Successful Second Round Underway for Youth Outreach Workforce Partnership

The Youth Outreach Workforce Partnership program has begun its second year of providing the "soft skills" training identified as missing in today's workforce by a survey conducted by the Southwest Region Workforce Investment Board. These skills include: 1) getting a fob (application do's & don'ts, interview behavior & appearance), 2) customer service (greetings, thanking the customer, making change), and 3) keeping a job (good work habits, avoiding tardiness & absenteeism, conflict resolution, interacting with team members & supervisors, being a good employee).

Able Manufacturing & Assembly, LLC, Southwest Missouri Bank, JCPenney, Inc, and Rock-Tenn Ave, St. John's Regional Medical Center, Cardinal Scale, General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice and Vatterott College were all instrumental in the partnership with the Chamber, the Career Center, and the WIB.

The students in the program are given a tour of each facility followed by a seminar on one aspect of workforce skills that is particularly important to that company. Response from the students and businesses has been overwhelmingly positive. These businesses and several others have agreed to give a preferential interview to any applicant who successfully completes this program. All the applicant has to do is attach a copy of the Certificate of Achievement to their application. A copy of the certificate is available to view on the chamber website.

The Chamber encourages all of its member businesses to consider joining them in this Employer Interview Pledge and support these individuals in their attempts to become significantly qualified to join today's workforce. Susan Adams, Able Manufacturing & Assembly, LLC, is the Chair of our committee. This year's program runs through March, 2007. If you would like more information about this program or are interested in becoming a participating business, please contact Susan at 623.3060, or by email. Cary Beasley can be reached by phone at 624.4150 or by email.

Seed capital to launch the program in 2005 was provided by a grant from the Workforce Investment Board. The WIB is involved this year in helping organizing the program link to the Career Center. Financial support for the Chamber now comes through corporate sponsorships. The Presenting Sponsor is General Mills Bakeries and Foodservice. Gold sponsors include: Cardinal Scale, LaBarge, Inc. - Electronics Division, Vatterott College and EaglePicher Technologies, LLC.

Business Retention Project Featured in Joplin Globe

The Business section of the Joplin Globe featured an article on the WIB's Business Retention Project and its integration with the economic development strategy for the City of Carl Junction. The December 12 article highlights Carl Junction's focus on the needs of the existing business base and how city officials are collaborating with the WIB's project to provide deploy effective economic development strategy. The article appears in the Globe's print edition of page B1 and can be found online. For more on the Business Retention project, check out the WIB's website.

Career Center Assists Employees Affected by Layoffs at O'Sullivan Industries

The Rapid Response Team of staff from the WIB and the Joplin Career Center provided services to employees that were displaced in a layoff at O'Sullivan Industries. Thirty office-based employees were affected by the layoff at the Lamar manufacturing facility.

In a December 9 press release, O'Sullivan officials noted that the company is continuing the effort of examining its operating model and making lasting changes to result in a more productive, efficient, and effective organization. This focus has resulted in an office and salaried headcount reduction in both Lamar, MO and Roswell, GA.

"This is not about cutting isolated expense items. Rather, we're working to reset and lower our cost base to prepare the company for a period of sustainable growth, beginning in 2007”, explained Gary Ramey, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales.

The affected employees were notified of the layoff on December 4th. Staff from the Career Center's Rapid Response, Dislocated Worker, and Trade Act programs were in Lamar the following day to provide information and orientation to the services available.

In addition to engaging services from the local Career Center, O’Sullivan contracted with outplacement firm, CMResources. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, the firm provides career counseling, resume’ services, and networking assistance.

The plant in Lamar will be phasing out a third shift pack line. All those employees, however, have been reassigned in the plant.

Gov. Blunt Announces Enhanced Enterprise Zone Status for City of Carthage/Jasper County

Gov. Matt Blunt announced this week that the Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved Enhanced Enterprise Zone status for the city of Carthage and part of Jasper County.

The Enhanced Enterprise Zone program will help development efforts and create jobs by providing state and local benefits to companies that expand or locate in the zone.

“I applaud the leaders in Carthage and Jasper County for working together to make this program available to attract investment and create jobs,” Blunt said. “The Enhanced Enterprise Zone program will help further support the city and county’s economic development efforts and give them a competitive edge in attracting new business opportunities.”

The new zone’s boundaries will include areas that have higher levels of distress, due to recent job migration, and less investment in residential and commercial property. The seven member board will utilize the program to broaden economic development opportunities throughout the city and parts of the county.

The new enhanced enterprise zone will have a 25-year lifespan. Eligible businesses that locate in the new zone can receive state tax credits based on job creation and investment for up to 10 years. The tax credits must be used in the tax year issued or the business has the option of selling the tax credits or receiving a refund for the unused balance.

For information on the program, contact the Economic Development office in the Carthage Chamber of Commerce. They can be reached at (417) 358-2373.

Hiring Managers Reveal This Year’s Most Bizarre Reasons Employees Gave for Missing Work

Are employees getting away with playing hooky from the office? According to CareerBuilder.com’s annual survey on absenteeism, 32 percent of workers said they called in sick when they felt well at least once in the last year. One-in-ten admitted to doing so three times or more. And while some employers said they typically don’t question excuses given, others were more skeptical. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers reported they have fired a worker for calling in sick without a legitimate reason. The survey, “Out of the Office,” was completed in September 2006 and included 1,650 workers and 1,150 hiring managers nationwide.

The most popular motivator for missing work was the need to relax, according to nearly half (48 percent) of workers. Twenty-four percent of workers pointed to the desire to catch up on sleep while 20 percent cited personal errands. Other top reasons included doctor’s appointments (17 percent), plans with family and friends (16 percent) and housework (16 percent).

One-in-four workers said they consider their sick days to be equivalent to vacation days and treat them as such.

Comparing genders, women were more likely to take a sick day when they weren’t feeling under the weather. Thirty-seven percent of women called in sick with bogus explanations compared to 26 percent of men. On the employer side, men were more likely to terminate an employee for an unexcused sick day. Thirty-five percent of men have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse compared to 15 percent of women.

"Although an improvement from last year, the amount of unexcused absences from the office is significant and can be indicative of employee dissatisfaction," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. "Forty-five percent of hiring managers have caught an employee calling in sick with a fake excuse. This begs two questions: Do you have the right employees working for your organization and do you have the right employee management practices in place for your staff?"

Workers who are chronic offenders may be running out of ideas. Forty-one percent of hiring managers said they have received unusual or suspicious sick day alibis. Sixty-two percent did not believe them. When asked to share the most unusual excuses employees gave for missing work, hiring managers offered the following examples:

1) Employee was poisoned by his mother-in-law.
2) A buffalo escaped from the game reserve and kept charging the employee every time she tried to go to her car from her house.
3) Employee was feeling all the symptoms of his expecting wife.
4) Employee called from his cell phone, said he was accidentally locked in a restroom stall and no one was around to let him out.
5) Employee broke his leg snowboarding off his roof while drunk.
6) Employee’s wife said he couldn’t come into work because he had a lot of chores to do around the house.
7) One of the walls in the employee’s home fell off the night before.
8) Employee’s mother was in jail.
9) A skunk got into the employee’s house and sprayed all of his uniforms.
10) Employee had bad hiccups.
11) Employee blew his nose so hard, his back went out.
12) Employee’s horses got loose and were running down the highway.
13) Employee was hit by a bus while walking.
14) Employee’s dog swallowed her bus pass.
15) Employee was sad.

This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive® on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 1,650 workers and 1,150 hiring managers, ages 18 and over, within the United States between August 31 and September 5, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, household income and number of employees were weighted where necessary to the ‘Employee’ segment in order to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. The ‘Employer’ segment was weighted by number of employees to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Both segments were weighted using propriety algorithms in order to align the online population to be more representative demographically and behaviorally of the total population of online and offline workers.

Save the Date! Workforce Summit set for January 31st

The future of Southwest Missouri’s economic prosperity is in its workforce. The region’s annual conference on improvement of the workforce for local businesses and communities is planned for January 31, 2007 in Joplin. Titled, “The Workforce Summit of Southwest Missouri,” the half-day conference will debut new research and workforce improvement solutions for business executives and community leaders. The theme for this year’s event centers around “Workforce Innovation as a Competitive Asset." More details will be released in early December here on the blog and at the WIB's website.

WIB Adopts Best Practices for Performance Impact

One of the key themes identified in the WIB Benchmarking Project is nature of high-performing WIBs to focus at a higher strategic level. One of many tools to help manage this organizaitonal priority at model Workforce Boards is the use of Consent Agenda to optimize the meeting process.

Accountability is one of the key strategic values of the Southwest Missouri WIB. As such, fudiciary and program responsibility will always remain on the WIB’s radar screen. The use of the Consent Agenda tool helps the WIB meet this responsibility efficiently while keeping the focus on strategic importance related to economic and workforce development for the region.

At its October 25th meeting, the WIB formally adopted a rule of order to utilize the Consent Agenda process at future meetings. In short, Consent Agenda consolidates routine, operational issues into one brief action at each Board meeting. The Executive Committee populates the consent agenda each month and all items are sent well in advance for members to review ahead of the meeting. If all is in order, the items advance as one approval. However, if members feel an item needs further discussion, items may be pulled individually and placed on the regular agenda while allowing other items to pass normally.

In addition to consent agenda, other measures were approved at the October WIB meeting to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The WIB re-organized its committee structure, eliminating basically all standing committees with the exception of the Executive Committee and the Youth Council. The Executive Committee will oversee the consent agenda as well as routine operational matters of personnel and finance as needed. The Youth Council was combined with the Youth Outreach Workforce Partnership of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this year as a joint effort to advance strategic issues of the emerging youth workforce.

The new structure emphasizes “workgroups” to carry-out strategic initiatives on an as-needed, project-driven basis. Unlike standing committees alone, the workgroups have a set start and end date with specific tasks and specific performance mandates accountable to the Board. As a result, full Board meetings will now be held every other month as opposed to monthly with meetings that focus on strategy, performance, and other big-picture issues.

Board members and staff alike are excited about the new structure and the realm of opportunities that lay ahead for the organization to make even greater impacts on economic development and prosperity for Southwest Missouri. Visit our website for more information on the WIB’s organizational chartering efforts