Workforce Developments

Is workforce development ready for Web 2.0?

Just finished my workshop on Leveraging Emerging Technology to Enhance Workforce Development Services. I've loaded up the full powerpoint presentation on Slideshare.net - scroll down to watch it. A shorter handout version is here. Click here for the del.icio.us/CWAblogger page full of blogging-related links.

We had a good discussion about what we might be able to use Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis, podcasting, RSS feeds and YouTube to better serve our customers, manage our programs and communicate with stakeholders. We also talked about some of the barriers that prevent government and social service agencies from using these kinds of tools. Some of the issues raised:

• Time investment
• Government tracking of staff activities online
• Web blocks
• Can we calculate the return on investment?
• What are the risks?
• Spam and trolls
• Getting negative feedback
• IT department controls (for a good article on this topic, click here)

All legitimate concerns. Nonetheless, a lot of good ideas were raised, both during the workshop and in my discussions with folks afterward. Including

• Podcasts of interviews with business partners
• Text messaging job seekers with job announcements, rather than emailing them
• Google maps of local resources for job seekers

If you have any other ideas, click in the comments below and share them with us.

Career lattices for medical assistants

Medical assistants (MAs) are critical front-line workers and they're exposed to many other health care professions. So it would seem they would be a good pool to recruit into training for high-demand nursing careers. But in Merced County, the local workforce board heard local employers were having difficulty recruiting and retaining MAs. They also heard that MAs were having difficulty working their way up into better jobs.

They wanted to find out why, so they got some money for a study.

The study brought together Merced, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus counties. They conducted focus groups with MAs and with MA employers. Some key findings:

• Half the MAs reported their on-the-job externship wasn't long enough
• 85% of MAs reported their job required skills they didn't learn in their training program
• Employers said MAs didn't necessarily have the workplace basics (soft skills) they needed to succeed on the job
• Employers often choose to hire or not based on the training program the MA applicant  attended.

Sandy Lemas from Worknet of Merced County and Alfredo Mendoza from the Merced County Department of Workforce Investment led the workshop, and they're happy to share all their info, both the findings from the study and lessons learned from the process. The study is posted online here.
 

How much does that job seeker cost?

How much does it cost every time a job seeker walks in your one-stop door to get universal services? How much does it cost you to hold each rapid response event? What share of your budget do your one-stop partners contribute?

Rick Moore and Phil Gorman at Cal State Northridge - with support from staff at the California WIB and the Employment Development Department - conducted a study of 22 comprehensive one-stops to answer these and other questions. Over eighteen months they translated standard line-item budget materials into activity-based cost (ABC) accounting data. At this morning's workshop they presented the results of what they say is an unprecedented study. There's far more info there than I'll be able to write up here. A few high points from their findings. 

• The typical comprehensive one-stop costs $2.4 million to operate.
• Partners contribute about 34% of the one-stop's costs.
• Enrolled services take up 48% of expenses.

Getting a little more into detail:

• Each time a job seeker walks in the door just to get universal services, the median cost to the one-stop is $41. But that number hides a wide range among one-stops, from a low of $8 per universal visit to $146 per visit.
• The median cost per client placed in a job is $6,957, with a range of from $739 each to $50,708.

Keep in mind, those costs include all the resources provided by all the partners at the one-stop. But it doesn't include any supports the client might have received outside the doors of the one-stop.

Moore says that while this study can't be generalized to all one-stops, it provides a good picture showing the range of what's happening at one-stops in California. When the report is published, all the instruments they used will be included. Any one-stop interested in finding out how much their services cost can use this methodology.

This study is important for two reasons. First is the obvious one the CalWIB was interested in. That is, finding out what it really costs to provide services on a per-job seeker, per-business or per-outcome basis. When we know what the norms are, we can set benchmarks to compare across many one-stops and begin to determine measures of efficiency, and find out what is the optimal cost to be effective.

Second is from an evaluation perspective. This study really points out how the goals we set will determine how we set up our programs and our accountability systems, both financial and programmatic. We have to meet DOL's performance standards and comply with their financial reporting rules. But do we have other, local goals and needs? Should we set local goals and collect data to track how well we're doing in working toward them?

The report is about to be released online. Be on the lookout for it at www.calwia.org.

The unique genius of WIBs

Leave it to Virginia Hamilton to tell us workforce boards have a unique genius. Or could.

The head of CWA sees seven key forces that do or should drive our work in the workforce development field. I'll just list them here briefly. Perhaps I can get her to step in as guest blogger to explain her thinking in more detail.

1. Demographics
2. Experience
3. Design
4. Social networks
5. Open source
6. Clean technology
7. Leadership

What about this "unique genius" of workforce boards? Hamilton says WIBs can act as convenors of and brokers among a wide range of local stakeholders on employment, job and business issues. They have the workforce intelligence policymakers, program administrators and companies need to design strong systems. And because they are made up of key local people, they can act as a community voice on important issues related to employment and workforce.

I want to close with a quote from Hamilton that I think is important in this day and age. "I personally believe in government. Government has a strong role to play. I think we can be leaders."

Touché.

The Labor Agency lowdown from hizzoner

This morning began with words of wisdom from Hizzoner Jaime Fall, the soon-to-be-confirmed incoming Deputy Secretary of the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency. He stepped in for scheduled speaker Secretary Victoria Bradshaw, who was called away for a cabinet meeting with the Gov. Here's a quick summary.

Three goals at the Labor Agency.

1) Make the most efficient use of funds we have at our disposal. We've implemented a competitive process for 15% funds. We've worked to reduce administrative costs. We're partnering with the state workforce board and CWA to integrate programs for greater efficiency.

2) Increase the funding we have from outside sources. We're becoming more competitive for federal funds. California has pulled down two WIRED grants. We recently secured DOL funds to serve military spouses. We invested $30 million for nurse training programs and used it to leverage an additional $60 million in private sector and foundation funds to create a $90 million program. We're also getting serious about improving our federal appropriation level. On that point, "If California can't do it, nobody can."

3) Maximize the impact of economic development programs. We've developed program to upgrade the skills of middle aged workers trapped in minimum wage jobs. We're better positioning California to secure foreign direct investment. We're looking at regional data, identifying industries of opportunity and investing in them. And then there's the Gov's personal interest in career technical education.

All work and no play...

This afternoon a conference room of workforce development professionals huddled around tables and built machines to solve our biggest on-the-job problems.

Not bad for a few hours' work.

Under the tutelage of consultants Gwen Gordon and John Baker we ranted a little about our biggest challenges. Then we invented never-before-tried ways to answer the phone, develop an agenda and conduct a performance review.

Next, they handed around plastic pipe joints, some rubber tubing, a plastic glove, scotch tape, bits of string, pencils, paper cups, bright-colored paper clips and assorted odds and ends, and assigned us the task of building that machine. One group built a solar-powered machine with a built-in grant-finding radar. One built a hot air balloon to take all our problems away. Another built a "talk to the hand" machine. Yet another built a complicated diagram demonstrating how federal funding really works.   

Imagine what we might have been able to do if we'd had duct tape.

The point was that in order to get our jobs done, sometimes we need to get away from our old habits of thinking. We need to let loose and play a little so we can see the problems differently. We might even find solutions in unexpected places.

Blogging from the Cal Workforce Association fall conference

The California Workforce Association kicks off its annual Meeting of the Minds in Monterey (MMM) conference today with a keynote address by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall. He's currently co-chair of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.

I'll be blogging from the conference this week. (I also blogged CWA's spring conference.)

The MMM schedule is loaded up with great speakers addressing a wide range of workforce development topics, from old favorites to creative new ideas. On Thursday morning I'll be leading a workshop on how workforce development programs can use emerging Web 2.0 technologies. Look for me in the Santa Monica room, bright and early at 8:30. If you can't catch the workshop, I'll be posting all my materials to the blog, so you'll find them all here.

Update September 7: Terrific conference. Click here to read all posts from the Monterey Mind Meld, and here for materials from my workshop.