Regional Workforce Planning March 2016 John Chamberlin jchamberlin@worksystems.org
Wisdom from Cleveland We need to focus upon two or three relatively simple regional workforce problems, doing less but doing it really well. Then we need to publicize the results, pick another two or three problems to concentrate upon and do it again. - Workforce Board Chair. There is no workforce system. There is an informal network of organizations and fund streams that do a variety of loosely connected workforce stuff. Community College President.
Wisdom From Cleveland Businesses have three ways to close the skill gap and fill jobs: steal employees from each other, import workers from other States and countries and hire and train local people who have been left behind. Can we all agree on a strategy to do a better job with the third option? I am sick and tired of either travelling to India or applying for H-1B visas while people here suffer. Tech Company CIO s
Wisdom from Cleveland Job Fairs don t work for us. We now do targeted mass recruiting for specific jobs with specific companies in the same sector. Can we do this together, regionally? WDB Executive Director I am tired of hearing what we cannot do because Federal rules won t permit it. Tell us what is needed to solve the problem and let us work together to get you the $. Workforce Board Chair
Wisdom from Cleveland We met with the GM s from all the big hotels to see what their personnel needs were. This had never happened before. We found that they were using H-1B visas to fill a ton of jobs. We still do not have a common strategy to recruit hospitality workers and deliver necessary training. Can we do this together, regionally? Community College Workforce Director
Wisdom from Cleveland The Regional Workforce Plan needs to focus upon action steps. Completing the plan should start the work, not end it. Economic Development Director How can a newly hired manufacturing employer start receiving training their first month on the factory floor rather than waiting ten years until the month after they get a layoff notice? - Manufacturing Sector Chair
Wisdom from Cleveland People today change jobs and careers constantly. This trend is accelerating. We need to identify and focus upon skills which cut across many jobs and sectors like technology usage, problem solving, quality control and basic customer service. Workforce Director Every data set shows that this region isn t going to create nearly enough jobs. The lion s share of all job openings are through churning. These jobs churn because they don t pay well and there is no perceived path upwards. We also lag in entrepreneurship. Can we fine a way to work together to break out of this box? - Regional Economist
National Examples The North East Ohio Region (NEO) includes five workforce areas. A regional planning workgroup is in place, an RFP was released and a planning contractor was selected. Each workforce area is deciding whether to have the contractor also draft their local plan. The planning process just began and a major summit will be held June 1 st. The plan must be submitted in September. The Detroit and Atlanta Metro areas are also well into the regional planning process. An early draft of the Detroit area plan has been released. All nine Oregon workforce areas have completed their final local strategic plan drafts.
WIOA Planning Basics Focus relentlessly on how to meet the needs of the key sectors identified through the planning process. The strategic workforce plan must include an action plan. What are the key action steps to achieve each strategic goal, by when must each action step be accomplished and which staff and WDB workgroups will establish, oversee and work on each action step? Too many goals or action steps can cause a loss of focus!
Regional Strategic Plans See WIOA Section 106 (c)(1) and NPRM Sections 679.200, 679.370(b) and 679.500, Subpart D. The local workforce plan MUST be submitted with the regional workforce plan. What are the key business/industry sectors? What is your common strategy to engage and provide services to those sectors and key employers? Who are the key regional economic development players and how will you work with them?
Regional Strategic Plans What does your labor pool look like? How will you recruit and train candidates for the targeted sectors? How will you achieve what Cleveland calls economic inclusion? What is your action plan to develop, align and integrate service delivery strategies? How will multiple workforce boards coordinate resources? How will you coordinate transportation and other supportive services
Regional Strategic Plans How will you collectively negotiate performance goals for the region? What happens if you fall short? Will performance reporting and possible incentives and sanctions be by workforce area (preferred)or for the region collectively? WIOA and the NPRM s leave this up to the State.
Regional Strategic Plans How will your WDB s and chief local elected officials guide the planning process? Will you jointly select a planning team and/or consultant? How will plan comments, review, changes and sign-off occur? What if there are disagreements? Once the plan is done, how will long-term oversight and modifications work? Will you have a joint steering committee?
Creative Regional Options Workforce areas in the region are to explore pooling of funds for administrative purposes, as appropriate. Should areas add a tag-on provision to their procurement policies and RFP s to allow each area the option to buy services from another area s service providers or vendors? How about one workforce area providing a service for another area?
Creative Regional Options Shared services arrangements nationally include accounting, grant writing, outreach to a key sector, rapid response, fiscal monitoring, buying technology expertise, paying work experience and internship wages and stipends, coordinating and paying supportive services, screening ETPL candidates and managing payments to training vendors, selecting one-stop center operators, and coordinating with regional workforce partners. Somewhere, just about anything you can think of is being done or procured by one workforce area for another!
Creative Regional Plans Washington State the WWA has set up teams to negotiate the MOU framework with State agencies like EDD and Voc Rehab. Local workforce areas will work out the details resource sharing Center-by-Center within the agreed upon framework. Georgia delegates the MOU process to the local WDC Chair who convenes the partners collectively and referees deal making. Regions use a leadership team made up of each WDC Chair.
Creative Regional Plans NPRM Section 679.510 requires that the plan specify how you will coordinate with the core WIOA partners including Adult Ed and Family Literacy, EDD (including UI, Trade, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, Vets programs as well as labor exchange) and Voc Rehab. Do the Community College boundaries fit workforce area boundaries? How will the MOU with the colleges work? How about TANF and SNAP? How about other partners?
Business Services Should each region develop a common menu and marketing plan for business services? Could we develop a common OJT contract format, monitoring guide and invoicing format? When should we reimburse over 50%? How about a common incumbent worker training policy and application process? How about paid internships in key sectors?
Prioritization and Services What if an Adult, Youth or DW customer visits your Center but lives and/or worked in another workforce area? How about taking and filling a large job order from an employer who is outside your workforce area? To what extent can supportive services be standardized regionally?
Accessibility WIOA requires that every WDB evaluate workforce system accessibility on a regular basis. Should we do this regionally? Should there be a common accessibility committee or workgroup?
Youth Services WIOA youth services are to be either collocated in the Centers or there must be cross-training and coordination so that separate youth service providers are tightly connected to the Centers. How will this work? Should the cross-training be regional? How about youth work experience, internships and placement into key sectors?
Center Certification Every Center must be certified by the local WDB. Should we attempt to develop regional certification criteria? How about the Center operator? Should we attempt to regionally define what an operator does and how the operator is selected and evaluated? The Final Rule (late June???) is expected to have a lot more detail on the operator function.
Wrap-up What two or three things do you think we should work on first as a region? What should we leave off the table for now? Questions? Comments?