ASK THE EXPERT
By Mark M. Sweeney, Sr. Principal, McCallum Sweeney Consulting
Evaluating Workforce Training Incentives
A skilled workforce is a prerequisite for many of today’s projects. Here’s a handy guide that
will help you sort out the bevy of training programs that now are being offered.
Q
Our company is evaluating incentive proposals
for a new facility location. Most offer training
incentive support, but we are not
sure we understand how these work,
or even if they work at all. How do
we best assess these training incentive offers?
The Expert Says: Workforce training programs are now available in
almost every state, although the nature
of the programs, including funding
sources, as well as their training experience and their ability to deliver in a
timely manner, vary widely.
Here are four major points to
make sure you understand when you
are evaluating the proposal and then
proceeding with any additional
negotiations.
1. Be prepared. Ideally, you should
have a good idea of the number of
employees and job titles/functions as
well as some idea of the desired skill
requirements for the positions – both
for initial hire and on-going skills
development. Similarly, you should
have a hiring schedule showing how
people in which positions will be
expected to be hired by certain dates.
This will go a long way toward moving
the training incentive offer to a more
definitive state. It will also enable you
to better understand your expected
training cost and how to evaluate the
impact of the training offer.
2. State sources of funds for your
training incentive. (You can benefit
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from both federal and state programs;
they are not mutually exclusive.)
State funded programs generally have
more flexibility in whom you qualifying for the training programs; e.g.,
there are rarely “targeted population”
limitations, and in general far less
“red tape”. They are often “preemployment” programs, meaning the
training is done prior to you employ-
Mark Sweeney, Sr. Principal,
McCallum Sweeney Consulting
ing the person. This is designed to
provide you with a basically trained
workforce upon opening your facility.
They are generally well managed and
easy to work with, and can be available for future employment expansions as well. In many states, these
state training programs are offered at
no cost to the company.
3. Components of the training
offer. In full service programs, the
services provided include recruitment, screening, and training.
Recruitment involves the state
labor/employment office providing
job descriptions, job postings, application process, and even available
space for interviews. Screening services include basic application assessment to selected testing (manual,
written, etc.); interviews are typically
the responsibility of the hiring company. Training can include everything from training program design,
materials development (including
custom videotaping of existing
processes), space for training, and
instructors (they can usually “hire”
your employees as trainers). For certain projects, many states will pay (at
state per diem rates) for travel of
select trainees to existing locations
for more intense training, with the
objective that they will return and
become some of the trainers at the
new facility (“train the trainer”).
4. Capturing the value of the
incentive. Training benefits are
offered as a combination of cost
avoidance services and expense reimbursement. Cost avoidance is where
the training organization provides
services on your behalf (example,
recruitment and screening services
are typically offered as cost avoidance). Reimbursement elements,
where the state program reimburses
you for eligible training expenses
that you undertake yourself, may
also be available in some states. The
mix of cost avoidance and reimbursement varies widely from state
to state, so it is important to understand this detail.