Four best practices for workforce boards nationwide

– by Danny Patterson

State and Local Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) have the opportunity to become the unsung heroes within their state – and make an even greater impact on their communities. Some innovative workforce boards are already leading the way, while others resist the opportunity. The question is why?

In 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provided guidance and a framework for a proactive business engagement approach for WDBs nationwide. Some WDBs fully embraced this guidance in the written law and its accompanying regulations, yet others still focus exclusively on rapid response activities as the complete directive. If focus is limited to Rapid Response, the odds for success are instantly stacked against the local WDBs, as the system is wired to be reactive – the need to develop and maintain local systems to be informed or aware of a layoff event, to react when one has occurred, and then try to minimize its impact by marketing services and support available to dislocated workers through the OneStop system.

A Way Forward

Some say the proactive business engagement approach is too heavy of a lift. I agree, provided you have the right data and research tools. Based on my own positive experience implementing this approach statewide in California, here are recommended best practices to guide the shift to a proactive business engagement strategy for greater impact:

1. Proactive business engagement requires a partnership mindset

2. A data-driven approach fuels the right engagement strategies

3. Measurable impact is not only quantifiable, but it is simple math

4. Actionable data redefines what’s possible for workforce boards

In short, workforce development boards and their OneStop Centers are employment-based programs, as shown by the common measures. So, the goal remains the same regardless of the approach – develop a skilled workforce and keep people in the labor market. The difference, then, is the amount of positive impact on the community.

1. Proactive business engagement requires a partnership mindset

Too often, WDBs primarily focus on rapid response despite the written law providing guidance on and encouraging proactive business engagement. They read about a closing in a newspaper and then reach out. I had a slogan when I was the Rapid Response and Business Engagement Coordinator for the California Workforce Development Board: “Rapid Response is a failed business engagement.” In my view, it is a broken business model – while it is understandably mandatory, it’s reactive versus proactive – and often too late to make a difference. I recognize the challenging work carried out by the local rapid response representatives; it is a heavy lift, and I applaud their efforts. However, it remains a reactive response, driven by a business closure or workforce reduction over which they have no control.  WDBs can no longer focus on just rapid response. There is another way!

The New Normal

A proactive business engagement strategy is increasingly becoming the new normal – a strategy that spans across the entire lifecycle of a business: from business development to contraction to expansion. Workforce boards have a dual responsibility – 1) to partner with healthy businesses to enable growth and hiring and 2) to partner with struggling businesses to avert layoffs or downsizing.

WDBs work with businesses in a growth mode for two reasons: a) to help them meet their needs for a skilled workforce and provide increased and diverse opportunities for job seekers, and b) to develop business relationships so that if a company is going through a layoff, the WDB can help the impacted workers rapidly find employment with companies that have available opportunities and need their skill sets.

WDBs also need to identify businesses who are struggling and in danger of closing – to help the business if the owners desire to preserve their company and its employees, through the use of proactive strategies such as professional marketing assistance to increase access to new clients and markets, incumbent worker training to upskill the existing workforce, use of lean principles, connecting them with small business development centers or economic development agencies to access needed financial resources, or to work with them in advance to help the soon-to-be-impacted workers. We want to help people find jobs quickly and connect them with businesses through short-term, on-the-job, or customized training programs and apprenticeships.

This is proactive business engagement – where a WDB is a valued partner, actively engaged and vested in the business’s success along the entire business continuum.

2. A data-driven approach fuels the right engagement strategies

Today, most local WDB practitioners chase data rather than having predictive, business-level information pushed to them. They lack reliable business data to anticipate change or predict failure. Instead, they rely on what they already know or can easily access, such as newspaper articles, business associations, etc. Moreover, most layoffs don’t meet the federal WARN notification requirements (i.e., employing over 100 full-time workers), so small-to-midsize businesses at risk of layoffs are invisible to local WDBs. Businesses are also reluctant to share access to their dislocated workers with the local WDB, largely because workforce boards are not recognized as assistance partners.  Additionally, most businesses are not aware of the workforce development system or its menu of business services. This creates an unnecessary burden for any workforce board.

Best-in-Class Business Intelligence

We found that a data-driven approach provides best-in-class business, workforce, industry, and company health data, organized in an interactive, multi-dimensional dashboard. This helps you analyze industry sectors and trends at the local or regional level, conduct business and workforce research, and compare time-series data to improve your outreach and engagement programs.  You can filter these data by changes in company health, NAICS, business size, and geography to create a refined list of businesses that may be open to a WDB’s outreach messaging. With this actionable data, workforce boards can be proactive, understand changing business dynamics to drive the right engagement strategies, and minimize impact quickly. Key insights include, but are not limited to:

• • What businesses are healthy, expanding, and hiring?
  • Who is experiencing financial stress, contraction, and at risk?
  • What businesses need early intervention?
  • Who needs assistance for skills training?
  • What industries are emerging and who is driving the growth?
  • What are the industry sector trends by region?
  • What regions are experiencing expansion or contraction?

A constant stream of business and industry information, plus insight into health and trends, is essential to predict the ebbs and flows of expansion and contraction before they occur. A continually refreshed list of companies and contact details makes the data actionable.

3. Measurable impact is not only quantifiable, but it is also simple math

Measuring impact is always challenging. Federal workforce programs focus on three metrics. These include job placement, job retention, and wages. But they do not specifically measure the “jobs saved” if a layoff is avoided altogether. How can one measure something that never happens? Despite this, some local boards have taken the initiative to seek more granularity to justify specific program costs. Even jobs saved, although it is not a reportable item per WIOA.

What gets counted matters. When workforce development boards have strong partnerships with the businesses in their jurisdiction and are actively engaged in their success, the businesses are more likely to share results. Let’s use my own experience in California as an example of how workforce boards can measure impact using standard metrics in a simple equation.

California requires workforce boards to report both rapid response activity and layoff aversion activity, including jobs saved. The California Workforce Board identified a practical way to quantify its impact after the first year of adopting a data-centric approach to layoff aversion.

The first step was understanding the health of businesses across the state. Which businesses were healthy and growing. Which were contracting but still operating. And which ones had closed. Each of California’s 45 WDBs received the data and research tools to identify struggling companies. This allowed them to implement tailored strategies to prevent layoffs proactively.

This is proactive business engagement in action, and the results were significant.

A Simple Model for All Workforce Boards

Here is a simple model that can be applied in any state. This scenario illustrates the total number of jobs saved statewide over one year. Weekly unemployment benefits range from $235 to $823.

In the Year One example above, the State realized measurable results from its data-driven, proactive layoff-aversion strategies. 1,600 people remained employed. 1,600 people remained taxpayers. Eliminated the emotional trauma of job loss for families. No increase in their UI contribution rate for business owners. $13.6M in savings for the State Unemployment fund. These savings and impacts are realized year over year.

4. Actionable data redefines what’s possible from workforce boards

Workforce boards have the vision. But are limited by the lack of actionable data. Barriers exist today through no fault of the local boards. Actionable data can unlock a world of opportunity for WDBs.

Workforce Boards Can Make a Greater Impact if they:    

• • Expand networks quickly with targeted business outreach
    • Understand who is expanding and hiring
    • Understand who is experiencing financial stress and contracting
  • Call with intention (vs. cold calling)
  • Reach the right contact on the first outreach
  • Engage with more than 4-5% of the businesses in your jurisdiction
  • Help businesses hire 500 people, not just 10
  • Assist 80% of the jobseekers at a One Stop Center to land a job and begin a career
  • Exceed the WDB-negotiated goals

WDBs should embrace the “art of possible” with actionable data. They can have a far greater impact on the job seekers, workers, businesses, and the community.

People are the reason we do what we do – and the lynchpin to business and community.

People are the driving force of the labor market. The goal of workforce development boards is to keep people in the labor market. When WDBs can’t save jobs, they need to focus on the employees affected. They should also ensure rapid reemployment for people in the community in healthy businesses. Moreover, they should pay good wages, offer health and medical benefits, and provide on-ramps to careers. Layoffs are sometimes unavoidable and do occur. Employees impacted. Families affected. And sometimes, depending on the size of the layoff, the community takes a downturn.

That is why a proactive business engagement strategy is the path forward. Building a strong network of healthy businesses that are paying good wages pays off in the end. That is why having up-to-date knowledge of who is healthy and growing and who is struggling is so critical. WDBs can do work on the front end rather than reacting to a layoff event. Ultimately, they can better support the community’s economic vitality.

People matter. Businesses matter. Communities matter. That’s why workforce development boards exist. And why the greater impact WDBs can make with a proactive business engagement strategy matters.