Manufacturers: "We have people, but where are the workers?"

On Thursday, June 16, 2011 the BCEDC, along with Hawkeye Community College, hosted the Buchanan County Area Manufacturers Forum at Bill’s Pizza in Independence.  I want to personally thank the people from Hawkeye Community College, Geater Manufacturing, Wapsie Creamery, IEP, L&M Radiator and Denton Castings for attending the first of what hopes to be an ongoing session with our local manufacturing community.

At the forum representatives of Hawkeye were able to provide information on job training programs available through their organization, while also taking feedback from those in attendance on how Hawkeye can help with one of their biggest challenges.  That challenge is finding “workers”.

With the local unemployment rate at 6.3% (Iowa: 6%, US: 9.1%) it’s hard to think that our manufacturers are having trouble finding people to work since they ARE hiring.  They are getting people to apply, but they can’t get “workers” for the jobs they need to fill.  We are not talking about highly skilled nor highly paid jobs, many start at $10 to $11 per hour (about $21,500 per year) plus benefits. We are talking about labor positions that don’t necessarily need training beyond a high school degree.

“Workers” are those people that are willing to work in a job that will give them a decent wage for a decent days work. However, the reality is that many of the people that apply these jobs would rather not “work”.  Some of the issues these companies face after hiring is the passing of an initial drug test, employees not showing up for scheduled shifts, workers that show model employment until they qualify for unemployment benefits and the demand from employees to decide work schedules and wage rates.  This is frustrating for our employers in all industries, and is honestly very concerning when thinking that we are relying on this type of workforce to help bring the US economy to prosperity.  There are some diamonds in the rough that will put the time in to earn a day’s wage, but as a human resource officer said last week, they will hire and fire eight to ten people for the same position before they find that one person that turns out to be a quality worker.  That is hard to believe, but it’s true.

What is the solution?  That is probably worth $1 billion.  The solution is the same as the cause.  The mindset of today’s current workforce is mostly developed from these influences: family, friends, community, government, education and the media.  But positive or negative influence can only take place if a person’s attitude accepts it.  Recently a local employer told me that when he hires he looks more at responsibility than accountability. To explain, If you are responsible it helps the person make better decisions on the job.  Accountability is good, but it is usually set externally and is not a genuine gauge of true personality.

Obviously workforce is an issue in many areas of the country, but now is the chance to be different in our area.  The BCEDC cannot, and will not, be the entity that can solve this problem for our employers.  But the Buchanan County Economic Development Commission can work with key organizations to begin to identify ways of improving a challenge that businesses have been dealing with in our existing economy.