  Another study has found that 70% of net job growth in rural Nebraska has been in non-farm self-employment. 

Turns out these facts hold true nationally.  Data from the U.S. Small Business Administration show that 50.1% of non-farm employment is in small businesses employing fewer than 500 workers.  Moreover, in the 2001-2002 period, employment at very small businesses with fewer than 20 employees grew by 853,074 workers, while large firms with more than 500 workers lost 2,231,026 jobs in the same period.

In fact, of the 23 million businesses in the U.S., about 5.7 million have employees, and 99.7% of them were small businesses. 

Most workforce development programs focus on training people for and placing them in jobs at big companies.  For example, look at DOL's partnerships with multi-state employers, such as Allstate, Home Depot and Manpower.  Does this mean that small businesses are being left off the workforce development agenda?  If job growth is happening in small businesses, should workforce dev pros look there to place their clients?  It's probably more time consuming, since building a relationship with one HR department that can hire hundreds of people per year is easier than building relationships with hundreds of small businesspeople who don't even have HR departments.  Still, we do lots of LMI research to find out which industries have the best job opportunities - maybe we need to look at company size as well.

Credentialing youth workers

Not be outdone by the Brits, the US Department of Labor announced a new Youth Services Endorsement yesterday.  It's a formal credential intended to "recognize the knowledge, skills and abilities of youth service practitioners."  The credential was funded by DOL's Office of Disability Employment Policy, and was developed jointly with the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth.  It has been formally recognized as a Certified Workforce Development Professional credential by the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals. 

The new youth credential outlines ten competency areas - based on NCWD/Youth's Knowledge Skills and Abilities framwork - that individuals must master to earn the credential.  These include Knowledge of the field, Communication with youth, Assessment and individualized planning, and Relationship to employers and between employers and youth.

Happy Labor Day - stop working!

After spending much of the Labor Day weekend working on client projects, I had a startling wake-up call in today's LA Times.  Articles in the Business and Health sections both talk about the price American workers pay for not taking time off.  The Health article tells of research showing that working overtime leads to increased blood pressure.  Mirroring something I wrote about yesterday, studies show that among those working overtime, people who have less control over their jobs have higher blood pressure than those who work the same number of hours but have more control. 

The Business article reports that employers are starting to see the benefits of time off for workers, including less unplanned sick time, fewer mistakes and better morale.  Companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers are taking a page from the Manufacturing book and simply shutting down all operations for a period of time. 

Then I see the US Department of Labor's new upbeat report on America's Dynamic Workforce celebrating our unique combination of

• High productivity: Each hour worked contributes $46.30 to the nation's GDP, and
• Long work hours: Average of 869 hours per person per year, compared to 617 in France and 793 in the UK. 

Makes me tired just to think of it.  As an independent businessperson, I find it hard to take time off.  Still, I'm going to try to learn some lessons for all this.  Don't try to reach me between December 22 and January 2.  With any luck, I won't be available.  Anybody think I can pull it off? 

Airlines and outsourcing: who benefits?

After a couple of unpleasant flight experiences compounded by deeply dissatisfying customer service on US Airways over the past two weeks, I was interested to see this article in today's LA Times about the scope and impact of airlines outsourcing their customer service call centers to India, Jamaica, the Philippines, and even Lithuania.  Like so many other customer service-oriented industries, the airlines seem to be trying to save money through an understaffing strategy.  Ever tried to get help at a big box home improvement store?  When is the last time you called an office supply store to find out if a product you want is in stock? 

Outsourcing overseas often means you're dealing with customer service agents who don't know local geography and can't offer alternative routes.  That's on top of limited training for customer service agents.  They work from scripts and have little or no authority to make decisions.  Turnover at Indian call centers runs at about 60-70%, and one study found that about half have less than a year's experience.  This Fordist approach may allow phones to be answered by live humans, but whether it serves customers or workers is another question. 

From a workforce development perspective, I wonder about workers who have to take heat from angry, frustrated customers day after day but who lack the educational background to do creative problem solving and/or the authority to take meaningful action to meet customer needs.  Psychological studies have shown that "workers whose jobs rated high in job demands yet low in employee control (as measured by latitude over decisions) reported significantly more exhaustion after work, trouble awakening in the morning, depression, nervousness, anxiety, and insomnia or disturbed sleep than other workers." 

The article reports that US Airways saved $14 million from February through May alone by sending 80% of customer service calls overseas.  Swamped with complaints, they just spent $2 million to restore 350 U.S. agents.  Providing workers with proper training, authority and wages can improve the quality of their work.  However, if airlines are only interested in cutting costs, then they can't be surprised when customers are dissatisfied and workers quit.