Aug. 5, 2004: Oswego County’s
Employee Talent Retention and Attraction Plan Underway
The Workforce Development Board of Oswego
County (WDB) and Operation Oswego County (OOC), in conjunction with
Next Generation Consulting of Madison, Wis., recently hosted two
focus groups designed to identify strategies to attract and retain
young, talented employees throughout Oswego County.
The groups were convened in Oswego and Fulton
and served to gather participants’ ideas on what makes Oswego
County attractive to professional employees ages 23 to 43 (“Generation
X” age bracket). Participants of the groups represented educated
(post-high school training and/or degrees) and mid-career professionals
in Oswego County and characterized the diversity of the county's
population, geographical locations and workforce.
“Next Generation consulting will handprint
Oswego County to get a clear baseline for its scores in the seven
key areas that matter to young professionals. In addition, they
will provide us with strategic guidance in an action plan to capitalize
on the results,” said Nancy Bellow, WDB director.
According to Next Generation, the seven indexes
that are considered important to young professionals include:
- Vitality: This
index accounts for local commitment to environmental quality (green
space) while tallying up the factors that lead to long-term personal
and environmental health;
- Earning: Young
professionals want a deep bench of occupational options and opportunities
for life long learning. This index measures the depth and breadth
of employment options;
- Learning: This
index identifies the key indicators that define education, continuing
education, and re-education opportunities;
- Social Capital: This
index tallies a community’s commitment to diversity and
participation;
- Cost of Lifestyle: This index includes
all the variables in the national cost of living index, which
includes food and shelter and transportation to work;
- After Hours: This
is the index that identifies the key indicators of “cool
stuff” to do, because young talent want options for places
to go and things to do; and
- Around Town: This cluster
identifies the key indicators of accessibility or the physical
connectedness of a community.
“For Oswego County to attract the next
generation of knowledge workers and innovation economy entrepreneurs,
it must place as much emphasis on its quality of life as its economic
incentives,” said Rebecca Ryan, president of Next Generation
Consulting Inc. “Oswego County has many of the amenities –
a gorgeous climate, access to university research and culture, and
a system of parks and trails – that strongly resonate with
young professionals looking for a ‘cool community.’”
Also according to Next Generation, Oswego
County will likely be affected by the following national labor trends
in the coming years:
- Three out of four young professionals
under the age of 28 place more importance on the quality of the
community than the availability of jobs;
- By 2010, there will be a shortage of
10.3 million workers across all employment categories;
- “Generation X” is the first
generation to have deeply imbedded skills sets in technology,
which makes them a highly desirable demographic to Oswego County
employers; and
- The influx of minority talent is and
will continue to cause a marked change in the complexion and culture
of the Oswego County region.
Utilizing labor market information, economic
impact studies and information gathered during the focus groups,
Next Generation Consulting will complete a detailed analysis of
Oswego County and recommend several communities against which Oswego
County should benchmark itself.
“Before this project began, we only
had anecdotal or speculative information about the challenge in
attracting and retaining young, talented professionals to Oswego
County in order to meet the human resource needs of current and
future employers. With an increasingly competitive market for drawing
this target demographic to our area, Oswego County must take a proactive
approach and define the unique regional characteristics that make
it attractive so that it will appeal to this group of people,”
said L. Michael Treadwell, CEcD, OOC executive director.
For more information about the focus groups,
call the WDB at SUNY Oswego’s Center for Business and Community
Development at 312-3492.
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