1. ENGAGING EMPLOYERS FOR WORK-BASED LEARNING
Pathways to Prosperity Workshop August 27, 2015 Randall Wilson, PhD, Senior Research Manager, JFF

2. Take inventory: where do you stand in engaging employers?
DISCUSSION GOALS
Take inventory: where do you stand in engaging employers?
Define employer engagement
Present a continuum of roles and methods for engaging employers
Offer good practice models for each stage of engagement
Suggest lessons for effective employer engagement

3. What employers have you successfully engaged for P2P?
TAKING INVENTORY
What employers have you successfully engaged for P2P?
How did you connect with them? (How will you connect?)
What have they committed to doing for your project?
How do you explain the value of work-based learning to employers? (What’s in it for them?)
What challenges have you encountered in engaging employers?
EXERCISE: Take 5 minutes and develop a 1-2 sentence “value statement” explaining the benefit of P2P participation to a prospective employer.

4. WHAT IS EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT?
“Employer engagement is the interaction between employers and educational, training and workforce development organizations that results in measurable improvement in desired outcomes for both parties.”
(JFF Strategic Plan, Employer Engagement Framework)

5. WHY ENGAGE EMPLOYERS?
To address the mismatch between supply--youth and adult skills and educational preparation; and demand—workforce needs of employers
To align education and training initiatives with employer needs and expectations
To build partnerships for developing a quality workforce while meeting the needs of youth and adults for quality employment and career advancement

6. WHO ENGAGES EMPLOYERS? K-12/District Community College Intermediary
Workforce Development Provider (CBO)
EMPLOYERS
K-12/District
Community College
Intermediary
Workforce Development Provider (CBO)
EMPLOYERS

7. USING “A RESOURCE GUIDE TO ENGAGING EMPLOYERS”

8. A RESOURCE GUIDE TO ENGAGING EMPLOYERS
Guide developed for Accelerating Opportunity states and colleges
Usable by broader workforce and education field
Responds to low level of employer engagement
Few partners
Little engagement beyond “advisory committees”
Low awareness of employer engagement approaches
Synthesizes best of recent literature and practice

9. Effective Employer Engagement is –
KEY PRINCIPLES
Effective Employer Engagement is –
Continuous vs. episodic or “one-off” (more than advisory)
Strategic vs. transactional (high-impact partnerships)
Mutually Valuable – creating value for employers as well as customers
Wide-Ranging – going beyond “usual suspects”
Comprehensive – engaging in a variety of roles and activities
Intensive – engaging employers in depth on skills, program needs
Empowering – employers assume leadership roles, from the start
Varied – using many channels, including employer associations

11. Consulting employers for hiring, skill, and curricular advice
LEVEL 1: ADVISING
Consulting employers for hiring, skill, and curricular advice
Most common form of engagement
May be one-on-one or in group format
Convening employers prompts interaction, builds further relationships
Complements other forms of labor market data
Lessons:
Use a variety of methods, including one-on-one interviews, focus groups, surveys, and presentations
Allow time in joint employer meetings for non-workforce topics

12. LEVEL 2: BUILDING EDUCATIONAL CAPACITY
Involving employers in classroom visits, instruction, teacher training
Advise on, loan, or donate technology
Sponsor and mentor interns; assess project-based learning
Provide on-site classrooms at the worksite
Accommodate employee-learners
Lessons:
Develop varied work-based learning opportunities with employers (from job shadows and OJT to apprenticeships)
Promote systems change in both education and the workforce (credit for experiential learning; supervisors as mentors and teachers)

13. LEVEL 3: CO-DESIGNING CURRICULA AND PATHWAYS
Educators engage employers in aligning curricula and competencies with labor market needs
Employers offer real time advice, help set program standards
Supports contexualization of curricula
Presumes a strong or growing relationship, fosters mutual trust
Lessons:
Request authentic workplace materials, scenarios, and examples from employers to assist in contextualizing the instruction.
Ask employers to identify the credentials they value for occupations in the chosen pathway(s).

14. LEVEL 4: CONVENING WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIPS
Convening employers, business associations, schools, workforce providers on a regional scale
Identifying labor market gaps, promoting systems changes across providers
Leveraging public and private funding
Coordinating pathway and program development
Lessons:
Ensure that employer representation is as wide as possible across a sector or industry
Identify a host organization to serve as a neutral broker

15. LEVEL 5: LEADING AND SUSTAINING PARTNERSHIPS
Multi-employer, multi-college partnerships
Employers assume leadership and drive the partnership
Facilitates employer adoption of systems changes and investment in less-skilled workers, non-traditional candidates
Lessons:
Where feasible, establish formal structures and memoranda of agreement to govern partnerships and establish accountability.
Support and sustain employer partnerships with a “backbone” or intermediary organization to support collaboration with higher education and service providers.

16. FURTHER LESSONS FOR ENGAGING EMPLOYERS
Know your employers: industry, growth trends, affiliations
Cast a wide net: reach out to multiple levels in the organization
Speak “business:” translate education or workforce terms
Milk the cows every day: maintain and sustain relationships
Bring value to the table: relevant curricula, programs of study
Build on business networks: “champions” recruit new employers
Make employer participation user-friendly: clear, coordinated
Pursue systems change: move beyond program needs

17. QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION

18. RANDALL WILSON, PHD rwilson@jff.org
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