WIOA - A Few Thoughts on Employer Engagement

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requires local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to design and deliver services based on business and industry needs. Employer engagement is key for local WIBs to meet regional workforce needs and is one of the key metrics that local WIBs will evaluated against. The challenge - how do local WIBs effectively engage employers? Did you know that WIOA referenced “Industry Partnerships” 74 times?!

WIOA enables states and local WIBs the opportunity to support Industry Partnerships. These partnerships will strengthen services of the local WIB and companies by identifying the specific needs of their current and future workforces, identifying and analyzing the gaps between the skills needed to perform jobs and the skills of incumbent workers or job seekers, and then matching skills needed to training providers.

Industry Partnerships can help local WIBs, businesses and workers to:

• Identify skill needs
• Align educational curriculum to meet industry needs
• Develop cost-effective training solutions for companies
• Increase productivity
• Develop new career pathways
• Help companies identify and address organizational and human resource challenges
• Identify barriers to “entry level employment” and develop strategies to remove those barriers
• Collaborate with youth initiatives to connect with careers in demand
• Promote communication networks between companies, between managers and workers, and between companies and their communities and educational institutions

If you are interested in gaining more information regarding WIOA employer engagement, please contact me at: tkaufman@edsisolutions.com

Click here for more info about WIOA on our website.