Serving Workforce Investment Boards

1. Serving Workforce Investment Boards The Oregon Employers’ Guide The Oregon Employer Survey

2. The Oregon Employers’ Guide A project by Oregon’s Workforce Analysts for Oregon Employers

3. Our project mission:To make Labor Market Information more:Accessible,Understandable, andRelevant, to Employers

4. They are 14 Labor Economists located throughout Oregon This project is being led by Oregon’s Workforce Analysts. They provide 1 on 1 help to anyone (especially Employers) who need to understand the labor market.

5. finding information requested by Employers, Putting Together Reports, Making Presentations, Reviewing Employers Recruitment & Retention Strategies Workforce Analysts activities include:

6. To more effectively distribute LMI, we asked ourselves, and our employers: “What would the elements of a ‘Perfect Visit to an Employer’ include?” Then we set out to create a tool which would allow us to efficiently deliver those elements everytime

7. Our Employer customers told us they want: • Access to good reliable information, when they need it • Help to improve their retention and recruitment strategies • Links to other employers who are struggling to solve similar labor issues • Something to help them understand and use Workforce data • A list of who they can call to get answers to future questions

8. To be ‘e-published’ in the form of a “Talking Business Card”, a CD cut to the size of a business card, which has video, sound and text on-board, but also links automatically to the web Introducing An Employer’s Competitive Edge! • An electronic reference manual to guide employers on all aspects of available work force information • This means the total content it makes available is unlimited via links to the world wide web • We will also release this as a traditional paper publication, for customers without internet access (just link listings)

9. Going back to our Elements of a Perfect Employer visit, we are including: An ‘Employer Toolbox’: a list of tools and links to partners, employer associations, and other important resources a ‘Labor Market Data Bank’: with links to data, including OLMIS - such as Demographics, Employment, CPI, Regional Profiles, etc. Articles, forms and tools: covering a wide range of workforce issues, like retention strategies, turnover calculators, exit interview samples, etc.. Frequently Asked Questions: including Answers and links to relevant information, tools and resources Contact list: Including e-mail links to Workforce Analysts, and how to reach other research section experts. A Glossary/matrix: with examples and testimonials on how LMI can be used to make better business decisions

10. The Oregon Employer Survey

11. Oregon Employer Survey • Designed to gauge employers’ attitudes about work force needs. • 7,996 private employers, 1,125 local government entities, and over 3,000 state managers in Oregon surveyed by mail during June 2000. • 3,364 private employers (42% of surveyed firms) and 619 local government agencies (55% of surveyed agencies) actually used in the analysis. • 95% confidence interval is +/- 2% statewide, no more than +/- 10% for WIB Regions.

12. Recent hiring was common • Two-thirds of private-sector employers tried to hire employees within the past 12 months -- that’s 57,400 businesses! • 94 percent of large businesses (10+ employees) tried to hire; 53% of small. • 91 percent of state government (69% of local) organizations tried to hire.

13. Difficulty in filling openings • More than one-third of employers reported difficulty filling at least one occupational type. • Management, sales, production, and professional openings were hardest to fill. • “Nature of the work” was the number one reason employers gave for difficulty in filling their hardest-to-fill occupation.

14. Impacts of difficulty include... • 46% of employers say that difficulty in hiring has had a negative impact on their business. • More than a third of respondents said difficulty in filling job openings has: • lowered productivity • increased the cost of recruitment • reduced product or service quality • lowered minimum qualifications for applicants • reduced output or sales.

15. Applicants less skilled • Employers are less satisfied with skills of applicants than of current workers. • Applicants lack work ethic, problem-solving skills, supervisory skills, and interpersonal communication skills. • Current employees lack Spanish and other foreign language skills.

16. Training is done by employees • Production and customer-service employees tend to get highest training priority. • Employee-delivered training is the most commonly used form. • Almost half of those providing no employee training feel skilled workers are readily hired.

17. Benefits similar across regions • Paid vacations and holidays are the most common benefits provided to employees. • Managers and “regular” employees generally get the same benefits. • Benefits are similar across regions and industries, except... • …restaurant industry offers unusual “meals for workers during shift.”

18. Employers raise wages • Raising wages is the most common way to attract and retain employees. 86% of private sector businesses have raised wages in the last 12 months. • All industries say raising wages is their most common recruitment tool. • Even local (88%) and state (66%) government managers are finding ways to raise wages.

19. Next Steps... • Finish statewide report; print and distribute. • Write regional reports. • Presentations to Oregon and Regional Workforce Investment Boards, and other state and national audiences.

20. For more information • Art Ayre … 503-947-1268 … Art.L.Ayre@state.or.us • Brad Angle … 503-947-1267 … Bradley.W.Angle@state.or.us • Graham Slater … 503-947-1212 … Graham.J.Slater@state.or.us