Workforce 2016: Building 21st Century Skills

BUILDING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

WORK

FORCE 2016

Workforce Trends Driving LOCATION STRATEGIES PAGE 4

Location Strategies IN THE WAR FOR

Millennial Talent PAGE 6

HIGHER ED

for Hire PAGE 12

WORKFORCE WORKSHOP:

Evaluating a Community’s Labor Pool

Special Supplement to Area Development Magazine

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CONTENTS FEATURES

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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cross the nation, governors are acknowledging they are concerned about having enough qualified workers to fulfill the needs of advanced technology and other companies.

At a Milken Global Conference held last spring in Los Angeles, Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker said that the number-one problem in his state is workforce, as reported by CNN. Virginia’s Governor Terry McAuliffe noted his state had 30,000 technology jobs open — many in cybersecurity — but experienced workers aren’t available to fill them. Colorado’s Governor John Hickenlooper and Florida’s Governor Rick Scott joined Walker and McAuliffe suggesting a mix of job training, apprenticeships, and curriculum changes in schools are needed to close the jobs skills gap.

In Area Development’s latest Workforce edition, we explore the challenges companies face in satisfying their needs for skilled workers. Some companies are utilizing the resources of community colleges, including the use of credentialing programs. Others are giving a fresh look at metro areas and downtowns, which are attractive to the tech-savvy millennials. Companies are using a combination of primary and secondary labor force data to ensure that the locations they are considering for new or expanding facilities can satisfy their workforce needs. But they must first identify those needs, canvas local markets, and assess prospective locations’ educational resources before a site decision can be made.

These topics and more are explored in detail by experts in the field in this Workforce edition. Several economic development organizations that have establish initiatives to bring their workforces up to speed are also profiled in the pages that follow, with included contact information.

WORKFORCE TRENDS DRIVING LOCATION STRATEGIES Labor analytics — using a combination of both secondary and primary data — will help a company to ensure the location it is considering will be able to meet its workforce needs.

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LOCATION STRATEGIES IN THE WAR FOR MILLENNIAL TALENT When it comes to attracting tech-savvy millennials, companies are giving a fresh look to metro areas and downtowns that will give them a competitive edge.

12 HIGHER ED FOR HIRE Many companies are leveraging universities’ R&D capabilities to bring new products to market, while others are taking advantage of community colleges’ resources to fulfill their needs for skilled workers.

15 WORKFORCE WORKSHOP: EVALUATING A COMMUNITY’S

LABOR POOL The company must identify its needs, canvass local markets, and assess prospective locations’ educational resources before it can make a site decision.

EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT… Reshoring and Skilled Workforce Go Hand in Hand

SPONSORS/PROFILES ALABAMA

11, 18 ALABAMA CONTINUES TO GROW • AIDT www.aidt.edu info@aidt.edu

FLORIDA

19, 24 CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA: A HOT SPOT FOR BUSINESS GROWTH • City of Cape Coral www.bizcapecoral.com dbrunett@capecoral.net

20, 23 FLORIDA: THE FUTURE IS HERE

• Enterprise Florida SAmbrose@EnterpriseFlorida.com www.FloridaTheFutureIsHere.com

LOUISIANA

2, 21 LOUISIANA’S CUSTOMIZED WORKFORCE

DEVELOPMENT SOLUTION • Louisiana Economic Development www.OpportunityLouisiana.com/faststart paul.helton@la.gov

MISSISSIPPI

5, 7, 9, 22 MISSISSIPPIANS ARE READY TO WORK • Mississippi Development Authority www.mississippi.org bklauser@mississippi.org

©2016 Custom Publishing Group of Halcyon Business Publications, Inc., Publisher of Area Development Magazine PUBLISHER: Dennis J. Shea ART & DESIGN: Patricia Zedalis EDITOR: Geraldine Gambale PRODUCTION MANAGER: Jessica Whitebook FINANCE: Mary Paulsen PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Talea Gormican

ADVERTISING: Bill Bakewicz Valerie Krpata

DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER: Justin Shea BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Matthew Shea WEB DESIGNER: Carmela Emerson

BUSINESS SERVICES: Barbara Olsen

2016 • 3

WORKFORCE TRENDS DRIVING LOCATION STRATEGIES Labor analytics — using a combination of both secondary and primary data — will help a company to ensure the location it is considering will be able to meet its workforce needs.

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nderstanding your potential workforce is critical when undertaking a site selection project. Ensuring you will have employees with the right skills at the right price at each of your location options can lead to long-term success.

View of the Macro Site Selection Process As a business begins the process of reaching a site location decision, an extensive analysis is often conducted to determine the optimal SOURCES OF LABOR DATA location to meet a company’s specific SECONDARY PRIMARY operational needs.

This analysis will consist of a variety Employee ESRI reliability of factors that are Public US transportation pre-determined Census by the business “Boots-onProductivity and its advisors to Nielson Off-the the-Ground” make certain the Shelf Commuting Surveys/ research ultimately Products BLS patterns/ Social Media times provides a relevant, Labor true understanding InfoUSA turnover of the operating Dun & Quality Bradstreet of life environment in each location being considered.

The criteria list A skilled labor analyst can correct “errors”in secondary will vary depending data through a process called “ground truthing,” which blends on your specific

“Ground Truthing”

primary and secondary data to allow variation in space.

By Steve Bonine, Principal, Hickey & Associates 4 • WORKFORCE

operations and needs, but the attributes most frequently considered are (in no particular order): • Infrastructure • Labor/workforce • Customer proximity • Taxes/regulatory environment • Supply chain/industry cluster • Incentives • Political/economic stability • Community support

Why Understanding Workforce Matters Workforce considerations have always been important in the site location process. Recently, their importance has risen greatly in the weighting of a site location decision, not just for advanced manufacturing and technology positions, but also for office employment, customer service support, and other staffing needs.

WE ARE DRIVEN

Yes, education, skills, and numbers matter, but so do softer influences such as:

• How close will potential employees live to the facility?

• How will they commute to work — car, mass transit, walk, telework?

• Will potential employees choose the city/town/state first and then find you, or will they look for you directly and just accept where you are located?

• Is the surrounding population transient in nature, or more inclined to stay in place?

Using outdated or overly broad metrics can lead to dangerous assumptions on the availability of the best workforce for your business.

Simply looking at data sources such as information from the U.S. Census or the Bureau of Labor Statistics may lead to the right — or the wrong — conclusions.

It is oversimplified to believe that only the imminent retirement bubble of the baby boomers is of significance in understanding the changing workforce dynamics. The working population is changing, and each age group has a different point of reference, likes, and dislikes. Assigning broad behavioral traits to any generational group can be misguided. If you want to staff your business with the right talent — at the right price — you need to fully understand the mega and micro population traits of your potential locations.

Mississippi’s highly skilled workforce rolls out 500,000 new vehicles annually. World-class automotive leaders like Nissan, Toyota and PACCAR are thriving in Mississippi.

Our business climate is supportive, and the state’s location suits both domestic and global sales. Nearly 200 automotive-related manufacturers call Mississippi home, including the state’s newest automotive partners and commercial tire giants, Continental Tire and Yokohama Tire Corporation.

More companies keep rolling into Mississippi. Discover why.

MISSISSIPPI AUTOMOTIVE mississippi.org/automotive

Finding the Right Talent at the Right Price When studying the labor/workforce environment of a specific location, both the quality and cost of labor must be considered. Effective analysis

© Mississippi Development Authority 2016

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LOCATION STRATEGIES IN THE WAR FOR MILLENNIAL TALENT When it comes to attracting tech-savvy millennials, companies are giving a fresh look to metro areas and downtowns that will give them a competitive edge.

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usiness leaders across all industries are asking the same question with increasing frequency: “How do we win the war for millennial talent?” Considering the fact that millennials already make up almost 40 percent of the workforce, this question is not only important but also immediate.

Despite the criticality of millennials to every company’s labor strategy, evidence indicates most still don’t know what it takes to attract and engage this generation. The best organizations are now crafting location strategies designed to better attract the millennial workforce when expanding, relocating, or consolidating their facilities. This focus on young talent is playing out at both the national and city level, causing companies to augment or completely rethink their location strategies.

Millennials Have Chosen to Live In Urban Areas in Larger Numbers Today’s urban environments, specifically urban core areas, are enjoying a renaissance. Cities have leveraged their cultural endowments to become some of the fastest-growing residential markets in the country. The 2010 U.S. Census data found that downtowns in the nation’s largest cities (more than 5 million) grew by 13.3 percent over the previous decade1 and the trend shows no sign of slowing. Some of this renaissance can be attributed to the residential choices of the highly educated, a demographic group that is prized for their tech-savvy skills and an understanding of consumer trends. As a result, more and more companies have shifted away from a suburban campus model in favor of locating in downtown areas for improved access to this labor pool.

Cities don’t offer an ideal living environment for all family types, which is reinforced by continued population growth in suburban areas across the country. While suburban areas may contain a larger number of millennials in the aggregate, This psychographic profile represents the Experian Mosaic segments certain neighborhoods within cities have emerged that C&W uses to define the“Young Professionals” cohort.

By Michael McDermott and Erica Bubes Ruder, Managers, Strategic Consulting, Cushman & Wakefield 6 • WORKFORCE

as centers populated by the young, professional class. Residents of these areas are synonymous with creativity, innovation, and the exciting potential of the “next big thing.” The urban environment’s allure to the millennial population is demonstrated by the following: • 62 percent of millennials prefer to live in the type of mixed-use communities found in urban centers where they can live in close proximity to a mix of shopping, restaurants and offices.2 • Two thirds of millennials are renters, which better aligns with an urban housing stock.3 • Young people aged 16 to 34 drove 23 percent fewer miles in 2009 than they did in 2001 — a greater decline in driving than any other age group. Moreover, people aged 16 to 24 who have a driver’s license fell to 67 percent in 2011, its lowest level in a half century.4 It is important to note that a suburban residence will likely be in the future for much of this population. The characteristics that brought previous generations to the suburbs, including a safe environment, larger homes, and good schools, are timeless and will continue to attract many in the millennial population over time. However, major life decisions including marriage and having children are being delayed, thus making cities the preferred living environment for a longer period of time than in previous generations.

This residential shift has affected the location choices of business, particularly in the post-recession years. While the suburban corporate campus gained favor as generations of talent relocated to suburbs, central cities have now emerged as the favored environments for businesses to invest and grow. Downtown locations are now viewed as the optimal and most dynamic option for many businesses — especially those in technology and creative industries.

A Case Study A Connecticut-based asset management firm located in a suburban business park wanted to create a headquarters to attract the next generation of talent. In addition to examining a collaborative workplace, the company also explored a test office or complete headquarters relocation to Manhattan. This move was driven by the desire to improve access to talent while rebranding the company to compete with the best in its business. While the cost of a New York office was significant, the benefits of an accessible location, energized employees, and an improved client experience far outweighed the cost. The company has since opened a small office used by local employees and as meeting space with clients. The existing Connecticut headquarters building is being sold with the intent to completely relocate operations based on the success of the Manhattan office.

High profile examples of companies moving to urban environments include Kraft Heinz, United Continental Holdings, and McDonald’s in Chicago; Pinterest in San Francisco; Accenture in Arlington, Va.; GE in

EXCELLENCE

BY DESIGN Mississippi’s world-class research universities drive innovation across a broad spectrum of industries.

The University of Mississippi’s Center for Manufacturing Excellence works directly with the state’s manufacturers to develop the next generation of leaders.

At Mississippi State University, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Center for Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems pioneers the next generation of UAV technologies and policies. The University of Southern Mississippi’s Polymer Institute provides development, prototyping and testing services to Mississippi companies.

Research Mississippi’s partnership advantages.

MISSISSIPPI

RESEARCH mississippi.org/research

© Mississippi Development Authority 2016

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Boston; and Quicken Loans in Detroit. Even those that have not embarked on a full-scale move have adopted a strategy to open marketing and/or tech offices in central cities to attract talent and generate excitement in the area. Examples of these satellite offices include Walgreens and Discover Financial in Chicago, PepsiCo and Heineken USA in New York City, and Yahoo in San Francisco.

The renewed emphasis on central business districts does not mean that suburban submarkets are dead. The merits of each submarket and its access to the professional millennial population will play a part in their future demand and relevance. The presence of city-like amenities such as public transportation, a mix of uses (retail, residential, etc.), and a walkable environment will continue to positively impact submarkets. Moreover, some central business districts will miss out on the resurgence of demand, particularly those lacking strong public transportation systems, an intact and/or engaging urban fabric, and a mix of uses including retail, entertainment, and residential development (new or rehabilitated).

Millennials Are Attracted to Cities With Specific Attributes As millennial populations make different location choices within regions, this group is also choosing to locate in metropolitan areas that offer an appealing quality of life. A common belief is that this generation chooses a place to live based on quality-of-life factors first and job availability second. While this is probably overstated, hard data and casual observation have made it clear that certain metropolitan areas attract a larger share of highly educated millennials. These meccas include Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Portland, Ore.; and countless other urban centers that thrive on proximity to cultural attractions and employment.

The concentration of this desirable labor pool in defined metros has resulted in new millennialfocused site selection attributes not only for IT and marketing companies, but also for any business selling to the growing millennial consumer market.

While the West Coast’s information-centric economy has been a favored destination for decades, companies are now geographically dispersed for access to talent and a lower operating cost. Cities in “fly-over country” now have healthy information economies of 8 • WORKFORCE

their own, the most visible of which is Austin, Texas, with its low cost of doing business and consistent growth rate of millennials. This mix has motivated Facebook, Apple, and Dropbox to establish operations in the region.

The continued interest in these “cool cities” has been led by today’s most dynamic companies in response to business growth as well as concern about labor market saturation in their original locations.

To comprehensively assess a market, typical location figures in education and skills are now combined with cultural metrics and the ability to attract and retain talent. C&W regularly considers alternative attributes that both retain and attract educated mlllennials: presence of a large educational institution, vibrant cultural scene, and a thriving downtown area with a mix of uses and demographic diversity. While this data relies more heavily on hard-to-quantify “quality-of-life” factors, a mix of data points and site tours helps express the culture of the location.

Another useful data point is a location’s psychographic profile, which combines multiple demographic attributes including age, education, and income level. Each psychographic category defines behavioral and purchasing aspects of the population in housing style, entertainment, retail shopping, and recreation. Translating the educated millennial cohort to a psychographic category allows for a deeper dive into cities and neighborhoods of choice. The relevant category for most employers is what C&W identifies as the “Young Professionals” cohort, which is made up of several Experian Mosaic® segments.

These segments reflect upper-middle-income professionals and college graduates now employed in white-collar positions. They rent apartments in cities or close-in suburbs, have a progressive sensibility, and enjoy alternative music and a lively nightlife.

When measuring the concentration of the “Young Professionals” group in established creative hotbeds like Brooklyn, N.Y., and Silicon Valley, Calif., C&W found 44 metro areas with very high concentrations of this cohort. Usual suspects dominant in the information industry like Boston and Seattle are represented, but so are newly recognized hotbeds in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis. This level of dispersion has generated hip microcosms of startups and entertainment that have raised the profile of the entire metropolitan area. Economic developers

now tout these areas and their companies alongside traditional stories of new manufacturing plants and highway interchanges. Savvy companies now know to look a little closer at typically overlooked metro areas when chasing the talent.

In Sum A paradigm shift in labor attraction has resulted in a fresh look at metropolitan areas and downtowns for increased competitiveness in employee productivity, attraction, engagement, and retention. Demographic trends and resulting corporate relocations have demonstrated that attraction of the millennial workforce requires a different approach than previous decades. Understanding new indicators in talent attraction can drive growth and generate advantages for companies that are always looking for an edge against the competition.

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1 Patterns of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Population Change: 2000 to 2010, U.S. Census Bureau 2 Breaking the Myths, Nielsen 2014 3 Millennials – Breaking the Myths, Nielsen 2014 4 A New Direction, US PIRG Education Fund & Frontier Group 2013

CAN-DO ATTITUDE Before your doors open or the first product is produced,

Workforce Trends

Mississippi and its respected community college system provide

Continued from page 5

customized workforce training, giving you a skilled team of

of these sometime opposing factors relies on identification of the proper data points, geography, and risk.

Before considering the costs of labor in a particular location, your business must ensure a suitable workforce is available and the required skillsets exist. To discover this information, geographies based on a labor catchment area should be identified (either from submarkets or potential real estate options). From there, a localized analysis is needed, which considers such inputs as drive/transportation time, occupational skillsets, educational attainment, age, geographic preferences of a region (particularly in high-tech and innovative industries), and socioeconomic characteristics. In addition, even if it appears a suitable labor pool exists, it is also critical to study the competition in a market for certain employees.

employees from Day 1. As new production techniques and processes develop, our team continues to train your team. Our eight universities – including four research institutions and community colleges – provide specialized workforce training, capable of giving your business a competitive edge.

Let Mississippi deliver job-ready employees for your business.

MISSISSIPPI

Why Using Primary and Secondary Data Sources Matters

WORKFORCE

The best labor analytical studies blend primary and secondary source data together using a weighting system to drive the entire analysis.

Secondary source data (most commonly used) are data collected by someone else and aren’t specifically collected for any particular project.

You might also refer to it as an “off-the-shelf” product. The issue with secondary data is that it’s general purpose might not be perfectly crafted

mississippi.org/workforce

© Mississippi Development Authority 2016

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for your project and, therefore, may contain a bias (it’s out of date; it’s perspective is skewed to meet some other purpose; it is too general, etc.). Primary source data are location-specific and collected firsthand. It is great information to have, but can be expensive and tricky to collect. Primary sources of data can come from “boots on the ground” surveys and the virtual mining of data.

A skilled labor analyst, using both primary and secondary data, can take an important step for a more complete understanding of your potential labor pool. A skilled analyst can “correct” secondary data errors through a process called “ground truthing,” which blends primary and secondary data to allow variation in space. Example: The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the county/MSA level, which flattens wages into an average that is constant across the entire region. By “ground truthing” the wage data through mining social media and possibly conducting a local survey, one can develop a view of wages that changes throughout the region to approximate the local market fluctuations.

The best practice for labor analytics is to leverage the best available secondary data (U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dun and Bradstreet, InfoUSA, and subscription data from sources like Dun & Bradstreet (DB), InfoUSA, Nielson, ESRI, etc.) with “ground truthing” verification using primary sourced inputs (local surveys questioning preferences for and access to public transportation, commuting patterns and times, quality of life, turnover rate, productivity, and employee reliability, as well as data mining on social media).

Every community has unique workforce characteristics. These factors may contrast greatly between particular locations, and if pertinent, may be included in the overall decision-making process.

Challenges of Data Analysis in Global Markets As companies expand into international markets and become truly multinational, comparing labor across global markets becomes even more necessary. The key is having comparable metrics across countries. Along with the availability of skills, companies must also consider the cost of labor, both actual wages and the associated benefits specific to that market and occupation.

Determining the cost of labor can often be difficult to pinpoint, especially when considering locations in different nations. The usefulness of governmental statistics varies from country to country due to varia10 • WORKFORCE

tions in methodology and calculations. For a company to understand the true cost of labor, it must consider factors such as starting wages, experienced level wages, typical benefits levels (expected, union and/or statutorily required), workers’ compensation provisions, training requirements, etc.

With the U.S. model described, the best studies use local resources to help with data collection and validation. As in the United States, use of both primary and secondary sources of data leads to a more complete understanding of the labor pool. When data can be validated as comparable, labor costs and availability in non-U.S.-based operations can be evaluated in comparison to other operations.

The Value of Training Support A community lacking in skillsets and a talent pipeline can still offer a suitable operating environment due to the growing network of training programs throughout the country. A growing number of economic development organizations are working closely with workforce boards and academic institutions, especially the community college system, to establish public/private partnerships creating talent pipelines. In addition, nearly every state and many communities offer financial incentives to businesses seeking to identify, recruit, and train new employees.

Existing employees also can benefit from training programs ranging from those focused on specific machinery to safety programs.

In Sum Today, the site location process is an empirically driven analysis incorporating a number of different factors pertinent to successful operations. Companies must consider these factors to ensure the location they ultimately choose is not only right for their business today, but also able to provide stability long into the future.

Now more than ever, the availability of a suitable labor pool and total cost of labor drives the ultimate placement of a new or expanded facility. It is critical to get beyond the basic statistics and holistically understand the strengths and shortcomings of a location’s workforce: • You need to understand workforce by location as it impacts your site selection process; • Actionable labor analytics requires more effort that a simple “secondary source” macro review; and • Don’t assume talent is readily available until you verify.

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HIGHER ED FOR HIRE Many companies are leveraging universities’ R&D capabilities to bring new products to market, while others are taking advantage of community colleges’ resources to fulfill their needs for skilled workers.

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cademic achievement and economic growth have an interdependence woven throughout the growth of American industrialized history. A look back in time tells a predictive tale: the great problem-solving minds of today build the industries and products that fuel the jobs and prosperity of the future.

Knowing this historical economic value, there can be profound opportunity in connecting the creators of theory and enlightenment with the frontrunners of the products and services that solve challenges of society.

Too often, the structure of education and corporate pressures for profits can lend to silos on a perceived definition of success. It is the disruptive journey, a cross-section between knowledge and application, where the ingredients of progress are born.

A.N. Whitehead shares the purpose of higher education in his 1929, The Aims of Education and Other Essays: “The university imparts information, but it imparts it imaginatively…a fact is no longer a bare fact: it is invested with all its possibilities. It is no longer a burden on the memory: It is energizing as the poet of our dreams and as the architect of our purposes.”

©EMERSON

University Collaboration Maximizes R&D Potential

At Emerson’s Helix Innovation Center on the University of Dayton, Ohio’s campus, company engineers can work alongside students and faculty.

At all levels of higher education, success can be found in this cross section of academia and industry. University-level collaborations leverage robust academic research capabilities and mitigate expenses on what are traditionally large corporate budget line items. Benefits can also be gained from the university viewpoint, with the ability to bring corporate perspective on faculty and student research and provide commercialization capabilities outside of the scope and mission of the university.

Earlier this year in Dayton, Ohio, Emerson celebrated the grand opening of the Helix Innovation Center located on the campus of the University of Dayton. Emerson invested $35 million to build full-scale, simulated environments where Emer-

By Elizabeth Narehood, Community Innovation Consultant and Coordinator of Workforce Development, Central Virginia Community College 12 • WORKFORCE

2016 • 12

son engineers will be working alongside University of Dayton students, faculty, and researchers. The goal of the partnership is to utilize the capacity and capabilities of a large company with the infusion of an entrepreneurial mindset to take concept to prototype within 90 days.

“There are some big things happening in our industry right now and we are playing a lead role in many of them — initiatives like the connected home, the industrial Internet of Things, intelligent stores, new system architectures that can work with natural refrigerants, and ultra-efficient air conditioning systems,” said Bob Sharp, executive vice president of Emerson. “To stay on the forefront, our approach is to look at the entire environment our customers operate in, and this is why we have invested to create this facility.”

The connection between Emerson and Dayton University began through a relationship with the Copeland Corporation, now a business of Emerson, to develop a scholarship program to support minority engineering students. A corporate grant from Emerson in the mid 1990s established the Design and Manufacturing clinic, a precursor to the Innovation Center.

“With Emerson, we have a link directly to industry and an opportunity very few universities have,” noted Dayton University President Daniel J. Curran. “This is a place where our students, faculty, and researchers will interact with our partner Emerson in a new kind of collaboration.”

Long-term university-industry partnerships are generating huge rewards. South Carolina’s Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) has raised over $250 million in public and private investment over the last 10 years to build a state-of-the-art campus on more than 250 acres. CU-ICAR offers the nation’s only graduate department in automotive engineering and has developed research partnerships with 32 corporations including BMW, Chrysler, GM, Honda, and Toyota.

“CU-ICAR is a tremendous example of an educational institution conducting the type of leading-edge research that will keep America competitive in the 21st century and also working directly with industry to train workers for in-demand, high-skilled jobs,” explained U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

In a late 2015 Clemson University also announced

it was expanding the scope of research partnerships to collaborate with the insurance sector to establish a risk engineering and analytics center on the CUICAR campus. American International Group, Inc. (AIG) provided an initial $4 million to establish the facility and create a professorship in the field. John Doyle, CEO of Commercial Insurance for AIG, said, “It’s a critical part of AIG’s strategy to serve as a valued advisor to clients who are managing increasingly complex risks.”

Global Markets, Local Workforce Consistently cited as a top 10 site-selection factor, skilled labor is a multifaceted benchmark of community vitality and growth. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects by 2024, 11 of the 15 fastestgrowing occupations will require some level of postsecondary education or certification. Progressive communities with a culture and history of educationindustry partnerships can demonstrate not only a strong existing labor pool for business establishment, but also a supportive workforce pipeline for future growth.

The United States is home to over 1,100 community colleges, known for flexibility and close community ties. Community colleges with an eye on economic challenges and opportunities have the agility to develop curricular pathways with degree, certificate, and credentialing programs reflective of regional industrial growth and demand. The rising cost of education, combined with the need for a technologically advanced and skilled workforce, places community colleges in a key position for keeping the United States competitive in the global marketplace.

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations partnered with Tennessee’s Motlow State Community College by spending nearly $4 million renovating the North American Manufacturing Education Center (NAMEC) and Training Facility. As a part of the project, Bridgestone provided 2,200 square feet of space for Motlow College to use for developing a new A.A.S. degree in Mechatronics. Along with this investment in facilities, lab space, and curriculum, the Motlow-Bridgestone partnership expanded to also provide mentoring and internship opportunities for college students. Motlow has enriched the community even further by offering dual enrollment college credit to high school 2016 • 13

students, many of whom will earn certification in mechatronics before graduating high school.

Motlow secured additional funding for the project through a $3.3 million grant from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program, a White House initiative targeting building a 21st century workforce. In a 2013 post, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez shared, “Community colleges are incubators of innovation and opportunity. They are the secret sauce of workforce development, empowering communities, strengthening businesses, and invigorating local economies.”

Some states have developed creative initiatives targeting credentialing programs as a tool to CREATIVE help invigorate workforce development efforts at the regional INITIATIVES ARE and state level. In June 2016, Virginia passed the New Economy TARGETING Workforce Credentials Grant program to ensure that credenCREDENTIALING tialing programs are affordable PROGRAMS AS and attainable for high-demand fields. Development of the initial A TOOL TO 124 approved training programs came through colleges consulting INVIGORATE directly with industry and researching labor market data and WORKFORCE projections.

“This program establishes the DEVELOPMENT first-in-the-nation performancefunding formula to create and EFFORTS. A Government sustain a supply of credentialed Call to Action workers who meet the needs Across the nation, local and identified by our business leadstate governments are seeing the ers,” stated Virginia Governor need to fund higher education Terry McAuliffe. “This...is the initiatives as a fuel for high-demand, high-skilled culmination of many months of hard work by the jobs in sectors such as IT, healthcare, manufacturpublic- and private-sector partners, all of us working ing, and energy. together to ensure that Virginia has a 21st century Some states such as Tennessee, Oregon, Minworkforce with the skills and experience to compete nesota, and Rhode Island have passed legislation to in today’s global economy.” offer free community college for graduating seniors.

The New Economy Workforce Credentials Grant In an April 25, 2016 press release, the White House covers two thirds of the cost of a training program launched a $100 million competition to expand with an industry-recognized in-demand credential the President’s “America’s College Promise.” This approved by the Virginia Board of Workforce Develinitiative calls for partnership with states that waive opment and the State Council of Higher Education tuition for responsible students in high-quality profor Virginia. The grant is performance-based with grams. Tennessee was the first state in the counfinancial implications for the student and partnering try to offer free community college and is already college if a student doesn’t graduate successfully boasting enormous success. In its first year, 8 out and earn certification. of 10 seniors at public high schools applied for the “These workforce credentials increasingly repprogram. resent the American Dream in the 21st century,” Free college initiatives like America’s College said Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of Virginia’s ComPromise offer great postsecondary opportunities for munity Colleges. “Individuals earn these credenstudents graduating from high school, but may not tials in weeks and months, not semesters, and address the needs of a large population of adult and years. Those students are often quickly employed developmental programs that can target students by businesses hungry for their skills, and they with socioeconomic barriers, dislocated workers, accomplish all of that without piling on a decade’s and underskilled, unemployed citizens. worth of student debt.”

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WORKFORCE WORKSHOP: EVALUATING A COMMUNITY’S LABOR POOL The company must identify its needs, canvass local markets, and assess prospective locations’ educational resources before it can make a site decision.

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ommunities often tout local graduation rates when promoting economic development, but those numbers alone are unlikely to lure a major employer to town. A large company seeking a new location requires detailed information about workforce capabilities, perhaps touching on specific fields of expertise, ongoing graduation trends, and the availability of specialized training from nearby schools.

An understanding of how a site search team evaluates workforce resources will help municipal leaders and economic developers respond effectively when helping prospective employers evaluate their region. How does a company go about assessing an area’s existing workforce? What training infrastructure is essential to support various enterprises, and how can businesses and educational institutions collaborate to develop an adequate, ongoing supply of qualified job candidates?

Specify Requirements Before the team begins combing the countryside for pools of workers, it must identify the education levels or skills required for the new location. Answers to the team’s line of questioning at this stage are seldom obvious, and sometimes the employer’s real estate director or chief financial officer working with the search team won’t have that detailed knowledge, either.

Real estate advisors may find the most accurate clues to education requirements by donning their deerstalker caps and interviewing line managers about the functions that will occur at the new facility. What must a worker know on the first day of employment, and what will they learn on the job?

Thinking of their best or most effective employees, what are their educational levels, what capabilities did they bring to the company, and from what prior work history? What education levels among applicants result in the longest tenure?

That last question underscores the importance

By Brian Cohen, Partner, Tenant Advisory Services, Transwestern 2016 • 15

of matching education requirements to the work, size and degree of specialized skill sets required of rather than hiring the most educated people that the optimal labor market. apply for a job. One company may prefer to hire Canvass the Markets highly trained or experienced workers to step in and With a clear understanding of the activities experform a task from the start, while another empected at the new location, the site search team is ployer may prefer bright but inexperienced workers ready to dig into labor details in promising markets for the same task, choosing instead to train them in and make a list of metros that may meet the employthe company’s method. er’s needs. Where are the major employers in the The peril of hiring the underqualified is clear client’s field? Where are schools teaching skills the enough, yet employers also incur a risk by hiring employer seeks in its workers? And where do those overqualified individuals. A repetitive job below the trained individuals choose to live after graduation? worker’s skill level may quickly induce boredom, Site evaluators must weigh existing labor market leading to increased turnover and ongoing training indicators alongside demographics and graduation costs. Also, the higher a person’s education, skill, trends for a long-term operation. While specialized and experience level, the greater the compensaworkforce training is available through some school tion they will likely demand, even if those extranesystems, often businesses cannot depend solely on ous qualifications go unused on the job. Therefore, these programs, waiting idly by while schools and a workforce suited to the work helps to control the universities train their initial employee base for a employer’s wage and training costs. new location. Employers typically want confidence Additionally, the team must consider the scale of that there will be a ready supply of qualified applijob groupings within the planned facility. For examcants at the start, and that the applicant pool is deep ple, many metropolitan areas have adequate labor enough to be sustainable over the long term. to support a 100-person operation of three to four Nor can a business expect all of the workers hired primary functions. An employer may plan to hire 20 when its facility first opens its doors to remain on the to 30 accountants and similar numbers of help-desk payroll indefinitely. A fairly stable employer may need operators, sales personnel, and inventory or assemto hire replacements bly technicians. Those for 5 to 10 percent requirements are of its positions each unlikely to overtax the Back Office at the Forefront year to replace those workforce in a diverse who move up within market. the company or on to On the other hand, Site selection is a detailed undertaking in which generic terms such as “back-offi ce” often fail to other employment. if an employer plans convey the type of labor required. Consider the The level of attrition to staff a 500-person following back-office functions and the wide seen within an opoffice almost envariations in education level they may require eration is a function of tirely with engineers of job applicants: many variables, most researching power notably company/mansupply solutions for • Pure call center, with phone operators answering calls and reading scripted responses agement culture, job the next generation of — high school degree or equivalent function, compensamobile phones, only tion, and labor market a handful of cities • Higher-level processing work, such as that required for insurance claims or underwriting dynamics. Companies may fit the bill. The — high school or associate’s degree, dominated by highproposed operation’s some college stress jobs, including scale together with • True shared services, with professionals some call centers, the extent of specialperforming human resources, accounting, may experience annual ized functions to be or other functions — bachelor’s degree attrition exceeding 50 performed within it percent, requiring a will help define the 16 • WORKFORCE

steady stream of qualified applition team will have relied on its cants trained in the appropriate own research, augmented by skill sets. government and third-party daDETAILED Special skills don’t necessartabases, to profile the markets ily entail prohibitive labor costs. in its search. Now with reliable ACADEMIC For some software developers, data in hand and working from DEGREE DATA high costs of living and competia short list of metros, the team tion with name-brand employers can reach out to economic IS IMPORTANT in New York, San Francisco, and development and community San Jose, California, do drive up leaders to learn what local eduTO COMPANIES wage and salary requirements in cational institutions may bring those metros. Yet many technolto the table.

THAT HAVE ogy companies will find smaller All parties stand to benefit but similarly educated and skilled when local schools, colleges, and SPECIALIZED workforces to suit their requireuniversities are willing to adjust ments in less crowded markets their programming to better LABOR like Madison, Wisconsin, or Salt prepare graduates for jobs in their REQUIREMENTS. Lake City or Provo, Utah, where communities. Orlando, Florida, software engineers have gravifor example, enjoys exceptionally tated to enjoy a good quality of good communication between life and lower cost of living. Other economic development leaders, markets, including Boulder, Colobusinesses, and educators, with rado, and Austin, Texas, were once institutions such as the University in that tier of more affordable software markets, but of Central Florida and nearby Valencia College altheir associated costs have grown along with their lowing some education credits to carry over between reputations as technology hubs. their schools as part of cooperative job training The larger the specialized labor requirements, programs. the more important detailed academic degree data In another example, several major institutions becomes in the evaluation process. A company in Eastern Massachusetts recently provided letters planning a 500-person facility where 60 percent of committing to coordinate educational programs employees will share a special skill set has a comthat would feed a large pharmaceutical company’s pelling reason to locate where schools are producing employment needs, should that employer choose to degreed graduates in that field of study. This may move to the metro. Economic development organizainvolve more than a count of bachelor’s or advanced tions can be invaluable at this stage of a site search, degrees, perhaps requiring a deeper dive into providing boots on the ground and leveraging local numbers of degrees or professional certifications relationships to explore workforce resources and awarded each year in particular lines of study. training options.

At this canvassing stage, site selectors are Find the Right Spot simultaneously evaluating markets based on other As the search nears its end, the team identifies factors, such as cost, supply chains, the availability metropolitan areas and ultimately specific properof incentives, access to markets and clients, and ties. Even in a market with an excellent workforce risk of business interruptions due to earthquakes, and educational resources suited to a company’s wildfires, hurricanes, or other natural disasters. The needs, the majority of that targeted workforce may objective is to assemble a list of metros as location be concentrated in certain submarkets or neighborcandidates. hoods. The employer must choose not only the right Academic Inquiry city, but also the right submarket, to maintain access Up to this point, an experienced site selecto the desired workforce.

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2016 • 17

Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility Mobile delivery of first Airbus A321 to U.S. customer Jet Blue, April 2016

academy in conjunction with local school systems and the Alabama Community College System (ACCS).

Billed as an advanced career tech academy, the program offers beginning to advanced construction skills training for high school students leading to a seamless transition to postsecondary education through dual enrollment opportunities.

ALABAMA CONTINUES TO GROW 2016 WAS A BANNER YEAR FOR ALABAMA. April saw the first Alabama-made Airbus A320 take to the skies. What first started as a plan to build the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers in mi-2007 turned into a commitment from Airbus to build their widely popular narrow-aisle commercial jets, the A320 family of aircraft. The first aircraft was delivered to JetBlue Airlines in April. Airbus delivered its 15th “Made-In-Alabama” jet to Delta Airlines on December 2nd.

In addition to high-profile announcements, a two-year process to start a statewide apprenticeship program gained approval this spring from the Alabama legislature. Appropriately named “Apprenticeship Alabama,” the program will allow companies in targeted industries the ability to set up Department of Labor registered apprenticeship programs at their plants in Alabama and qualify for state-based tax incentives. The first programs are in development now and should be ready in 2017.

The Alabama Workforce Training Center in Birmingham, part of AIDT’s system of regionalized Workforce “Centers of Excellence,” began a K-12 construction

The Montgomery Regional Workforce Training Center opened as a collaborative effort to provide entry-level training, employee upgrade training, two-year technical college level training, and K-12 career training, to adequately supply businesses with a trained workforce for the Montgomery region.

AIDT also recently opened the Integration, Entrepreneurial and Paint/Dispense Training Center of the Alabama Robotics Technology Park (RTP) in North Alabama. Alabama companies will be able to use this facility to introduce new technologies into their existing manufacturing lines. This will include trouble-shooting and product integration as well as training. It will allow small companies to further develop their new business or new business venture relating to robotics and automation technologies. In addition, the Paint/Dispense Technology training will assist the automotive industry and other companies that have paint lines within their manufacturing process in training and updating their current or prospective workforce.

Modifying and adjusting our game plan for economic development isn’t something new. As a state, we pride ourselves on being flexible to meet the demands of industry while offering the highest return for our citizens.

Ed Castile AIDT Executive Director 1 Technology Court Montgomery, AL 36116 334-280-4411 www.aidt.edu info@aidt.edu

18 • WORKFORCE

• Numerous retailers in Cape Coral have experienced tremendous annual sales; in some instances, they’re the largest grossing stores within their respective chains.

• A new conference center at the waterfront Westin Hotel will draw visitors from around the nation.

The Cape Coral Economic Development Office has designed several areas of emphasis to enhance and tailor growth: Cape Coral is also known for ecotourism and is home to the largest population of burrowing owls in Florida — a big draw for birders and photographers from around the world.

CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA: A HOT SPOT FOR BUSINESS GROWTH Cape Coral’s ideal, year-round climate, affordable real estate, and competitive cost of living continue to attract national attention. Bloomberg reports the Cape Coral metro area received a top-10 ranking for having the fastest job growth in 2016. Forbes named Cape Coral in its 2016 top-10 list of “Cities to Watch” for having the fastest-growing populations and economies, and Livability.com ranked Cape Coral No. 3 on a 2016 list of “The Most Affordable Cities to Live in Florida.”

Recently, the Cape Coral Economic Development Office recruited several new companies. Among them were two corporate headquarters and several small manufacturers. As the 10th-largest city in Florida and the largest in Southwest Florida, Cape Coral is an ideal location for businesses.

• The city boasts 400 miles of canals, is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caloosahatchee River, and part of the federal Intracoastal Waterway, bringing boaters from around the country. This key amenity is a boon in several sectors: services, products and supplies, retail, marine, and manufacturing.

• Veterans Investment Zone: The 240,000-square-foot Lee County VA Healthcare Center has exceeded its original projections in terms of patients, visitors, and service levels. This facility draws thousands throughout the region; an estimated 260,000 veterans live in Southwest Florida.

Nearby is a 15-acre Cape Coral Army Reserve Center.

One component is the 222,000–square-foot Liberty Village planned for development on more than 430 acres of undeveloped land within one mile of the regional VA Healthcare Center. It will include an assisted living facility, 312 apartments, and a retail component.

• Concourse at Cape Coral, a 171-acre parcel that is owned by the city, will be seeking public-private partnerships for its development, including 55 acres for shopping and 50 acres for entertainment nestled in unspoiled nature with water views.

Competing in today’s global market can be demanding, so you want to be in a location with all the right amenities: safety, modern and convenient transportation, and technological infrastructure are positives for your business and all of your employees.

Contact our Economic Development team to get started on your new business destination today.

Dana Brunett, Economic Development Manager City of Cape Coral 1015 Cultural Park Blvd.

Cape Coral, FL 33990 239-574-0444 www.bizcapecoral.com dbrunett@capecoral.net

2016 • 19

high-tech businesses, Florida is a place where industries flourish. In fact, 17 Fortune 500 companies maintain corporate headquarters in Florida, capitalizing on its reduced costs, large market, and skilled workforce.

FLORIDA: THE FUTURE IS HERE While the state has long been recognized for its impeccable weather, Florida’s pro-business climate is grabbing headlines in 2016. Over the last decade, state and economic development leaders have worked hard to make Florida the best state in the nation for business.

Their efforts have paid off: This year, Florida ranked No. 2 in the nation for business according to Chief Executive’s CEO Survey. With low regulations and even lower taxes, companies enjoy the freedom to thrive. Home to 15 deepwater seaports, 20 commercial airports, nearly 3,000 miles of freight rail track, and two spaceports, Florida offers world-class infrastructure.

An educated, talented, and diverse workforce of nearly 10 million rounds out Florida as a top-10 Best State for Talent Pipeline by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

The future looks brighter than ever as more businesses make the move to Florida, including space firm Blue Origin, which announced it would establish Florida as its site for the launch, manufacturing, and support facilities for its Orbital Launch Vehicle (OLV) program.

Blue Origin will invest $200 million and create 330 jobs in the region over the next five years. Selecting Florida over the Carolinas and Georgia as the best location for its new facility, Blue Origin joins a growing list of diverse companies that have recently established international, national, or regional headquarters in Hillsborough County, including Johnson & Johnson, TransferWise, and Cohesion.

A True Business Super State With the largest foreign-trade zone network and the fourth-largest GDP in the country, Florida is a leading player on a global scale. Florida is ranked the No. 1 state where Americans want to live according to the 2016 Harris Poll, and is well on its way to becoming the No. 1 state where Americans want to work.

It’s no surprise that companies are catching on. Over 50,000 businesses of all sizes and industries have set up shop in the Sunshine State since 2010, from education startup EverBright Media to automotive and transportation giant Hertz.

Home to Unparalleled Opportunity Florida boasts numerous businesses amenities, and several companies are taking advantage of everything the state has to offer. Ranking No. 3 in the U.S. for

Sherry Ambrose VP, Business Development Enterprise Florida 800 N. Magnolia Ave, Suite 1100 Orlando, FL 32803 407-956-5659 SAmbrose@EnterpriseFlorida.com www.FloridaTheFutureIsHere.com

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training to 24,000 individuals at more than 150 expanding Louisiana employers. Increasingly, FastStart is a key influencer in why those employers choose to invest in Louisiana over other states and nations.

“I was blown away with FastStart’s flexibility and their capability to customize,” says Tom Yura Sr., senior vice president and general manager for BASF’s chemical facilities in Geismar, Louisiana.

LOUISIANA’S CUSTOMIZED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTION Even before the Great Recession, Louisiana leaders set their sights on a new strategic direction for workforce training. Flexibility and innovation were programmed into state agencies and college campuses. New thinking expedited training. Skills in high demand received priority funding. And from this crucible of innovation, LED FastStart® was born.

Eight years later, the Louisiana Economic Development program remains the U.S. gold standard for project-focused workforce training. Louisiana’s nimble, collaborative approach touches the workforce supply chain at critical junctures: foundational programs in high school classrooms; intensive skills-training at advanced manufacturing centers on community college campuses; and industryadvised technology classes at research universities.

With that foundation, LED FastStart professionals create a custom plan for recruiting, screening, and training a new workforce for expanding firms in target industries, such as advanced and traditional manufacturing, logistics, information technology, corporate offices, and petrochemicals. Manufacturers must create a net 15 jobs and service firms a net 50 jobs to be eligible for the costfree, comprehensive solutions.

Since 2008, FastStart has delivered highly customized

The LED FastStart team includes dozens of experienced private-sector professionals from a range of industries. The team’s goal — to help firms efficiently ramp-up through intelligent training — gives workers the skills they need from opening day.

Customized training plans are drawn from an in-depth analysis of each company’s workforce needs. Elements of that training might encompass workforce safety, regulatory standards, industry-specific benchmarks, and leadership development for upper-level managers.

Recruitment of well-suited job candidates is just as crucial. LED FastStart has created social media recruiting campaigns for technology firms as varied as video game developers Gameloft and EA, and Fortune 500 giants that include IBM, GE, and CenturyLink.

Louisiana’s new approach to workforce development cultivates meaningful partnerships between state government, private industry, and higher education.

In every case, regional workforce demand determines training programs and coursework.

It’s a strategy that works for both employers and job-seekers, and one that spans the state.

Paul Helton Interim Executive Director of Workforce Programs Louisiana Economic Development 627 North 4th Street, Suite 2-200 Baton Rouge, LA 70802 225-342-5543 www.OpportunityLouisiana.com/faststart paul.helton@la.gov 2016 • 21

and educational institutions. This year, Mississippi enacted the Mississippi Works Fund, which allows the state’s community college system to enhance its existing customizable training programs to more effectively meet the needs of companies. The fund allocates $50 million over 10 years for workforce training. Seventy-five percent of the funds are allocated toward new job creation, while 25 percent are allocated for existing workforce training and workforce certification.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Executive Vice President of Commercial Vehicle Tires for Continental Tire the Americas Paul Williams celebrate Continental’s decision to build a $1.45 billion manufacturing facility in Hinds County, Miss., which will create 2,500 new jobs.

MISSISSIPPIANS ARE READY TO WORK Industries ranging from automotive to unmanned aerial systems continue to locate or expand in Mississippi thanks to the state’s significant advantages, including a business-friendly environment and highly skilled workforce.

Continental Tire will soon be added to the state’s impressive industry portfolio. The company announced in February it will locate in Hinds County, bringing 2,500 new jobs and investing $1.45 billion. The decision to locate in Mississippi by the world’s fourth-largest tire manufacturer is a testament to the state’s commitment to developing a world-class workforce.

“We have found this site provides significant advantages for a future tire plant in terms of its large skilled workforce, as well as its ideal location and infrastructure,” said Paul Williams, executive vice president, Commercial Vehicle Tires for Continental Tire the Americas. “The state of Mississippi has developed an outstanding business climate, and this site met all of our needs for projected growth in the near as well as in the longer term.”

Mississippi strengthens its workforce by placing a special priority on partnerships between industry 22 • WORKFORCE

Mississippi’s community colleges work in conjunction with industries, providing an array of assessment tools to quickly review applicants. The schools also provide pre-employment training and customized training programs, meaning workers are ready to contribute to a high-quality product on Day 1.

“I think Mississippi’s community colleges understand their role as an economic development partner — and I’ve always referred to them as a business partner — because there haven’t been any challenges I’ve presented to them where they weren’t both energetic and eager to conquer,” said Earl Walker, senior director of External Affairs-State and Government Business Development for Airbus Helicopters, Inc. “I’ve always told potential prospects looking for new locations, Mississippi is one of the easiest states to do business in that I’ve been to in my travels and in my work.”

Continuing to work diligently with existing businesses while recruiting new companies shows Mississippians are ready to work. To learn more about Mississippi’s workforce advantage, visit or call the Locate Mississippi team at 1.800.360.3323.

Billy Klauser, Chief Economic Development Officer Mississippi Development Authority P.O. Box 849 Jackson, MS 39205 800-360-3323 Fax: 601-359-4339 www.mississippi.org bklauser@mississippi.org

WE HAVE AN EDUCATED, TALENTED AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE EAGER TO CHANGE THE WORLD. IMAGINE WHAT THEY’LL DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS. The only thing as impressive as our current workforce of 9.7+ million is our future one. Our colleges and universities are among the nation’s top performers of R&D and commercialization of technologies. So while we’re helping you succeed with today’s talent, we’re also preparing tomorrow’s. Discover what a future in Florida means for your business at floridathefutureishere.com or call 877-YES-FLORIDA.

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As the largest city in Southwest Florida with a year-round population of over 175,000, Cape Coral is among the fastest growing communities in the U.S. Our city offers existing facilities, industrial parks and a wide array of commercial sites.

Forbes Magazine consistently shows the Cape Coral MSA in the U.S. top 10 for job growth.

Join a host of reputable companies that already call Cape Coral home. At just 45% built out, our city is ideally suited for: • Medical • Corporate Headquarters • Light Manufacturing • Back Office Operations Why not build your business in a location that feels like a vacation the minute the work day ends?

Contact our Economic Development team to get started on your new business destination today.

Cape Coral Economic Development Office (239) 574-0444 • (866) 573-3089 ecodev@capecoral.net www.bizcapecoral.com

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