washington business
Inside
AWB Institute
Workforce Summit Addresses Talent Shortage
AWB’ s second-annual Workforce Summit attracted more than 130 employers, educators and nonprofit leaders to share ideas and work toward solutions for a better workforce.
The March event at the Hilton Bellevue highlighted innovative ways Washington employers can create their own solutions to the labor and talent shortage that’ s impacting many businesses across the country.
One of the main lessons from this event was that there’ s no cavalry coming, but employers can reach out to nonprofits and schools to help come up with their own solutions.
State and national experts discussed apprenticeships, mentorships, school-based training programs and more solutions that have proven successful for many companies.
Speakers also shared the latest employment law advice and their experiences keeping talented workers by maintaining a great place to work with strong benefits.
2018 Leadership Washington Class Graduates at Spring Meeting
Thirteen men and women from across Washington and different industry sectors have completed an intensive ninemonth leadership development program.
The 2018 Leadership Washington class was honored at AWB’ s Spring Meeting in May as the latest group of young leaders who will nurture Washington’ s business climate now and in the future.
The 2018 class includes professionals from the science, government, energy and other sectors. They began learning about the state’ s economy and political environment last September, and toured many regions and businesses throughout Washington.
Katherine Morgan of Bank of America spoke on behalf of the class during the graduation ceremony. She said the group noticed similar challenges faced by Washington employers, especially around employee recruitment and retention.
“ We heard the opportunities and the challenges that each of you faces and we recognized that they were not unlike the others,” Morgan said.
Early Childhood Learning Event Makes Business Case for Investment
In April, the AWB Institute partnered with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation for Education and Workforce on another solution to a building a strong workforce pipeline: early childhood learning.
Investing in a better system for both kids and families will pay off now and down the road, supporters say.
Ross Hunter, secretary of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, spoke to a standing-room only crowd at the Seattle Airport Marriott. He shared some serious numbers: About 47 percent of children come to kindergarten ready to learn, and four out of five employers believe today’ s labor pool lacks the skills and abilities essential to business success. Workforce participation is down, and as boomers retire, companies will have problems filling jobs, he said.
“ We’ ve got to fix this,” he said.“ We’ ve got to make it so people can work … There’ s a business need for this.”
Michele Beehler, senior human resources manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, described how SEL is helping employees with childcare benefits.
“ It’ s almost a necessity for us as a recruiting tool,” Beehler said.
Hunter also described incredibly difficult challenges for many working parents. High-quality child care is simply cost prohibitive for many parents, which means they can’ t afford to work, and can’ t afford not to work.
But just like other solutions, employers can take action to address the problem on their own as the government wrangles with new policy direction.
Some companies donate supplies, negotiate childcare discounts and give their workers time to volunteer at their kid’ s school. Others offer childcare facilities at their business.
Contact AWB’ s Amy Anderson at 360.943.1600 to learn more or get involved.
10 association of washington business