Workforce development in the era of Covid

Training people for tomorrow's jobs has gotten a lot harder.

For years, everyone from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to those tasked with developing workforce training programs have warned of what they called a "gap" between available jobs and people with the training to fill them.

The pandemic changed all that.

Now the challenge is how to find and train workers in a virtual world, and to look into the crystal ball to figure out how the pandemic has changed what jobs and skill sets will be most in demand in the future.

The Pittsburgh Business Times is hosting a virtual event, "Workforce Development in the era of Covid," at 10 a.m. on Dec. 17 to explore what's being done to address these challenges. Five leaders in workforce development will share their vision.

To hear more from them about what they're doing, what obstacles they face, and strategies to hire and train during a global pandemic, go to bizj.us/1q7hw4 to register for this free virtual event.

The keynote speaker for the event is Andy Van Kleunen, CEO of National Skills Coalition. Kleunen founded the National Skills Coalition in 2000 in collaboration with leaders from the workforce development and philanthropic communities. The coalition is a nationally recognized voice on behalf of a variety of stakeholders, including business leaders, labor leaders, community colleges, community-based organizations and leaders from the public workforce system. Prior to founding the coalition, Van Kleunen was director of workforce policy for the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute. He also spent more than a decade in community organizing and development efforts within several of New York City’s low-income and working-class neighborhoods.

Event panelists include Earl Buford, CEO, Partner4Work; Jim Fields, COO, Pitt Ohio; Daniel Fitzpatrick, president, Citizens Bank Mid-Atlantic Region; and Alicia Harvey-Smith, president and CEO, Pittsburgh Technical College. Here's what they had to say when asked about how they are adapting their workforce needs amid the pandemic.

Earl Buford, CEO, Partner4Work

What’s the biggest challenge to developing a workforce that will meet the needs of the future?

The challenge is two-fold: Helping businesses, particularly small Black-owned businesses, survive and ultimately thrive post-Covid while simultaneously helping individuals return or advance on a career pathway in this “new normal” is a challenge facing Partner4Work and like organizations across the country. We know, now more than ever, that we need to do more and do better to help small Black-owned businesses compete and grow. This is not only good for the economy, it is beneficial to creating wealth and providing job opportunities to marginalized communities. Similarly, we know that women, particularly single mothers, are disproportionately leaving and disconnecting from the workforce amid the pandemic. Overcoming the barriers presented in the “new normal,” while continuing to conquer existing barriers such as transportation, access, poverty cliffs, etc., adds additional opportunities for innovation to develop a strong, thriving workforce for the region.

How can local companies assist your organization’s efforts to meet workforce demands?

Simple: Get involved. Come to the table and work with Partner4Work to develop and deploy the solutions needed to solve your talent challenges. Through our industry partnerships, Partner4Work continues to understand hurdles and deploy signature solutions such as BankWork$ and the Early Childhood Education Partnership. We work strategically to develop strong pipelines and path individuals into guaranteed apprenticeships in the building trades. We’re working with health care leaders to deliver signature solutions to source front line workers as well as tangential staff.

How has the pandemic changed your approach to workforce development?

The pandemic forced Partner4Work to rethink, pivot and bring innovation to our business model. From delivering virtual reemployment services through the PA CareerLink Allegheny County system to delivering a hybrid Learn & Earn summer youth employment program model, Partner4Work adjusted during the pandemic. … As we think about retraining, reskilling or leveraging transferable skills, we know that business-as-usual models cannot apply for the foreseeable future.

Jim Fields, COO, Pitt Ohio

What’s the biggest problem your company faces finding qualified employees?

One of our biggest challenges in finding the most qualified employees are common misunderstandings about our industry. The second is the competition. When the demand for drivers far overshadows the supply of good, safe drivers, there is a great deal of competition for the best people. We also face stiff competition for IT professionals, HR and sales professionals, too. Many of those skills in those departments are transferable across vertical industries.

What is Pitt Ohio doing to address these worker shortages in our area?

The shortage does not exist just in the Allegheny County area. This is a nationwide problem that exists for all companies in our industry. The problem is that there are more people exiting our industry than coming into it. On top of that entire scenario, those who are in our industry or may want to enter into it are facing the reality of autonomous vehicles in the future, or at least driver-assisted autonomous vehicles.

How are you working to train people for jobs of tomorrow? We have a wide band of skill sets that we will need to train and recruit for in our future employees. One skill set we will need in our employees is the ability to manage, analyze and interpret data. Some of that involves training and education of our employees after we hire them, and some involves finding employees who have that skill set already from a college or university, or previous work experience. AI is not the future — it is here and now.

Has your approach to workforce training changed as a result of the pandemic?

We have definitely changed our approach to training this year with the pandemic. We just completed our executive training with Robert Morris University, where 75% of our training in that program was completed virtually. Immediately after our first session of four, the Covid virus hit the country. Robert Morris (teachers) were real pros at taking our training virtual, and we didn’t lose a step at all. They were flexible and prepared and really did an incredible job.

Daniel Fitzpatrick, president, Citizens Bank Mid-Atlantic Region

How are you working with other corporate leaders to address the need to train people for jobs of tomorrow?

Our TalentUp approach not only looks to train colleagues to join Citizens, it seeks out partnerships to promote financial acumen and workforce development in communities such as Pittsburgh where Citizens colleagues live and work. … We have manufacturing clients who tell us all the time that they could easily ramp up to a third shift to meet consumer demand, but they lack the workforce to be able to expand. These are generally good-paying, family-sustaining jobs with health benefits, 401(k) plans and pathways for career growth. We try to use the knowledge we have gained from working with clients of all types, along with our vast network resources in the public and private sectors, to serve as a convener and a connector to find solutions.

Has your approach to workforce training changed as a result of the pandemic?

Citizens’ digital transformation was already well underway when the pandemic hit, and we have continued to take advantage of the latest technology to improve our customers’ experience. The pandemic clearly accelerated the digital shift in our economy, and many of those changes in customer behavior are likely to remain in place. At Citizens, we have shifted to an agile workforce that has risen to the challenge of the pandemic, and we are focused on ways that we can continue to innovate at this speed on behalf of our customers after the pandemic.

What do you think is the biggest challenge the region faces in workforce training?

There is often a gap between education and the workplace that needs to be bridged. There are many successful career paths, and not all of them involve a college degree. There have always been barriers to connecting underemployed/unemployed populations to companies in need of workers, such as inadequate skills training, lack of access to reliable transportation and the need for subsidized child care. However, career awareness, or lack of it, may be the most imposing obstacle to connecting a person with a job. Simply put, people don’t know what they don’t know. … Raising people’s awareness of career options, particularly at an early age, expands their universe of choices and likely their rates of success.

Alicia Harvey-Smith, president and CEO, Pittsburgh Technical College

How is your school working to develop the workforce needs of the region?

People are hungry for opportunities and solutions that begin with education. Our immersive curriculum is developed in partnership with employers, so it’s as relevant and real as it gets. It’s also the kind of education that aims to rebuild the Commonwealth by preparing students for middle-skills careers, combining academic excellence with internship or clinical experience before students graduate.

Has has the pandemic changed your approach or your perspective on workforce development?

We’re able to understand an employer’s future needs through our partnerships with employers of all sizes that help to shape our curricula and ensure our academic programs are driven by project-based, hands-on experiential learning with state-of-the-industry technology that mirrors workplace scenarios. Now, more than ever, the jobs of the future require experiential learning. Most programs are now hybrid, providing students with online and on-ground classes when face-to-face instruction is essential for applied, hands-on learning. Fully online program options are also available.

What do you think is the biggest challenge to developing a workforce for the region’s future needs?

We don’t know what long-term effects Covid-19 will have on workforce issues of supply and demand. What we do know is that the needs of employers will be different. We can anticipate that unemployment rates will remain high for some time, different ways of working will emerge, and a differently trained workforce will be required. Covid-19 has created the opportunity for us to think differently about college education. Today’s colleges must collaborate with workforce leaders to understand what they anticipate lies ahead. Armed with the knowledge we can gain from employers, we can create programs and training that will equip our graduates with the skills for the workforce demands of the future; we can reimagine and create innovative partnerships; and we can launch innovative curricula post-Covid-19. This points to preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow, not just of today. That is why our various advisory boards across the region provide us with the unique insight required to shape a curricula that meets upcoming workforce demands.