NCCET Webinar - Ill Prepared Workforce Presentation

1. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training

2. A joint study by ASTD, The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and SHRM

3. The Study Data collected in 2008 217 employers Examine corporate practices on training newly hired graduates 3 educational levels High School Two-year College Four-year College The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

4. Definitions used in survey Workforce Readiness Training Includes skills employers believe necessary to function effectively in workplace and that new entrants should have when hired. Sometimes referred to as “remedial training.” The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

5. Definitions used in survey Job-Specific Training: Prepares employees to perform a specific function in an organization Career Development Training: Supports employees’ career advancement or promotional opportunities The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

6. The Problems: New hires lack basic workforce readiness skills Companies try to close the gap but do not achieve satisfactory results The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

7. Almost half of employers provide workforce readiness training programs Programs are only “moderately” or “somewhat” successful at best Employers do not track expenses of these programs The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

8. Programs offered do not meet company needs Leadership, teamwork, and IT training programs in place Applied and basic skills are lacking Basics: reading, writing, arithmetic Applied: critical thinking, problem solving The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

9. Respondents report uneven success in workforce readiness programs: from deficiency to adequacy Not at all: 3.6% Somewhat: 30.9% Moderately: 23.6% Successful: 40.0% Very Successful: 1.8% The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

10. Respondents report uneven success in workforce readiness programs: from adequacy to excellence Not at all: 3.5% Somewhat: 24.6% Moderately: 35.1% Successful: 19.3% Very Successful: 17.5% The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

11. Gap between Need and Provision Training programs offered don’t meet employer’s greatest needs: 91.7% report “high need” for Critical Thinking/Problem Solving skills 55.9% report “high need” for basic skill of writing in English The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

12. Five Applied Skill areas receiving “high need” rating by more than 40% of respondents Creativity/Innovation Ethics/Social Responsibility Professional/Work Ethic Lifelong Learning/Self-Direction Critical Thinking/Problem Solving The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

13. Smaller gaps exist in IT Application, Leadership, and Teamwork/Collaboration 25% or less of a gap between need and provision Smaller gaps also in Oral and Written Communications, Diversity The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

14. Workforce readiness gaps most pronounced in applied skills Two major exceptions: Reading Comprehension Writing in English The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

15. What is the cost of an ill-prepared workforce? It’s hard to tell. Companies don’t separate workforce readiness training from new entrant training It’s done on an as-needed, ad hoc basis Often viewed as career development Blended with other types of training The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

16. For those who offer workforce readiness training and do track expenditures: 19.1% of learning budget goes to workforce readiness training 61.3 % goes to job-specific training 19.7 % goes to career development The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

17. For those who don’t offer workforce readiness training and do track expenditures: 66% goes to job-specific training 34% goes to career development The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

18. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce Potential path for workforce readiness: Informal Learning and Social Media Most companies who offer readiness training use informal learning and Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate training

19. Potential path for workforce readiness: Informal Learning and Social Media Use company intranet: 70.8 % Email: 63.1% Mentoring: 60.0% Coaching: 55.4% Open Agenda 53.8% The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

20. Potential path for workforce readiness: Informal Learning and Social Media Self Learning Modules 47.7% Communities of Practice 21.5% Online Groups 18.5% Wikis 16.9% Podcasts 15.4% Social Networks 10.8% The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

21. Potential path for workforce readiness: Informal Learning and Social Media Spontaneity and Effectiveness are top reasons for using informal learning activities Occur naturally 64.6% Cost effectiveness 63.1% Customization 47.7% Less Time 43.1% Quick Results 40.0% The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

22. Success Stories and Best Practices CVS Caremark/TJX Companies, Inc. Northrop Grumman’s Apprentice School Yum! Brands Harper Industries The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

23. Some companies do not hire and train unprepared new entrants. American Express has created a very specific, detailed hiring profile to assure its entrants have the right skills. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

24. Closing the Gap: Schools that Work High Tech High Interest-Based Learning Source; Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—And What We Can Do About It, 2008. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

25. Improving Workforce Readiness: What Business Can Do Education + philanthropy, but philanthropic dollars rarely tied to workforce readiness initiatives. Business community not speaking in clear, unified voice about what is needed for educational investment The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

26. Improving Workforce Readiness: What Business Can Do Be clear about what workforce readiness requires Track cost and quality of various training programs Offer direct training or funding with corp. philanthropic monies K-12 technical schools colleges The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

27. Improving Workforce Readiness: What Business Can Do Coordinate initiatives between HR, community relations, and corp. philanthropy depts. Make full use of publicly funded sources Leverage community relations and training investments Public policy focus The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

28. Improving Workforce Readiness: What Business Can Do Make the business case for workforce readiness programs by going beyond improving specific skills. Illustrate the impact on bottom-line results. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

29. Questions? The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

30. The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training