Tomah Chamber & Visitors Center Newsletter October 2019 Newsletter | Page 18

Workforce Solutions &
Celebrating ManufacturingMonth
By: Tina Thompson, President & CEO
October is Manufacturing month and I felt it would be
a good time to talk about some of our initiatives. As
we all know, workforce is an issue across the board in
nearly every industry. This isn’t just a Tomah issue,
or a Wisconsin issue for that matter, it is all over. To
that point, have you ever heard the phrase “Do It For
Denmark”? The Danes recognized their population
decline and embarked upon the “Do It For Denmark”
campaign to increase birthrates and encourage
population growth. Simply put, we all need more
people.
How does increasing population growth tie in to
Manufacturing? Increasing the population does
address the issue of filling jobs, but not for a solid
18 more years (plus 9 months). One of the more
immediate ways we can address some of the workforce
issues we have is by getting people into the workforce
sooner. Did you know that in Tomah, a high school
graduate can start working full time for anywhere
between $15.00/hour to $23.00/hour with no formal
education beyond their high school diploma? These
jobs include heath insurance and other benefits such
as profit sharing, PTO, sick time, dental, vision,
retirement and more. Not too shabby, right? The
opportunities don’t end here. In several cases in
talking with plant managers and HR professionals,
I’m learning that for the kid who wants to pursue a
technical, engineering, robotics career, the path to this
can be found in manufacturing and guess what…these
kids aren’t taking out student loans, they’re getting
their education funded through their employer.
Working for a manufacturer is constantly evolving
based upon technological advances, ever changing
consumer demand and continuous improvement
practices (among other factors as well). We are
inviting the public to join us on Manufacturing Day
(always the first Friday in October). We will be hosting
tours of three of our local manufacturing facilities.
The tours will be in the morning
and will provide parents, kids and
curious members of the public with an
opportunity to see what manufacturing
looks like in 2019 and ask questions about
the opportunities available. We are also
working with Tomah High School who is
coordinating the students and guidance
counselors that are interested in learning
more.
Throughout
the year, our
efforts will
continue
to focus on
workforce
as a pillar of
our scope of
work. We will in put efforts towards building trades
and construction, emergency services and healthcare
in the form of creating panels of seasoned professionals
to speak to high school juniors and seniors. Last
school year, we had approximately 400 students attend
each panel. The feedback from students and parents
was exceptional. I was able to participate in one of
the panels on behalf of one of our member businesses
and was impressed with the quality of questions from
the students as well as their level of sincere interest in
the opportunities available to them. We look forward
to continuing this program into the 2019-2020 school
year.
As we consider workforce and opportunities in Tomah,
I hope we continue to encourage people to consider
manufacturing as a strong and attractive option for
employment. We will be continuing our efforts to
make Tomah an attractive place to work and live. We
will be continuing our efforts in educating people on
the opportunities available and we will be continuing
our efforts in helping our employers fill vacancies.
While we all want a quick fix and immediate
resolution, some of the solutions will simply take time.
Just know that we are keenly aware of the issues and we
are working to help you out.
Until then, “Do It For Tomah”!
-tt