Page 44 - BusinessWest May 15, 2023
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Ebner
Workforce
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organization,” Ebner said. “We just had a leadership summit with over 500 attendees at the MassMutual Center.
“So, it’s all those resources, the HR services and the training. What I love about EANE is we’re all under one umbrella; members get a discount on all the HR ser- vices and training, and then they get all those benefits with their membership dues,” she went on. “Our chal- lenge is shortening that elevator speech. But, in align- ment, it all makes sense.”
Growing Footprint
That network of services and resources benefits members of all sizes, she said, and from all across the Northeast; the majority of EANE members are in Mas- sachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, but the organization is growing in Vermont, and it has mem- bers in New Hampshire and even Maine as well.
“It’s for a five-person organization that’s looking for support getting started with their HR infrastructure, all the way up to a large healthcare organization here with more than 10,000 employees,” she noted. “The sweet spot for us is that 50- to 300-employee organization.”
No matter what their size or sector, employers of all kinds continue to deal with compliance challenges, from proposed legislation to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage again to recent laws regarding sick time and family leave.
“We’re looking at those challenges from a compli- ance standpoint, federally and statewide. But I think what’s really changed for organizations is the deal between employers and employees — that currency, that transaction.”
Elaborating, Ebner noted, “pre-pandemic, employers were really in the driver’s seat. The talent crunch was tight, but it was still a very employer-driven economy for the workforce. That has been turned upside down, and it’s turned into an employee-driven marketplace, where employees are making demands. They want more flexibility. They want work-life balance. They want to work differently. They want to work from anywhere.
“That’s where we’ve had to pivot and provide resources to employers so they can sustain their orga- nizations,” she went on. “And a lot of our members are in multiple states, too. So paid family leave in Massa- chusetts is very different than paid family leave in Con- necticut. And if you’ve got a headquarters in Massachu- setts, but you’ve got another facility in Connecticut, you have to know everything; you’ve got to know what’s hap- pening in both states, plus federally. We just brought
on a new member, and they have remote employees in 22 states, which means you’ve got tax and employment implications in 22 states.”
HR professionals often find it challenging to keep up with all of that on their own, Ebner noted, and that’s if a company even employs an HR team. “So we really try to provide that value, where we keep up with those things so you don’t have to. And we execute on those things that you need to know.”
And while the questions might not be flying the way they were during COVID, the quickly changing nature of business — from compliance to talent retention to strategies for pay and benefits — is a constant.
“It’s challenging, obviously, but it’s gratifying, helping businesses navigate all this,” Ebner said. “That, I think, is our core mission. That’s why we work here.” BW
other states, but it’s by far the most diverse in New England.
• In New England, Massachusetts ranked sec- ond behind New Hampshire with 62.1% of its total population employed in 2021. Previously, the Com- monwealth also often ranked behind Connecticut and Vermont.
• Massachusetts saw a notable increase in the size of its workforce between 2016 and 2018 before shrinking during the pandemic. In 2018, the labor- force participation rate reached its highest level since 2007, and the workforce was still larger in 2021 than it had been in 2016.
Without policy intervention, serious structural challenges will remain for the Massachusetts labor force, the report notes. Like the rest of New Eng- land, Massachusetts has an older population and will struggle to maintain and grow its labor force as Baby Boomers continue to retire and less-populous younger generations attempt to fill the void they cre- ate. This, if left unattended, will create an employ- ment desert. Employers finding it increasingly dif- ficult to hire skilled candidates to fill positions will limit the state’s economic growth potential.
To address these issues, the report continues, the Healey administration and Beacon Hill lawmak- ers should consider three primary areas that are ripe for reforms and advocacy: expanding daycare capacity and affordability, expanding vocational- technical school programs, and advocating for less-
 Workforce
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