By Mary Owen
A shrinking workforce in number of people and skills has left some companies scrambling for experienced employees.
How can they bridge this growing gap?
Nick Harville is the Retention and Expansion manager at SEDCOR (Strategic Economic Development Corporation) based in Salem.
He will present information related to the skills gap at a free informational meeting March 4, 8 a.m. at Freres Auditorium, Santiam Hospital.
“Because we have been hearing from our local employers that they’ve encountered a skills gap situation in hiring, we wanted to get some of these employers and community leaders together to discuss solutions,” said Kelly Schreiber, executive director of the Stayton-Sublimity Chamber of Commerce. “We asked SEDCOR to make the presentation as they have already been developing partnerships in our area to help diminish the skills gap. We want to be a thriving community that can attract and hold talent and make our area a great place to live and invest in.”
Harville said companies don’t have years to train people anymore.
“Long-time employees clock out for the last time and walk out the door taking with them all their experience and knowledge,” he said. “But it isn’t just that. Trade skills aren’t being taught in many schools anymore.”
The growing gap was uncovered by SEDCOR while doing its IMOM (Industrial Maintenance Operator/ Mechanic) program four years ago, Harville said.
Through the IMOM program, Harville meets with employees picked by the employer and conducts a 1.5-hour interview to identify what makes them the best at their job.
“That documents the skills sets for that individual into four levels – fundamental skills, which they should show up at the door with, universal skills everyone in the operation should share or have, then tactical and strategic skills that you must have in order to do that job,” Harville said. “If someone doesn’t have the right skills, the company knows exactly what to train, if they do an IMOM interview with new employees.”
To date, Harville has completed more than 300 interviews with the best employees in the region to document their skill sets.
SEDCOR also works with local schools to set up coursework that teaches fundamental skills necessary for almost every industry.
“The construction industry identified 10 essential skills, but it is pretty much the same for food processing, manufacturing and other industries,” he said. “Because we took time to interview the best employees, that then makes all this industry-driven. It isn’t some study or survey. It’s what companies tell us they need.”
The need, he said, “has grown far beyond having the best employee train the new one.”
After identifying and documenting skill sets of their best employees, companies need to define the “mission critical” skills employees must have to do the job, Harville said.
“Beyond that is working with schools so young people show up at the door with even fundamental skills to build from,” he added.
Consulting, another option that some companies consider, doesn’t really get to the core of the issue, Harville said.
“Few people have the ability to teach what they know well,” he said.
Harville wants participants to walk away with an awareness of how serious this issue is to businesses today and start to talk about ways to address needed changes.
“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published a report over five years ago that within the next 10 years over 40 percent of the workforce will retire,” he said. “From five years ago, we’re over halfway there. One of Oregon’s major utility companies is going to lose over 60 percent of their line crews in the next three years. Who will take their place? It takes two years to get through the apprenticeship.”
Harville noted he sat with one of the larger employers in Marion County and four employees they had chosen to do IMOM interviews.
“I asked how long they’d been with the company,” he said. “The youngest one, 26 years. Great longevity, but they could all retire at once. Problem?”
Gail Krumenauer, senior economic analyst with Workforce and Economic Research under the Oregon Employment Department, said, “Employers that have one or two – or one or two hundred – key employees who are at or approaching retirement age should consider the skills that will walk out the door with a final punch of the clock.”
For more information, contact the Stayton-Sublimity Chamber of Commerce at 503-769-3464.
