In 2006, Florida’s energy industry faced a potential labor crisis. More than 50% of its workforce would be eligible for retirement within five years. At the same time, Florida’s population was continuing to swell at such a rate that the demand for power was projected to grow by 58% over the next 15 years.
If even half of the energy workforce retired as planned, who would operate Florida’s power plants and service the lines on a day-to-day basis in the coming years? More importantly, in the event of a land-falling hurricane, who would be ready and able to restore power to millions of Floridians? Clearly, this industry needed a new pool of skilled workers, and it needed them now.
Fortunately, Florida’s workforce system has a long-standing record for creating solutions to challenges such as the one facing the state’s energy sector in 2006. Workforce Florida Inc. — the organization charged with developing strategies for strengthening Florida’s workforce through training and employment opportunities — stepped up to the plate. By partnering with Florida’s energy companies and educational institutions, Workforce Florida is today helping to grow the talent that will be needed by Florida’s energy industry tomorrow.
A Banner Approach
An integral component of efforts to train and re-train Florida’s energy workers for the challenges ahead is The Employ Florida Banner Center for Energy, a partnership of Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg and Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. Started in 2006 with funding from Workforce Florida and energy industry support, the Center offers curricula for those interested in becoming line technicians or power plant workers — two occupations of critical concern identified by energy companies. A second Banner Center — focusing on alternative energy — is based at the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center. Its focus is on equipping a workforce for development and delivery of renewable energy resources.
 The Banner Center for Alternative Energy aims to educate, train and place students in careers such as solar photovoltaics. [Photo courtesy of Workforce Florida Inc.] |
The Banner Centers for Energy and Alternative Energy are two of 11 Employ Florida Banner Centers statewide, where hundreds of new and incumbent workers are acquiring cutting-edge skills and earning industry certifications to prepare themselves for careers in industries critical to sustaining and growing Florida’s diverse economy.
Each Banner Center is based at a Florida university or community college. In addition to serving as clearinghouses for companies that need trained workers, these centers create relevant curricula for training both entry-level and advanced workers and ensure that the skills training meets industry standards.
The 11th center — the Employ Florida Banner Center for Secondary Career Academies — provides technical support to school districts in Florida that desire to start new career academies or overhaul existing ones in secondary schools; develops standards and accountability measures for career education programs; and researches and highlights best practices in career education so that Florida can maintain and improve its globally competitive workforce.
“Workforce Florida is working on multiple fronts to link economic development and talent development in sectors vital to Florida’s future, and Banner Centers are one example of how we do just that,” says Chris Hart IV, president and CEO of Workforce Florida.
Kudos for Florida’s Workforce: Workforce services in Florida are second to none, and it shows.
» Florida was named the No. 1 state for workforce in CNBC’s 2008 study titled “America’s Top States for Business,” which rated the workforce in all 50 states on such criteria as education level, number of available workers and relative success of worker training programs in placing participants in jobs.
An Integrated System
When making the decision to expand or relocate, savvy companies put workforce issues at the top of their priorities. Companies that choose Florida soon find that workforce services here have been fine-tuned and fully coordinated to better serve the needs of employers and employees alike.
Under the “Employ Florida” umbrella are the two state-level partners: Workforce Florida Inc., which oversees and monitors the administration of the state’s workforce policy, programs and services, and the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI), which administers workforce funds, houses the Office of Labor Market Statistics and serves as the designated U.S. Census data center for Florida.
At the local level, 24 regional workforce boards with significant business representation implement workforce programs in their communities, including the oversight of nearly 100 One-Stop Centers across the state, where services are delivered directly to employers and job seekers.
Whatever the situation — whether it’s an individual employer in need of workers with specialized skills or an entire industry undergoing transition — Florida’s workforce system stands ready to help.
At the Ready: Addressing Local Workforce Needs
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, close to 8,000 people are currently employed in jobs related to the Space Shuttle program. But when the last shuttle flies in 2010 and the program shuts down the following year, as many as 6,500 of these highly skilled, highly specialized employees could be immediately and permanently out of work.
To mitigate the economic impact of such massive job loss and to help individual workers find new jobs, NASA and the Brevard Workforce Development Board signed the Space Act Agreement in May 2008. The goal of the agreement is to prepare shuttle employees to work on NASA’s next-generation space vehicles or, if they prefer, help them find new employment outside the space program. For its part, the Workforce Board will bring its “Job Link Express” — a vehicle equipped with computers for searching job listings and facilities for on-site job training — onto the grounds of Kennedy Space Center.
A $1.25-million appropriation from the 2008 Florida Legislature and a $500,000 Aerospace Workforce Transition grant to the Brevard Workforce Development Board from Workforce Florida are helping to underwrite the cost of additional job training for shuttle workers.
Since 2000, Workforce Florida has made grants totaling more than $13.2 million toward training programs related to Florida’s aviation/aerospace industry.
One-Stop Centers
Your Local ConnectionThe nearly 100 One-Stop Centers throughout the state are the “bricks-and-mortar” entry points to Florida’s comprehensive workforce system. Here, employers and job seekers alike can find answers to their employment questions as well as direct access to a wide array of workforce services — many of which are available at no cost. One-Stop Centers offer:
» Applicant prescreening and job referrals
» Recruitment and retention services
» Employee skills information and services
» Identification of and access to incentives, such as training grants
» Labor market analysis and information
» “Rapid response” services in the event of a ramp-up or reduction in workforce
» A venue for job fairs and one-on-one interviews
At the Click of a Mouse: EmployFlorida.com
Access to Florida’s complete range of state and local workforce services is only a mouse click away thanks to the streamlined Employ Florida Marketplace website.
There are nearly 3 million job seekers and 60,000 employers registered on the site, which attracts more than 54,000 unique visitors each day. About 630,000 resumes are posted on the site, allowing businesses to sort and rank job candidates by skills and on-the-job experience. Quick search features make it easy for job seekers to zero in on specific geographic areas and for employers to sort resumes and rank applicants by skills and on-the-job experience. Also available: an integrated tool for help with creating resumes, as well as detailed labor force and salary statistics for quick county-by-county comparisons.
Best of all, the Employ Florida marketplace is open 24/7 and available at no cost to employers and job seekers alike.
TRAINING
PROGRAMS
| » Since 2000, QRT, IWT and EWT programs have awarded a combined $85 million to train more than 158,000 workers throughout Florida. |
Customized training programs and incentives help ensure that skilled workers are available to meet the needs of Florida’s leading industries, and site selectors are taking notice. Expansion Management ranked Florida’s workforce training programs among the top three in 2007.
Workforce Florida offers two training options, and a third is available through many of the 24 regional workforce boards.
Quick Response Training (QRT)
QRT is a flexible and customized program designed to help meet the specific training needs of both new and expanding businesses. The company may choose its preferred training provider, which could be a local community college, technical center or university, a private-sector firm or a subject matter expert from within the company. A local public educational institution is designated to serve as fiscal agent for the grant funds on the company’s behalf.
Incumbent Worker Training (IWT)
IWT is a customer-driven program designed to retain existing businesses and keep Florida’s workforce competitive in a global economy. IWT is available to all Florida businesses (for-profit) that have been in operation for at least one year prior to application and require skills upgrade training for their existing full-time employees.
Employed Worker Training (EWT)
Locally funded and administered by each of Florida’s 24 regional workforce boards, EWT provides grants for Florida companies seeking to upgrade the skills of their existing employees.