The Human Face of Workforce Dynamics

1. The Human Face of Workforce Dynamics Good News for Central New York or Lessons from Pluto Lou Jean Fleron Syracuse, New York 4 October 2006

2. Behind the numbers and the charts. . .

3. The 21st Century labor market. . . …seeks and rewards workers who can offer the education foundation, technical and creative flexibility employers need to compete and adapt to changing needs successfully.

4. Changing realities. . . • Impact our comfort level • Some are predictive • Some are of known duration • Always challenging

5. Lessons from Pluto “Some people may feel uncomfortable because one ofthe facts they were sureof –that there are nine planets–has suddenly been taken away SpaceDaily, August 31, 2006

6. Lessons from Pluto Past Generations Learned: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Future Generations Will Learn: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos

7. Choose Your Point of View First draftflawed…intense arguments…embarrassing for allof us…third draftincorporated new ideas…morepositive…madechangesin ashort amount of time… Catherine Pilachowski Daniel Kirkwood Chair, Astronomy Indiana University

8. Views of new realities. . . Two out of three Americans view their companies as doing a poor job of rewarding employee loyalty, attending to anything beyond the bottom line. The Conference Board

9. Difficult economic times. . . • Work no longer gets you out of poverty • Productivity no longer assures you increased income—you may produce more but not move ahead • Education doesn’t always assure you a higher standard of living • High performance work does not assure you job security

10. Promising possibility. . . “Just as we moved from an economy in the first part of the 20th century focused onproduction andinvestment, to one in the last half of the 20th century focused onmass consumption,it is possible that we are moving to an economy in the first half of the 21stcentury focused onenabling people to live good lives.” Robert D. Atkinson The Past and Future of America’s Economy

11. Choose your road ahead. . . Compete by becoming aknowledge-based, high trust organization • Training • Empowering employees • Harnessing their full motivation and talents to generate innovative solutions that drive productivity and service quality • Family-friendly work organizations OR Compete by focusingprimarily on driving down and controlling costs

12. Central New York. . .signs of a high road 24%of the population 25 years of age andolder (Syracuse MSA) holdsabachelor’s degreeor higher – 20%above the national average Essential New York Initiative, 2004

13. High marks. . . More than 13% of Central New York’s workforce is in the Super CreativeCore – employed in education, computer engineering, the sciences and the arts Essential New York Initiative, 2004

14. Raising hopes. . . 1.2%increase in jobs (Syracuse MSA) from May 2005 to May 2006 National average1.5%increasefor same time period

15. Energy for the future. . . New York’s Centers of Excellence Syracuse – Environmental and Energy Systems A collaborative approach involving NYS, academia, industry and other public and private partners.

16. High Road Recognition. . . • Expansion Management magazine 2006 Mayor’s Challenge – Summer 2006 • Syracuse, NY MSA ranked at 5-Star Business Opportunity Metro • “Gold Standard” – awarded to the top 20% of 362 metro areas and cities. This is based on rankings in Education, Healthcare, Quality of Life, Logistics, Knowledge Workers and Business Climate • Syracuse – one of America’s Hottest Cities

17. Macro challenges Micro solutions Most creative workforce development policies and practices are being created at the local, regional and state levels in the U.S. today. The success stories are being created by communities ready for radically inclusive collaboration.

18. Chicago Workforce Board • The mission of the CWB is to support the vision of Chicago as a world-class city by ensuring the creation of a workforce development system that sustains economic growth and competitiveness by meeting the needs of employers for qualifiedworkers and expanding employment opportunities for Chicagoland residents. • The Board is a non-profit organization with 52 board members providing a forum where business, labor, education, government, community-based organizations and other stakeholders worktogether to develop strategies to address the supply and demand of the local workforce

19. Dynamic Change is Collaborative Driving the Local Economy: The Chicagoland Experience • 130 participants from across the country • Nineworkforce boards, seventeen community colleges, and local employers in theChicago metropolitan region collaborate on the Critical Skill Shortages Initiative • CSSI was devised to coordinate strategiestomeet current and projecteddemandsfor qualified workers in critical regional industries.

20. Center on Wisconsin Strategies • Growth at the local, regional, and state level • Creates quality jobs, protects the environment and ensures that taxpayers get their money’s worth from public investments • Promotes job training, plant modernization • Programs that help firms remain competitive by meeting skill shortages, improving productivity • Prepare workers for employment that offers higher wages, better benefits and opportunities to advance into satisfying careers.

21. A rich history of informed collaboration • COWS has been a key player in designing and implementing policy experiments that have attracted national attention from public officials and community, business, and labor leaders. • Including…. • Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership • Jobs With a Future • Milwaukee Jobs Initiative

22. Power in partnerships. . . • COWS and partners are proving that workforce and economic development systems can be alignedand integrated with better results for workers, families, firms, communities and the public sector. • Success of these experiments rests onpartnerships – among employers, unions, community-based organizations and public- sector institutions, with key roles for educational institutions at all levels.

23. Dynamic Change is Collaborative • Chattanooga, Tennessee The city has received national recognition for the renaissance of its beautiful downtown and redevelopment of its riverfront. Chattanooga was one of the first U.S. cities to effectively use a citizen visioning process to set specific long-range goals to enrich the lives of residents and visitors.

24. St. Louis Gateway to Collaboration Region ranks 2ndin the nation in ratio of local governments to citizens; 3rd in nation in ratio of metro area municipalities to citizens; and 2nd in the nation in ratio of school districts to citizens. . . . Building bridges and by-passing obstacles to regional competitiveness

25. Growing, creative regions. . . • People take center stage in new regional economic development agenda • Quality of place is important to people who work in innovative, high skilled industries • Innovation is not just the province of entrepreneurs but also of civic leaders Susan Christopherson

26. Champions @ Work. . . in our Upstate New York Neighborhood • First the facts • Quality labor relations • High performance workplace systems • Quality workforce and work ethic • Case studies of collaboration and innovation • Champions Network • A regional advantage

27. Living Wage . . . and beyond • Local policies for quality jobs quality opportunities and quality of life • Self-sufficiency projects • Critical role of education and training

28. High Quality Early Care and Educationcritical infrastructure for economic development • Investment with a high public return • Children: future workforce • Parents: current workforce and employers • Regions: early childhood education an important economic sector In New York: $2.04 additional economic activity for every $1.00 spent on child care locally 1.5 other jobs created by every additional child care job

29. Restoring the American Dream • Good jobs are everyone’s responsibility • Employers • Employees • Educators • Development professionals • Public officials We cannot make the transition to a knowledge economy with a workforce that is stressed, frustrated and insecure. Businesses need to rebuild relationships with their employees based on trust. And working families need to take control of their own destinies. Tom Kochan Restoring the American Dream: A Working Families’ Agenda for America

30. The News about Upstate New York • We need organizations that value investors of human capital – their employees – as highly as they do investors of financial capital. . . an agenda for working families in the 21st Century to make the changes that allow us ALL to benefit from the new economy.