BHEF Replication Guide ExecSum 2021

Executive Summary Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity: A Guidebook for Leveraging Multicompany Partnerships In 2018, in partnership with Business Roundtable and with support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, BHEF formed the Workforce Partnership Initiative (WPI). WPI is a coalition of employers who took the lead in fostering large-scale partnerships between business and higher education. The initiative has nine pilot sites, including more than 70 companies and 40 higher education institutions. Together, they are developing tailored educational and work-based learning opportunities to address their region’s most pressing digital skill needs. These fields include data analytics, data science, and cybersecurity. BHEF’s research and facilitation in WPI confirmed that when multiple companies work directly with higher education, they can communicate their specific hiring needs, create collaborative curricula, and develop a pool of talent better prepared to enter and adjust to advances in the workforce. BHEF members may access the replication guide and in-depth case studies using these links. Lead site companies are: • Chicago: Aon and Accenture • Cleveland: Eaton Corporation • D.C.-Maryland-Virginia: Northrop Grumman • New York City: IBM • North Carolina: EY The sites, which utilized various models, such as apprenticeships and digital credentials, produced several benefits: • Decreased training costs • Increased diversity • Expanded opportunities for nontraditional students WPI confirmed that BHEF’s partnership engagement model is uniquely suited to position multicompany, multi-institution coalitions to succeed through distinct advantages: • Scale of impact. Employers are grooming their workforce and embedding in-demand skills within the larger community, enabling other companies to find talent and distinguish the region. • Recruitment. Multicompany partnerships highlight the import of an industry or occupation, attracting new talent to that field, university, company, or region. These partnerships' scale can help secure funding and support from government agencies, foundations, and other stakeholders. © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 2 • Customization. When employers collaborate and identify common hiring needs, it signals to educators the skills marketplace and promises a strong ROI from a tailored curriculum. Employers access skilled talent, colleges increase enrollment and placement, and students feel confident in their studies. • Diversity. Multicompany partnerships help local populations develop in-demand technical skills to increase employment options and salaries [Burning Glass Technologies, 2019]. They also help companies recruit traditionally underserved populations and demonstrate their community commitment. • Lasting impact. Relationships built through BHEF will endure and grow. Through ongoing discussions between business and higher education, partners can create a feedback loop that signals demand and refines curricula. BHEF engaged participants in a proven, four-phase, 12-step process (see graphic, page 3), which after 18 months, produced the following insights: • Use existing resources to secure early wins. Building a successful multicompany partnership takes time and effort. To expedite the work and realize early project successes, partners can turn to current resources and partnerships as a starting point at each phase. • Partner with a knowledgeable intermediary. While multicompany partnerships like WPI are led by business, intermediaries are the operational backbone that help identify and recruit members, conduct analyses, and facilitate meetings and discussions. Business leaders affirmed that an intermediary with experience with business and higher education, an understanding of the targeted skillset, and a knowledge of the region is essential. • Embrace unlikely partners. Successful initiatives engage competitors: businesses with parallel, urgent hiring needs and colleges and universities that offer comparable programs to a similar student body. However, collaborations forged around workforce development, built upon trust reinforced by confidentiality agreements, transcend this tension. The work focuses on strengthening the talent pipeline, not on vying for resources. Additionally, when companies partner with new institutions, such as community colleges and trade schools, it expands and diversifies the talent pipeline. • Diversity is not a single step. Diversity is a founding principle that enables the coalition to focus on specific populations and select partners committed to the outcomes. • Document everything. Throughout each step, it is essential to document significant findings, insights, and decisions. Capturing data ensures all members understand what is happening and have agreed to the next steps. These actions supported by a signed agreement—where members confirm their commitment to the initiative and agree to decisions—provide a touchstone in ambiguous times. © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 3 Building a Multicompany Partnership The WPI model, built on the process outlined in BHEF’s report, Creating Purposeful Partnerships, has four phases of development, with 12 steps in total. While linear, partners will probably iterate between steps. Throughout the process, an intermediary can provide essential support through analysis, coordination, and oversight. PHASE I PHASE II PHASE III PHASE IV Laying the Groundwork Partnering with Peer Employers Engaging Higher Education Implementing the Program Before a business can engage peer companies and higher education institutions, it will need to define the problem and develop a plan of action. As new partners come on board, plans begin to take shape, and leaders uncover the specific set of skills the region needs most. The involvement of higher education translates skill requirements into curricula and preliminary plans into action. Though implementation will vary by site, partners will always need to recruit, monitor, and sustain. 1. Clarify Expectations of Senior Management 2. Analyze the Talent Ecosystem 3. Formulate a Project Plan 4. Recruit Employers with Similar Talent Needs 5. Agree on the Basic Partnership Structure 6. Identify Education and Training Needs 7. Select Appropriate Higher Education Partners 8. Resolve Known Barriers to Implementation 9. Build Curriculum to Skill Specifications 10. Recruit Participants from Target Populations 11. Monitor and Refine the Program 12. Sustain and Expand Successful Strategies SUPPLEMENTAL: PHASE/STEP SUMMARIES Phase I: Steps 1-3 Step 1: Clarify Expectations of Management Business leaders—CEOs, CHROs, or another senior management member—who launch a workforce development program share a common purpose: to develop, recruit, and upskill their workforce. To begin, confirm and articulate the executive sponsor’s vision. It will include: • Goals. A list of clear, concise goals can serve as a compass for the project, enabling staff to assess the proposed activities and communicate the purpose to potential partners. • Priorities. Define how the program will operate: where located, which employers or educational institutions will be involved, and how learners will acquire skills (e.g., through an apprenticeship program or targeted in-house training). • Resources. Confirm the resources the executive will commit to the project and keep an eye on sustainability. Successful partnerships are long-term and scalable. © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 4 Step 2: Analyze the Talent Ecosystem While many companies grasp their talent needs, hiring data can specify the gaps and identify the skills that need to be developed through a higher education partnership. Every human resources (HR) department analyzes its talent needs differently. Compared with graduates from area colleges and universities, regional skills demand and related occupations analysis can place talent needs in perspective and ensure potential partners are the right fit. HR analysts can also examine if a skills gap exists because of internal hiring policies and procedures. These can be educational requirements that cannot be substituted for relevant experience or job ads that do not mention the specific skills deemed in high demand by the company. Step 3: Formulate a Project Plan A written project plan clarifies goals, priorities, commitments, and intentions and ensures internal consensus before engaging partners. In Creating Purposeful Partnerships , BHEF offered a five-item checklist. 1. Field or sector: the occupation or set of skills to target based on senior management’s goals and priorities and the specific talent needs identified, such as cybersecurity, aerospace engineering, advanced manufacturing, and data analytics. 2. Geographic region: such as a city, state, metropolitan area, or region. 3. Academic credentials: the credentials that higher education institutions are expected to offer to those participating, such as apprenticeships, certificates, degrees, and badges. 4. Industry engagement: the activities that employers are expected to offer to workers or students participating in this initiative, such as resume review, technology donations, or grants to higher education institutions, to name a few. 5. Company signaling: the planned mechanism and frequency with which employers identify and share their talent needs with partners, such as ongoing competency mapping, meetings between faculty and business subject-matter experts, and regular job posting/candidate profile revisions. The plan should also include: • List of member benefits • Preliminary budget • Partner expectations • Stakeholder value proposition (example on page 13 of report) Phase II: Steps 4-6 Step 4: Recruit Employers with Similar Talent Needs A successful partnership forms when companies with similar hiring needs converge around a shared, regional solution. The best partners: • Have similar talent needs and embrace the lead company’s vision and priorities • Commit time, staffing, and resources • Take ownership • Collaborate as a group © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 5 As mentioned, start with existing resources to secure early wins. BHEF recommends the lead business identify best-fit partners with companies they have relationships with and demonstrate a community commitment. Employers with similar talent and shared values could have a history of engaging in social responsibility and workforce development initiatives and be strong partners. Often, a simple direct ask from the project’s executive sponsor can secure the initial partnership. Step 5: Agree on the Basic Partnership Structure Before work begins, coalition members need to agree to: • Scope. This includes field or sector, geographic region, academic vehicle, industry engagement and activities, and company signaling. Members should be prepared to revisit as new data may influence the group’s priorities. • Governance. Partners need to set a schedule, decide how the group will make decisions, and run meetings. They should also identify designees for each company's executive sponsor who can make decisions promptly. • Membership. Founding partners should have a process for selecting or releasing members. It should include selection criteria and required resource commitment. • Information sharing. Partners will likely disclose data on sensitive topics, such as talent needs, hiring practices, and workforce demographics. Members will want formal assurances that the information will be kept confidential and used only for its intended purpose. Participants need to bear in mind that this step will need buy-in from additional stakeholders within their company, including the CHRO, legal counsel, and other engaged staff members. Step 6: Identifying Education and Training Needs Each partner needs to describe the specific tech skills, knowledge, and abilities a worker needs to add value and grow within their company. An internal member survey or facilitated conversation among partners may also suffice for understanding the range of needs. Public and subscription- based labor market information can also provide this data. Many sites turned to BHEF's lists of competencies to get started. Other resources include federal skills databases, field-specific competencies developed by organizations or agencies, and partners’ qualification summaries. As partners identify specific skill gaps, they may need to revisit decisions about the field, employee level (entry, mid, professional), and whether needs are based on occupations or skills. They should also look for necessary skills that prepare students for a range of entry-level positions. Phase III: Steps 7-9 Step 7: Select Appropriate Higher Education Partners Early decisions about higher education partners can impact the initiative’s success. Business needs colleges and universities with shared values that will articulate strong support and implement the highly technical programming that meets employers’ talent needs. Businesses may be tempted to recruit existing higher education partners. However, if the goal is to expand and diversify the pipeline of students and workers with sought-after skills, alliances with new colleges, universities, and training providers need to be considered. These characteristics can be articulated when the group sets its membership criteria. © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 6 BHEF recommends the group begin by listing all colleges and universities in the region that offer the expected type of credential (e.g., training, non-credit certificate, bachelor’s degree, graduate degree). Additional criteria include student demographics, reputation, and mode (e.g. online, evenings, part-time)—which suits initiatives with short timelines. Partners can further vet each college, university, or training provider’s willingness and capacity to engage in this work once they’ve identified those institutions. When having these conversations, bear in mind capacity may be an issue; many colleges and universities are overwhelmed by the number of students taking computer science and technology classes. Step 8: Resolve Known Barriers to Implementation Once higher education is engaged, the group needs to confirm the specifics of what they plan to offer and examine potential barriers, such as: • Competing priorities. Ideally, everyone who participates in a program will receive an equitable intervention. However, partners may embrace some variation to distinguish themselves from their rivals. But partners must agree on a uniform baseline and ensure that all are being equipped equally with the desired skills if students have different experiences. • Faculty training. Amending curricula may require colleges, universities, and training providers to upskill faculty members with new skills and content areas. Participating sites address this need by heavily engaging partner companies’ subject matter experts (SMEs). These SMEs may train or mentor faculty, review course content, or be adjunct faculty. • Government regulations. Partners should anticipate some amount of oversight. Programs that want to register their apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor, while not required, must show the experience meets national and independent standards. A new minor, certificate, or badge will trigger review within the college or university and state regulators. While some sites opted not to create a new credential to avoid formal review, many have, deciding that the extra time was worth it to help students and employers find the best fit. Step 9: Build Curriculum to Skill Specifications In this step, businesses compare the education and training requirements established in Step 5 against partner institutions' existing curricula. For the most part, individual colleges, universities, and training organizations can exercise discretion in interpreting these requirements. Comparing a curriculum against skill requirements can be done in many ways. Some sites incorporated the business-desired competencies into new courses. Others took a less formal approach, pairing SMEs with faculty to revise course content. Regardless of the strategy, the group needs to establish a when it will revisit the courses to modify the content to align with new knowledge, skills, and abilities. Phase IV: Steps 10-12 Step 10: Recruit Participants from Target Populations Implementation begins by identifying, recruiting, and selecting the first cohort of participants. To recruit them, businesses and academic members need to market the program directly to students and workers. Sites enrolled students through career services and campus recruiters, from first-year courses, through nonprofit youth employment organizations, and as the program expands, through alumni offices. © 2021 BHEF Increasing Workforce Skills and Diversity| Page 7 Depending on program capacity, partners may also need to add selection criteria, such as GPA and pre-requisite courses. A sample student marketing checklist can be found on page 29 of the report. Step 11: Monitor and Refine the Program Here, the group translates its set goals and activities into quantifiable outputs and outcomes to ensure the program achieves desired results and provides high ROI. A logic model, or graphic road map, may be helpful. An example performance metric chart can be found on page 31 of the report. Data/metrics include: • Recruiting: amount invested to reach target audiences, conversion rate, participant numbers, and diversity. • Education and training: accessibility to classes, course retention and completion, participant numbers, and diversity. • Work-based learning: number of open slots, participant engagement, participant hires, and diversity. • Outcomes: participant skill competencies, participant hires and retention, conversion costs, and diversity. Data reporting, collection, and sharing systems are essential. The first two may include a template shared among the partners, an annual survey, or scheduled communications with each partner's principal contact. The third may be dashboards or other standardized reporting methods. These inputs should be paired with conversations from program managers, faculty members, administrators close to the work, and participants. This feedback can produce valuable information that may provide context to performance metrics, support program adjustments, and give the encouragement some participants may need to persist and become new hires. Step 12: Sustain and Expand Successful Strategies Programs, strategies, and relationships created through these multicompany partnerships require structure to sustain success and effect meaningful change. At this juncture, BHEF recommends partners: • Develop an ongoing signaling mechanism. The skills identified at the outset of the partnership will evolve with new technology. Partners need to commit to a reasonable pace to revise competencies and adjust curricula as needed. Programs that rely on labor market data to signal demand (e.g., skill requirements in job postings) can encourage business partners to work with their HR departments to revise job postings to reflect better the real skills, education, and experience needed. • Find a permanent program administrator. Multicompany partnerships can identify and contract an outside entity to maintain momentum and manage program administration and operations. • Replicate what works in other fields and regions. Ongoing performance monitoring gives partners insight into successful—and not so successful—program elements. This data can expand the program into new areas of the country and new fields or career paths. ###