Preparing Talent for Tomorrow: An Industry Imperative

1. Preparing Talent for Tomorrow: An Industry Imperative

2. Gulf Power Company: Who Are We? • 1,365 employees • 427,000 customers • 6 power plant sites - 3 sites are jointly owned - 2,659 MW capacity • 137 substations/ 1,595 miles of transmission lines • 7,644 miles of distribution lines (1,754 underground)

3. Southern Company Highlights Employees: 26,421 Average Service: 18 years Average Age: 45 years Turnover: 5.1% Infrastructure Transmission lines: 27,000 miles Substations: 3,700 Generation: 42,000 MW

4. The Challenge The need for skilled, well-educated workers is growing “More than 70% of HR executives say that incoming workers with inadequate skills are their most serious problem over the next three years.” – Deloitte Consulting Demand is up Supplyisdown 1 in 3 U.S. workers is age 50 or older. By 2015a 15% decline is projected in ages 35 – 44.

5. The New Economic Development Reality • A skilled workforce has become more important than land and buildings • As layers of middle management have been eliminated, these workplace skills are increasingly required of all employees: • Critical thinking/ Problem-solving • Communication skills • Teamwork • Self-direction • Global, civic, financial, economic & entrepreneurial literacy • INNOVATIVE and CREATIVE thinking!

6. Energy Industry Workforce Challenges • Utility workforce is four years older than national average • – US Bureau of Labor Statistics • Demand for technical and craft workers increasing • Failure rates on pre-employment tests are increasing • Potential threat to both productivity and reliability

7. Gulf Power’s Multi-Prong Approach • Gulf Power Company Programs • Southern Company Efforts • State Efforts • National Efforts • Collaboration is Key!

8. Gulf Power Company Programs • STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Promotion • Energy Career Awareness • Energy Career Pipeline Development Programs • Community Workforce Development

9. STEM Promotion Programs • I LOVE Science • BEST and FIRST Robotics • Math in Energy Careers Day • Electrathon Racing • STEMflorida

10. Career Awareness Programs • Energy Summer Camps • Engineering Explorers Post • Gulf Power Speakers’ Bureau for Career Fairs

11. Talent Development Pipeline Programs

12. Gulf Power Academy, WFHS Gulf Power Academy Class of 2009 First major partnership to develop qualified, applicant pool opened August, 2001

13. Gulf Power Partnership Includes: • $25,000 per year donation to WFHS • Guidance, support & instructional assistance in the Gulf Power Academy (Program Advisory Council) • Serve on School Advisory Council • Support of entire school through participation in Career Days, Open House, publicity events • No commitment to hire students at end of program - no commitment for students to work for us

14. Gulf Power Academy Key Components • Academic rigor plus “hands-on” experience, based on NCCER Electrical Curriculum • Mentoring Program Junior Year • Advanced Career Experience (ACE) program Senior Year • Over 50 % go on to college, utilizing 15 hours of articulated credit from the program • We provide guest instructors, employee mentors, and work experiences – full engagement! Students are prepared for work AND college

15. Gulf Power Academy Mentoring Program • 12th Grade students matched with Gulf Power Employee (consideration given to job responsibilities/ experience, & individual characteristics) • Provides students direction, guidance, and a direct link to one Gulf Power employee • Provides Gulf Power an opportunity to make a determination about each student’s employability

16. Advanced Career Experience (ACE) • Host 17 – 25 senior students each year, from GPA, Pre-engineering, Cox, and AOIT (this year: 20 ACE students) • Students come to Gulf Power to learn & work instead of going to school every other day • If successful on our industry pre-employment tests 1st semester, students are paid while learning/working 2nd semester

17. Advanced Career Experience (ACE) • Second semester - OJT in jobs of student’s choice • Plant • Meter Shop • Line Crews • Customer Service • Engineering • Substation • Accounting • Information Technology • Carried out under Partial Waiver to Hazardous Occupations Section of Child Labor Laws with tremendous focus on Safety! Each student receives individualized schedule rotating them through positions of interest to them…

18. Gulf Power Academy Results • Gulf Power Academy seniors have significantly higher success rates on industry pre-employment tests than non-program job candidates • Prepares students for work AND college – 50% go on to pursue 4 year degrees, primarily in engineering • Have hired 6 – 11 each year into entry-level careers at Gulf Power Company (since first graduating class in May of 2005)

19. Community Workforce Development • Every Child a Reader in Escambia (ECARE) • Founding member of community collaborative focused on emergent literacy • Goal is to have every student who enters kindergarten test “ready” when they begin • Ford Next Generation Learning Community Program for ECSD & SRCSD • Founding member of community collaborative to increase numbers and quality of career academies in our area

20. Southern Company Efforts • Southern Company Workforce Development Council • Includes representative from each operating company • Allows us to leverage our work • Three key focus areas: • Programs (Career Awareness) • Pipelines (Talent Development) • Partnerships (Collaborations)

21. Southern Company 2009 Summary • PROGRAMS (Career Awareness): • New “Power Up” career awareness/branding campaign • Employee “Career Awareness Teams” • Seven summer energy camps • Two “On the Job” Television shows – “Women in Non-Traditional Roles” and “Careers at Southern Nuclear” • Outreach to over 12,000 students and educators through Southern Company’s various career awareness activities and events • PIPELINES (Talent): • 11 Talent Pipeline programs • Hired 18 students (138 from ’05-present) from Intern Programs • Hired 25 students (156 from ‘05-present) from Talent Pipeline programs • Created partnerships with four additional technical colleges for future Talent Pipelines • Created a comprehensive workforce development plan for Southern Nuclear • Partnerships (External Strategic): • CEWD ongoing support and participation on Executive and Education Councils • Leadership for state Energy and Industrial Construction Consortia • Partnered with Federal, State and Local Workforce Development entities on funding and pipeline development opportunities resulting in over $10 million dollars in secured federal grant funding for energy and/or construction job training • Leadership on industry specific organizations (i.e., SEMTA, NEI, CGIA, ACRI)

22. Southern Company High School Materials Allows us to brand our careers throughout the Southeast

23. Southern Company Military Branding Campaign 12

24. Florida Energy Workforce Consortium (FEWC) Industry Chair, Jennifer Grove, Gulf Power Company www.fewc.org

25. FEWC • First state consortium to form in April 2006 to identify and develop solutions to meet the current and future workforce needs of utilities in Florida – now over 60 members • Comprised of utility representatives, contractors, contractor associations, state and local secondary and post-secondary education representatives, state and local workforce system representatives, IBEW, and building trades • Focus is to leverage our activities across the state – together we can accomplish so much more for our industry than we could individually Compete for a talent PUDDLE OR work to create a talent POOL

26. FEWC Recent Accomplishments: • Wrote new Florida Department of Education Energy Curriculum Frameworks to match industry needs • Had “Energy” added as 17th career cluster in Florida • Secured $13M+ from ARRA funds and $1.5M of state workforce funding for Florida energy workforce development programs FEWC website: www.fewc.org

27. National Solution • First partnership between utilities and their associations – EEI, AGA, NEI and NRECA to focus solely on these issues • Utilities, associations and supplemental labor contractors join as members • Partnering with educational institutions, workforce system, and unions to create workable solutions Industry Solutions – Regional Implementation

29. State Energy Workforce Consortia WA MN OR CT MI PA IA NJ OH IN MD VA CA CO MO KY NC TN SC AZ GA MS AL TX LA FL Existing Consortium Planned Consortium

30. Key Takeaways… • STEM is our future! • Students must have opportunities to learn about/ experience potential careers BEFORE deciding what to do following high school • Rigor and relevance are an option and requirement for ALL students to be successful

31. Questions