2. Executive Summary
This report details the discussions at those three forums, as industry professionals provided
unique insight into what makes their business successful and what challenges they face in
assembling a 21st century workforce to ensure their competitiveness and prosperity. The
findings from these forums provide a road map for the business community and the broader
workforce development community to ensure that the talent pool in the nation's capital is not
only of the highest quality, but also meets the immediate and future demands of its ever-
changing job market.
Recommendations to advance the sector initiatives in the District of Columbia
1) Partnerships: In order to maximize workforce development efforts, the quantity and
meaningful utilization of public-private partnerships must be increased because they
help to address the challenges that DC residents face in accessing the workforce. In
order to affect change, the District must also integrate practices from successful
neighboring regions to improve the return on investment for its own collaborative efforts.
2) Policies: The region must develop and enact policies to increase and enhance
employment opportunities while simultaneously establishing and retaining an adaptable
workforce. The workforce must be prepared to meet the needs of an evolving economy,
which requires flexibility to accommodate the rapidly changing needs of current and
prospective employers.
3) Programs: Strategies for developing tomorrow’s workforce specifically indicate hands-
on programming to link future workers with the opportunities and demands of their
prospective workplaces. Employers must work closely with the nonprofit community and
educational institutions to train and place students in healthcare, hospitality and tourism,
and financial employment opportunities.
4) Populations: Certain sectors of the population can be viewed as untapped resources,
some of which are currently excluded from consideration for employment. Three
historically underutilized populations include: workers with disabilities, citizens on public
assistance, and ex-offenders. Including these populations in a targeted workforce
strategy should be a priority.
5) Performance: Stakeholders must be vigilant and honest about broad returns on
investment. By establishing performance standards and measures, and by monitoring
and evaluating results against goals, the region can demonstrate the effectiveness of
workforce development policies while simultaneously improving them.
In conclusion, the DC Chamber of Commerce’s vision for the 21st Century workforce in
Washington DC is for government, business, education and community-based organizations to
collaborate and achieve a common objective: a workforce that has the skills businesses need to
fill current and future job opportunities. Additionally, in this vision, nonprofits, school systems,
community colleges and other institutions of higher learning teach students skills employers
want and issue credentials employers recognize. Community-based organizations should
leverage their unique ability to remove barriers to employment and cultivate the skills needed to
join the workforce. The public workforce system needs to provide the necessary resources to
fund training and provide a mechanism to convene all relevant stakeholders on a regular basis.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 2
3. Introduction
Despite taking a backseat in the headlines to the economic struggles of the past few years, a
key component of the economic success of the District of Columbia remains effective workforce
development. As the economic bases of regions evolve, emerging industries require their
workers to have new knowledge, skills, and abilities. In turn, these workers need access to
timely education and training that will successfully prepare them for the high-growth career
opportunities of tomorrow.
When the DC Chamber of Commerce issued its state of business report on the DC economy
and infrastructure in 2010, it found a resilient local economy weathering an extended economic
downturn. Since that time, regional employment numbers have improved but numbers for the
District have not. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of May, 2011, the labor
force in Washington DC was 335,000 people strong with about 33,000 unemployed yielding an
unemployment rate of 9.8%. With a regional unemployment rate of 5.5%, unemployment in the
District is significantly higher than the rest of the region.
As a 501(c) (3) affiliate of the DC Chamber, the DC Chamber of Commerce Foundation's
mission is to provide education and information to increase the quality and quantity of leaders
available for tomorrow's businesses and to grow a stronger economy by strengthening viable
small and mid-sized enterprises throughout the District of Columbia. Translating this mission to
action in 2010, the Foundation identified three high-growth sectors in the District’s economy and
conducted a series of forums examining the state of talent development in each of those three
sectors: hospitality and tourism, healthcare, and banking and financial services.
Though government and professional and business services employ more than half of all
workers in the District, the three sectors that were the subjects of the forums contribute 122,000
jobs and are among the highest growth sectors in the economy: leisure and hospitality has
59,000 employees, healthcare services has 37,000 employees, and financial services has
26,000 employees. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, July, 2011)
This report details the discussions at those three forums, as industry professionals provided
unique insight into what makes their business successful and what challenges they face in
assembling a 21st century workforce to ensure their competitiveness and prosperity. The
findings from these forums provide a road map for the business community and the broader
workforce development community to ensure that the talent pool in the nation's capital is not
only of the highest quality, but also meets the immediate and future demands of its ever-
changing job market.
Each forum followed a similar template for discussion. After the moderator gave an overview of
the industry, a panel of industry professionals was asked to identify challenges and solutions in
the following seven areas:
Overall trends in the industry
Implications of these trends on employment opportunities
Impact of globalization and technology
Emerging employment opportunities that will grow
Misconceptions about working in the industry
Skills needed for today’s workforce
Industry strategies for developing tomorrow’s workforce
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 3
4. As each forum came to a close, panels and attendees were asked to offer recommendations
and consider next steps in order to address trends within their sector; strategies for attracting,
retaining, and developing qualified and motivated employees, and partnering to meet the
sector’s workforce needs. Finally, panelists were asked to offer their vision for growth over the
coming 18 months.
In summation, this report should be viewed as the beginning of a strategic visioning process.
The DC Chamber, Chamber Foundation, and industry partners will consider the best solutions
for the District of Columbia to provide and coordinate resources, programs, research efforts and
other activities in order to establish a world-class talent pipeline: a quality education system
working seamlessly with a citywide economic and workforce development system to provide the
employer community with top-notch, highly skilled workers.
Banking and Financial Services
On May 5, 2010, the DC Chamber of Commerce convened a forum at Holland & Knight LLP to
discuss the workforce trends and challenges in the Banking and Financial Services Sector. The
panel included Kate Carr, President, Cardinal Bank; Lyles Carr, III – Senior Vice President, The
McCormick Group, Inc.; Mike Harreld, Regional President, PNC Bank; and Bryant Ruiz Switzky,
Washington Business Journal (moderator).
The panelists noted a number of overarching sectoral trends, beginning with the trend toward
consolidation. This is happening within the sector as banks and financial service providers
merge. It is also happening across sub-sectors as products and services that were traditionally
offered by one financial services sub-sector are now being offered by related sub-sectors. To
compete in an increasingly consolidated arena, these businesses are marketing themselves by
selling the impact of their business values on the quality of life and their workplace culture.
Finally, panelists noted that banks and other financial services providers are expanding into
minority and underserved markets.
The panelists identified key employment trends, including the fact that the industry is required
by law to educate and ensure the necessary credentialing of its employees. They went on to
note that the hiring philosophy in the financial services sector is that the company can teach the
product but the employee has to have the soft skills that translate into sales. For this reason,
the sector looks to hire the top 25% of graduates who are culturally astute. Terminations are,
predictably, generally centered around an inability to get along with other staff and clients.
Given the nature of the skills employers are looking for, there is a tendency to promote staff from
within. Promoting from within also serves as a key retention strategy. Those who leave their
positions tend to do so due to a lack of recognition.
The impact of technology and globalization in the banking and financial services sector
cannot be overstated. Financial services businesses that are web-based are transforming both
the demands of customers and the business models of the service providers. In response to
this, financial services businesses are increasing web-based services to both improve customer
convenience and to target clients who are constantly mobile. A move toward technology-based
services has caused a growth in tech support jobs.
Globalization has resulted in the movement to off-shore jobs in IT, claims processing, finance
and accounts payable, and call centers. This has been facilitated by an increasing tendency to
segment business processes.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 4
5. The jobs that are growing in the sector were identified as direct customer service jobs: bank
tellers, investment advisors, retail banking and those who can sell the company’s financial
services to a broad base of clients needing complex transactions requiring brokers,
underwriters, and actuaries.
There are a number of common misconceptions about the banking and financial services
sector. Banking is not the same industry it was 25 years ago. It is no longer a “9 to 5”
operation. With the advent of web-based services, customers expect and get 24/7 service.
Often, the potential workforce is unaware of the excellent compensation and benefits that go
along with the pleasant work environment.
The panelists were clear about the skills and traits that are needed for today’s workforce in
the banking and financial services sector. Notably, they do not include the hard skills of knowing
the product (which employers can teach) but are instead soft skills:
Customer service; specifically having the ability to relate to and communicate with a
broad range of customers, from those who are very sophisticated to those who are not
well educated or financially astute
Being people oriented
The ability to maintain confidentiality
Beyond these skills, fluency in a foreign language is highly valued by employers in this sector.
Finally, the panelists noted that many of those recruited do not show up for their drug screening
or cannot pass the background check necessary for having them bonded.
The panelists concluded with their recommendation for developing the workforce of the
future, which is to create a partnership between the banking and financial services sector and
higher education. Community colleges can offer certificates in the sector-specific skills that will
allow employers to put graduates to work with less training. In developing any such program,
the sector will want to see the college training program emphasize the importance of relational
skills as key to success in the banking and financial services industry.
Healthcare
On July 15, 2010, the DC Chamber of Commerce convened a forum hosted by Holland & Knight
LLP to highlight the workforce challenges and trends in the healthcare industry. The panel
included: Stephen Burns, Sr. Vice President, Patient Care Services, Providence Hospital; Edith
Westfall, Deputy Director, Workforce Strategy Center, Community College of the District of
Columbia; Peter E. Lavine, MD, President, Medical Society of the District of Columbia; Robert A.
Malson, Esq., President, District of Columbia Hospital Association (moderator).
The panel highlighted four major trends in the healthcare industry: the increasing use of
technology, especially pertaining to filing health records electronically; the increasing push to
use community-based healthcare; the increasing need for a national level credentialing policy;
and the increasing level of staff diversity.
The panel explained that the types of employment and occupational growth opportunities in
the healthcare industry include many jobs below the nurse and physician level. Thus, there is an
increasing emphasis on more techs and nurse practitioners. All nursing positions and those
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 5
6. who work with people with disabilities will be expanding. For example, Providence Hospital was
one of 50 institutions across the country that received a 4.9 million dollar grant for workforce
development. They intend to use that grant to educate 500 workers over the next three years at
the certificate level. This is an example of how healthcare is able to move away from the
hospital to community-based settings.
In the healthcare industry, technology has had a significant impact on business processes,
client services, workforce need, and customer demands. Customers now expect the
healthcare industry to be completely wired. For example, many customers now want to
schedule appointments online. This has become problematic because the healthcare workforce
is still behind digitally. Thus there is an increasing need to train workers -- specifically the ones
who have not attended college -- on how to operate computers effectively. It is important to note
that although a portion of the younger population will want to take advantage of healthcare
digitalization, many patients are elderly, disabled, or come from limited means. Thus the
healthcare industry must be able to account for patients who have limited computer skills.
Some hospitals have been hesitant to make records electronic because they have not seen a
return on investment. The cost for trained staff and additional IT support to support electronic
records can significantly increase a hospital’s staff costs. In some cases technology transitions,
in addition to increasing costs, have proven to be ineffective. For example, the increasing trend
of iPad use in the hope of providing better input and responses for diagnostics has yet to
achieve its goals. Finally, the lack of uniformity in software programs implemented by various
hospitals for electronic records has created inefficiency. Thus, the economic benefits of
digitalization have yet to be realized.
The impact of globalization on the recruitment of new workers has resulted in an increasing
level of staff diversity. For example, the staff at Providence Hospital is made up of people from
over 38 different countries. It is important to note that different cultures have differing views on
medicine and healthcare, and bridging such gaps has proven to be challenging. Additionally
globalization has created an increasing problem of outsourcing, which can be detrimental to
regional-based workforce development.
Public understanding is plagued by misconceptions about working in the healthcare
industry, more specifically the changing roles of physicians, assistants, and techs. Assistants
and techs are now qualified to perform many of the tasks only a physician was previously
qualified to perform. Not understanding this, many patients still prefer to have their physician
provide many direct care tasks that assistants can provide. Thus, there is a need to inform the
public that high-quality care does not require their physician to be physically present during
every procedure. It is important to note that when developing healthcare policy reform, the
largest cost in the healthcare sector is labor.
The panel stated that the necessary skills needed in today's healthcare workforce include:
proper education for the position, technical skills, customer service skills, and knowledge of the
job responsibilities and limitations.
One of the most important strategies for developing tomorrow's workforce is maximizing the
potential of available talent. It is extremely important to educate available talent about possible
career opportunities. Additional potential sources of available talent are ex-offenders and people
on public assistance. According to figures recently produced by the DC Department of
Employment Services, there is a 25% unemployment rate in Ward 8. This figure includes many
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 6
7. ex-offenders that are excluded from some healthcare jobs by law. People on public assistance
often require positive reinforcement to enter these jobs because they are pessimistic about their
qualifications and their economic strains seem insurmountable to them. Finally career ladders
must provide a clear path to opportunities to attract entry level workers.
However there are concerns about the skills of people entering the healthcare workforce: Poor
soft skills, such as poor customer relation skills, can often be an issue. Occasionally the desire
for purely economic incentives overcomes the goal of wanting to help people which can
compromise the quality of care. Thus, it is important to note that with whatever strategy is being
deployed, the quality of care must not falter.
To develop a workforce, employers also need to collaborate more with educational institutions
utilizing tools such as training, to incorporate students into clinical rounds. Additionally, hospitals
must reverse the trend that limits the amount of available opportunities to non-traditional
students for clinical rounds.
The Healthcare Workforce Industry Forum prioritized the recommendation that there is a
strong need for tort reform to bring doctors and jobs back to the District. In DC, medical liability
is a huge issue because resident doctors cannot afford liability insurance. Thus, doctors are
leaving the city and taking their staffs with them. In some cases these relocations are completely
depleting parts of the District of vital types of health care professionals. For example, there are
currently no OB/GYNs in Ward 8. This migration is hindering the ability of DC’s health sector to
grow. One panelist noted that, to date, the DC government, which includes the Council and the
Executive office, has been reluctant to waver on this issue. Democrats control tort reform in this
city and getting it passed is extremely difficult. The panelist stated that the DC government
needs to understand that tort reform is not a partisan issue.
Hospitality and Tourism
On October 6, 2010, the DC Chamber of Commerce convened a forum at Holland & Knight LLP
to shed light on growing workforce challenges, trends, and prospects that face the hospitality
and tourism industry. The panel included: Paul Cohn, Senior Executive Officer & Co-Founder,
Capital Restaurant Concepts Ltd.; Amanda Hyndman, General Manager, Mandarin Oriental,
Washington, DC; George Brown, J.D., Director, Center for Workforce Strategies, Community
College of the District of Columbia; and Elliott Ferguson II, President & CEO, Destination DC
(moderator).
Hospitality and Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in DC. In 2010, it was
projected that the industry would stagnate; instead it has generated over $5 billion dollars in
revenue from visitors, making it the second biggest industry in DC for 2010. According to one
panelist, there are currently 285,000 people employed by the industry in the DC region, with
about 66,000 of those jobs located in the District itself.
The panel highlighted six major trends within the hospitality and tourism industry:
Customer Service has always been paramount for the hospitality and tourism industry,
because consumers appreciate recognition and personal attention.
Social Media grants real-time opportunities to respond to customers. This tool has been
growing exponentially due to the increasing level of technical literacy by consumers.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 7
8. Recently product diversification has gained a renewed importance due to the
transition in focus from business to leisure travelers. This transition is necessary to
accommodate the specific kind of customer service desired by leisure travelers.
Value perception has become a new focus due to the industry's realization that
customers have different ways of defining value. Different consumers define value
variously as: low price, quality of product for price paid, quantity of products for price
paid, or getting a particular experience they wanted independent of the products and
services offered. The challenge for the industry is to accommodate all these definitions
of value.
The changed perception of DC as a safe and vibrant city has yielded results opposite
to the low expectations for the hospitality industry for 2010. Georgetown is no longer the
epicenter of the restaurant business--other options include Adams Morgan, U Street, H
Street, etc. This, along with the plethora of museums and long list of activities available
in the city, has sparked a revitalized interest in visiting DC.
Concurrent to this change in perception, the increased number of rallies held by TV
personalities and issue advocates has contributed to increased visitor traffic. Although
these rallies have posed a challenge to hotels by increasing accommodation needs and
shortening response time, they have proved to generate a lot of business.
According to one panelist, employment/occupational growth opportunities in the Hospitality
and Tourism Industry are predicted to increase by at least 40,000 by 2016. More specifically,
front of the house guest service will grow significantly. One employer on the panel noted that
she does not anticipate that employers will significantly increase the number of employees for
emerging needs like social media and risk management.
The impact of globalization on the recruitment of new workers has resulted in increased
workforce diversity and mobility. The mobility of the hospitality industry workforce has become
an asset vital to the promotion of growth. The large variety of jobs and opportunities for upward
mobility within the hospitality and tourism industry helps to promote a stable workforce. For
example, if an international hotel chain has problem filling all the positions in one of its hotels
overseas, it can offer certain incentives to employees to switch locations.
The greatest impact that technology has had on the industry is through social media which
has allowed for increased feedback to business and increased access to more offers and
discounts for consumers. This allows the workforce to seek efficiencies through technology. It
has become so popular that the industry must now have someone constantly responding to
Tweets, Facebook posts, and various other social media tools. Additionally, websites are now
completely interactive. These technologies allow businesses to capture guest feedback, such as
customer likes and dislikes, and subsequently analyze the data. Thus it has become
increasingly important to promote technology education and analysis.
Despite the rapid increase in social media, there has not been any push back from guests about
the information that is being collected. All the feedback that the industry has received has been
overwhelmingly positive. Guests like to be, and appreciate the opportunity to be heard.
The three major misconceptions about working in the hospitality and tourism industry
relate to employee hours, wages, and job diversification. It is commonly believed that
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 8
9. employees work endless hours for extremely low wages and operate as bellhops, waiters, or
cleaners. On the contrary, there is a fair amount of upward mobility. Employees work an average
of 40 to50 hours a week, and there is a large variety of jobs, many of which are not apparent
because they operate behind the scenes (for example: technicians).
The most important skill needed for today’s hospitality and tourism workforce is good
customer service. The hospitality and tourism industry is analogous to theater. For instance, a
host or a doorman is the first impression guests have at an establishment, and first impressions
are often the most important. Employees must be knowledgeable, know how to up-sell, and
must be excited about the product. Thus to be successful in this industry, one must thrive on the
tempo and be extremely extroverted and driven.
The two major strategies for developing tomorrow’s workforce include attracting qualified
and motivated employees and developing and retaining employees.
The panelists acknowledged that to attract qualified and motivated employees, employers
must first provide incentives, such as desirable work atmospheres and conditions, opportunities
for upward mobility, and education and training opportunities.
Training and education are vital to developing and retaining employees within the hospitality
industry. For example, the Community College of the District of Columbia has begun an
innovative training program. It begins with a 10 week training program for about 100 individuals
that follow a national curriculum certified by hoteliers. The program provides training in back-of-
the-house duties, front-of-the-house duties, technology, and soft skills. After the training
program, there is a certification exam then a 12-week internship program that allows participants
to gain actual work experience. What is also unique about the program is that it allows non-
violent ex-offenders to participate.
Recommendations
The following action steps have been constructed by the DC Chamber, Chamber Foundation,
and its industry partners as a result of the industry-specific forums, and with the knowledge that
future forums could provide additional strategies:
Partnerships: In order to maximize workforce development efforts, the quantity and meaningful
utilization of public-private partnerships must be increased because they help to address the
challenges that DC residents face in accessing the workforce. In order to affect change, the
District must also integrate practices from successful neighboring regions to improve the return
on investment for its own collaborative efforts. Currently, the dialogue within the region between
stakeholders in the business, education, training, human and social services, economic
development, and government sectors is insufficient. Part of the solution should be the
Workforce Investment Council (WIC), a federally mandated entity charged with setting
workforce development policy and overseeing workforce development programs, over half the
members of which must come from the business community. The DC WIC functions as both a
state and local-level board.
In 2008, the DC Council passed legislation requiring the city to create a workforce intermediary
to meet hiring goals for the Southwest Waterfront initiative. The workforce intermediary concept
of establishing a workforce broker should be further developed to help connect residents to jobs
of the future with employers.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 9
10. Whether through the DC Chamber Foundation, the WIC, or another avenue, the business
community must be in communication with the region's major stakeholders in a results-focused
strategic workforce investment plan. Meaningful partnerships with the nonprofit sector and
higher education in which community based organizations and community colleges offer
targeted training and certificate programs can more effectively pave the pathway to college and
career.
Policies: The region must develop and enact policies to increase and enhance employment
opportunities while simultaneously establishing and retaining an adaptable workforce. The
workforce must be prepared to meet the needs of an evolving economy, which requires
flexibility to accommodate the rapidly changing needs of current and prospective employers.
The major roadblocks to substantial workforce development policy reform include: (a) the
continuing public discourse that characterizes workforce development as a First Source hiring
problem; (b) the severe education and social pathologies that affect the chronic unemployed
and underemployed; (c) the DC-centric nature of workforce development policy prescriptions;
and (d) the detrimental trend that DC workforce development advocates do not look at
employment possibilities beyond the confines of the District.
Programs: Strategies for developing tomorrow’s workforce specifically indicate hands-on
programming to link future workers with the opportunities and demands of their prospective
workplaces. Employers must work closely with the nonprofit community and educational
institutions to train and place students in healthcare, hospitality and tourism, and financial
employment opportunities. Virtual learning has the potential to be a valuable tool for training
such employees. Finally, workforce development strategies must focus on employment
incentives, rather than the current tendency of imposing penalties to failure to hire.
In order to create positive workforce development reform, workforce development initiatives
need to embody a more regional collaborative approach among policy decision makers within
the DC government. This is the case because employment and unemployment issues are not
centered in the District; they must be viewed as regional issues. The key is to expand access for
DC residents to regional employment opportunities.
Populations: Certain sectors of the population can be viewed as untapped resources, some of
which are currently excluded from consideration for employment. Three historically underutilized
populations include: workers with disabilities, citizens on public assistance, and ex-offenders.
Including these populations in a targeted workforce strategy should be a priority.
Moving forward, the District as part of the region will be experiencing new opportunities for long
term sustainable wage employment. Although many of those opportunities will be outside the
District’s borders, they are still very important opportunities to DC residents. For example, the
Greater Washington Board of Trade stated that it will increase its focus on development in the
greater Baltimore and northern Virginia area in the sea and rail transportation industry. Both of
these emphases will sponsor a trained workforce. These jobs will provide livable wages that are
sufficient enough to sustain a family. This highlights the important distinction between the
workforce compositions of the region compared to those of the District. While the District
predominantly utilizes a “knowledge” workforce, the region employs both “knowledge” and
“skilled” workforces. The District must find a way to access and take advantage of the skilled
workforce within the city, and to connect to regional opportunities.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 10
11. Performance: Stakeholders must be vigilant and honest about broad returns on investment. By
establishing performance standards and measures, and by monitoring and evaluating results
against goals, the region can demonstrate the effectiveness of workforce development policies
while simultaneously improving them.
The DC Chamber believes it can play a key role in future workforce development through the
following initiatives:
Facilitating partnerships and collaboration;
Uniting stakeholders to meet their common objectives;
Working to advance the interest of local employers, community-based organizations,
and governmental agencies that provide workforce development services;
Address regional needs. The Chamber believes it is uniquely positioned to carry out
such a task because it is not bound by jurisdictional lines, and can thus serve the
interest of business in the entire Washington DC area; and
Address the need to standardize credentials. Credentials do not serve their purpose if
they are not helpful to and recognized by businesses and employers. Thus, business
needs should drive the credentialing process. To facilitate this, businesses need to
speak with a common voice on the imperatives of credential requirements.
In conclusion, the DC Chamber of Commerce’s vision for the 21st Century workforce in
Washington DC is for government, business, education and community-based organizations to
collaborate and achieve a common objective: a workforce that has the skills businesses need to
fill current and future job opportunities. Additionally, in this vision, nonprofits, school systems,
community colleges and other institutions of higher learning teach students skills employers
want and issue credentials employers recognize. Community-based organizations should
leverage their unique ability to remove barriers to employment and cultivate the skills needed to
join the workforce. The public workforce system needs to provide the necessary resources to
fund training and provide a mechanism to convene all relevant stakeholders on a regular basis.
Supporting Sector Strategies in the District of Columbia 11
