Overcoming a talent shortage isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach
Editor's note: This piece was originally written for the IEDC Economic Development Journal. We thought readers might be interested in learning a bit about the Chamber's response to workforce / talent development challenges. An edited version of the original is below.
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For the past decade, concerns surrounding talent have been at the forefront of economic development and community building, and the pandemic only exacerbated those challenges. Today, talent shortages are one of the biggest concerns on the minds of business leaders.
This is not an issue that can be owned by any one group, be it a foundation, chamber of commerce, economic development organization or city government. If you are a stakeholder in your community’s future, whether it be a major metro or rural community, making sure that every company located in your region has a skilled, qualified workforce to fill their workforce needs must be at the center of everything you do. It is an imperative for economic growth.
Issues surrounding talent are broad. What makes this challenge so difficult to solve is that there is no silver bullet or solution that works for everyone. Every community has different needs and must employ different strengths to meet those needs.
Replacing a lost generation in Oklahoma City
The talent challenges that face Oklahoma City go back to the late 1980s when a crash in the energy industry, and a subsequent banking crisis led to a generation of young Oklahoma City professionals leaving the region for work in other communities. The community spent the decade of the 1990s implementing a combination of quality-of-life improvement initiatives, as well as economic diversification programs to turn the economy around.
The losses spurred leadership in Oklahoma City to think big. Oklahoma City voters approved a series of sales tax initiatives to invest in the quality of life for residents. The strategy of making Oklahoma City a desirable place to live, when coupled with economic and job growth in key sectors was a winning strategy, resulting in strong population growth for Oklahoma City. The region grew by 10% in the 1990s, by 13% in the first decade of the century and by another 15% in the decade since, experiencing the fifth-fastest percentage growth of all metros between 1 million and 2 million in population.
That’s a faster growth rate than two-thirds of the metro areas that are larger than Oklahoma City.
Even with the population growth, the Chamber’s conversations with employers painted a different picture when it came to talent recruitment. Employers in the region were facing two major pressure points when it came to attracting the talent they need. One was a lack of mid-career professionals, largely due to the generation of young professionals the region lost in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s because of the poor economic environment. The second pressure point was a shortage of software engineers and cybersecurity professionals. The Chamber’s research backed up what local companies were relaying.
Research also determined that there was a need to work on a long-term employee pipeline, making sure that Oklahoma City students, from Pre-K to college and career tech, are prepared with the life skills needed to be successful leaders in Oklahoma City companies and communities.
The Chamber’s research also presented some encouraging findings: the vast majority of workers needed 10 years from now were already in the workforce. This made it even more critical to provide targeted education and training to help existing employees keep up to speed with rapidly changing technologies and skills.
While these findings helped shape the Chamber’s long-term approach to improving Oklahoma City’s workforce, they didn’t help companies who were facing immediate talent needs.
With all these factors in mind, the Chamber designed targeted programs that addressed these growth opportunities from multiple angles.
Preparing the workforce of tomorrow
One of the first talent initiatives the Chamber launched was InternOKC. The program has been held for more than a decade and aims to help reduce the amount of Oklahoma’s college graduates that leave the state after graduation.
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The program is held each summer, with local employers sending their interns to a series of sessions led by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber that provide professional development, networking, and information on living and working in Oklahoma City post-graduation. Annual surveys of InternOKC participants show the program has a positive impact on the college student’s openness to finding a job in the state after graduation.
But building a better workforce involves more than focusing on college students, K-12 is a critical component of any successful workforce strategy. To specifically address the needs of the state’s largest traditional school district, the Chamber launched the Oklahoma City Public Schools Compact in 2016 alongside the Oklahoma City Public School District, the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, United Way of Central Oklahoma, and the City of Oklahoma City. The Compact was created to provide long-range community leadership for the district that could transcend changes in political or staff leadership.
The first initiative launched by the group was ReadOKC, an effort that increases access to reading throughout the year. Through its Little Free Libraries, reading challenges during school breaks, reading buddies program, and soon, a book bus taking reading to the community’s most underserved areas, the ReadOKC program is increasing literacy and preventing the brain drain that often happens when students are not in the classroom. EmbraceOKC, the second effort launched by the schools compact, is also doing important work addressing the mental and emotional needs of Oklahoma City students so that students are better able to learn in a classroom setting.
Business community rallying to embrace OKCPS students.
In terms of higher education, Oklahoma City is fortunate to have a robust network of colleges and universities that meet the needs of all types of students, including the region’s two research universities: Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. The presidents of both universities participated in a Chamber-led working group with McKinsey and Company, which began a new discussion about the institutions’ role as economic engines for the state of Oklahoma. Since that time, the Chamber has been able to connect university leadership with the corporate community to improve the dialogue with employers. Now more than ever, the region’s universities are better aligned with the talent needs of companies and the importance of developing a pipeline of talent.
Of course, as important as all these efforts are they are not enough to meet the region’s immediate talent needs.
Creating a nimble workforce for the present
The issues facing companies when it comes to talent are not static. They can evolve and change drastically in a brief period. To stay in front of those needs, the Chamber formed the Oklahoma City Talent Council. The Talent Council is made up of approximately 30 human resources and recruiting professionals from Oklahoma City’s highest-growth, primary job employers. This group meets bi-monthly and gives the Chamber insights into what is happening on the frontlines of hiring. This group is also invaluable when it comes to providing feedback on the various talent initiatives the Chamber undertakes.
For the past several years, the Chamber has undertaken an aggressive online marketing approach targeting key talent in other markets. Through social media, search and display advertising, the Chamber targets individuals in high-cost markets who can fill the need of Oklahoma City’s companies, particularly in high demand positions such cybersecurity and software engineers; but also the mid-career managers and professionals the city lacks, specifically in the aerospace sector.
These individuals are pushed to the Chamber’s talent and relocation website www.ABetterLifeOKC.com where they will find available jobs in the market, an interactive cost of living calculator and more information about the positives of living in Oklahoma City.
Bolstering the often-overlooked pools of workers already located within our community is also a critical part of Oklahoma City’s talent and workforce development initiatives.
The first of these efforts is the Chamber’s partnership with the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City. In 2020, the two groups partnered on an effort that would build a more inclusive and diverse corporate community in Oklahoma City. One of the many lessons learned during the pandemic was that the small business community, particularly those owned by minority groups, were disproportionately impacted.
A recently released study compiled by EY about Oklahoma City’s economic diversity and resiliency found that, although 13% of our residents are Black, only 2% of our businesses are owned by Black people. Minority-owned businesses also have fewer employees, lower sales and smaller revenues.
The Urban League and the Chamber are using the data collected by EY to design a plan that will increase the number of minority-owned businesses, boost the minority supply chain, and mentor minority leaders to grow the communities and grow businesses. This goal is for Oklahoma City’s economy to better reflect the vibrant diversity that makes Oklahoma City special and increase the area’s workforce and wealth for generations to come.
Retaining Oklahoma City's workforce
The final piece of Oklahoma City’s talent efforts revolves around a key aspect of workforce development that often gets overlooked by companies and communities: retention. Attracting talent is not the end of the process. It is simply the first step. Keeping your talent is every bit as if not more important than attracting it.
Through talking with companies, the Chamber decided one of the best ways to retain out-of-market talent long-term was to get them ingrained into the community more quickly.
For more than a decade, the Chamber has produced the Better Life blog for just this purpose. The weekly blog is designed to give new residents everything they need to know during their first 100 days in Oklahoma City. This includes everything from practical information like how to get a driver's license, to things to do, to volunteering and becoming an active contributor in the community.
The Chamber also developed a new bi-annual event called Find Your OKC. Free of charge, Find Your OKC brings together new employees and their partners to mingle and meet with “connectors,” -- members of the community who can answer questions they might have about their new hometown and help them find a place to belong.
Another component of the retention program is aimed at top tier talent being recruited to the area. OKConnect is designed to help a new-to-market executive get engaged more quickly. Content is delivered in four concentrated half-day sessions, providing a real deep dive into the region’s history, assets, and opportunities. The program also provides solid connections for these important new residents.
The power of partnership
The above programs are not the end-all-be-all solutions to every community’s talent shortage.
In Oklahoma City, record low unemployment has further stressed the labor market, and high-growth companies are faced with new competition for their workers: Tech companies from the coast have begun recruiting remote workers who live in Oklahoma City. However, the partnerships between the Chamber, high-growth companies, and traditional and nontraditional education providers have allowed the community to pivot talent strategies quicker and more targeted than ever before.
While there is no cookie-cutter approach to the talent challenges there are some takeaways from the programs mentioned above. Communities must embrace technological changes and not fight them, industries must work together to find solutions even when they are used to competing against each other for talent, and communities need to listen to their high-growth companies to understand their challenges. It takes a holistic approach from the entire community to tackle this complicated issue – no single organization has all the answers.
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