Page 10 - BusinessWest January 23, 2023

EDITORIAL >>
The Region Needs a Growth Strategy
Business West
As he talked with BusinessWest recently about the prospects for the region in 2023 and beyond, Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Devel- opment Council, stressed the need for creation of a growth strat- egy for Western Mass.
And he’s right. A region that has become notorious, if that’s the right word, for its lack of growth over the past several decades needs a strategy for bringing more jobs, more businesses, and more vibrancy to the 413.
What goes into such a strategy? Many different things, but it starts with identifying areas where a region can grow and then putting specific strategies in place for making it happen. After all, growth doesn’t occur in a vacuum — it happens where there are opportunities, be it through developable land, location, a large and talented workforce, comparatively lower costs of doing busi- ness, an existing infrastructure and critical mass of businesses in specific sectors, a high quality of life, and ... did we mention a talented workforce?
These elements have led to profound growth in areas ranging from Silicon Valley to the Research Triangle in North Carolina; from Cambridge to countless towns in Mexico.
The region has several of these attributes, including quality of life, a comparatively lower cost of living (for now, anyway); some available land; a solid workforce trained for some specific sectors, especially manufacturing; a location that provides easy access
to Boston, New York, and other major cities; and emerging sec- tors such as cybersecurity, green energy, and even so-called water technology.
But is this region ready to grow? Can it accommodate more
OPINION >>
businesses and provide them with the workers they need?
That is a harder question to answer. On the surface, it would seem that, based on the fact that almost every business in every
sector, especially healthcare, is struggling to find good help, the answer is ‘no.’ But throughout history, regions have found that, if you create jobs, people will come to that area.
Moving forward, the region needs to take some steps to enable growth to happen. It needs to build its workforce by keeping more young people here and prompting more young people to come here. To do that, there must be jobs, as in good jobs, and places to live. Right now, the region doesn’t have enough of either, which is a problem.
But while creating jobs is important in this new age, the jobs don’t necessarily have to be in the 413. With the advent of remote work, the jobs can be in New York, Boston, or elsewhere, and people can live here.
Either way, this region will need more housing, specifically affordable housing. It will also need a larger and more skilled workforce, which means more training programs and better uti- lization of one of the region’s best and perhaps least-appreciated assets — its four community colleges.
Meanwhile — and we know you’ve heard this before — it needs to do a better job of telling its story and marketing itself to busi- nesses in other regions of this state and well beyond.
None of this is new, really. The region has known it needs to take these steps and others for years, if not decades now. What would help would be to formalize all this, put a plan together, and take steps to implement it.
Because growth doesn’t happen by accident. BW
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Six Workforce Trends to Watch
BY MISSIONSQUARE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
State and local governments, along with other public-service organizations, faced yet another challenging year. Recent research by MissionSquare Research Institute highlights key
strategies to become public-service employers of choice in 2023. 1. Communicate the full value of benefits. The wages adver-
tised for a position represent only a small portion of the full value of a job’s financial and other benefits. Public-service jobs often include more than traditional benefits like health insurance, pen- sions, and deferred compensation. Benefits also can include
paid leave, life insurance, flexible scheduling, and student loan or housing assistance, not to mention greater job stability in the public sector.
2. Customize recruitment appeals. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs are important to many jurisdictions’ recruitment and retention efforts. Each position’s recruitment plan may include new audiences, active partnerships with outside agencies, and outreach that communicates in ways that best reso- nate with audiences. Tailor campaigns to appeal to candidates with different benefit focuses depending on their life stages or economic circumstances.
3. Maintain retirement plan funding. While 2021 data showed steady funding for retirement plans, 2022 brought signifi- cant economic volatility impacting individual finances and worker anxiety. The first mission for plan sponsors is to weather volatility and commit to maintaining actuarially determined contributions. Full funding of retirement plans supports the dual goals of long- term fiscal stability and leveraging retirement plans to serve as effective workforce recruitment and retention tools.
4. Restructure the workforce. The recession and Great Res- ignation have been significant disrupters to the public workforce status quo, offering opportunities to rethink future staffing mod- els. Workforce restructurings anticipated in 2023 and beyond stem not only from the pandemic and economic changes; they are also tied to evolving technologies touching every field from cus- tomer service to accounting to transportation. And while automa- tion may not fully replace certain jobs, it is certain to contribute to job restructurings, the need to update job descriptions, and the consideration of part-time or temporary staffing models.
5. Take a holistic view. The pandemic normalized the idea that it is okay for workers not to be OK. Now, there’s a focus on worker mental health and burnout as real concerns that employ- ers must take seriously. And as persistent inflation leads to con- sideration of compensation changes, it will no longer be enough to point to cost-of-living adjustments. Rather, employers should lean into difficult conversations with team members about their financial stress, workload, health, or childcare issues.
6. Prioritize data-driven decision making. The Institute’s recent DEI survey found a majority of governments identified workforce DEI as a priority, yet about a quarter are not tracking DEI results. Institute research also found 85% of governments are performing exit interviews, but just 37% are performing employee-satisfaction surveys, while only 11% are conducting stay interviews. Public-service workforce management cannot be viewed as something that is only managed at budget time or at the end of a worker’s career. Instead, it requires timely analysis of recruitment results, regular check-ins with existing staff, and stra- tegic action on the data collected to avoid preventable staffing or retention problems. BW
10 JANUARY 23, 2023
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