region’s workforce remain relatively stable for now, that will change. Beginning in 2021, more workers will age out of our workforce than will enter the workforce. While the need for skilled talent is great across all sectors, it is most acute in manufacturing. The workforce gap between open positions and employees available to fill them in our region is projected at 7 percent by 2021, but increases to 44 percent in the manufacturing sector. MMAC and M7 leaders presented the ManpowerGroup statistical model to a group of more than 30 Milwaukee Region manufacturing CEOs in November 2018.
Manufacturing Talent Partnership
Strengthening the talent pipeline
I
n 2018, M7 and MMAC worked with ManpowerGroup on a statistical model to forecast employment trends in our region. This model shows us that the manufacturing talent shortage is here already – and that demographics
and economic expansion will combine to make this problem even more urgent in the future. Existing Milwaukee Region companies are expanding, while several new firms are entering our market. And while the age demographics of our
At that meeting, there was unanimous agreement that we must act. While manufacturers should and will continue to compete with one another, there are many ways they can all work together to grow the pool of available workers. MMAC and M7 began regularly convening groups of the chief human resources officers from manufacturers throughout our region to develop solutions through the framework of design thinking principles. To guide our efforts, we’ve divided potential sources for new manufacturing talent into four pools: o Education pipeline: Far too many students drop out of high school. Could they be enticed to stay if they see a future in manufacturing? For those who do graduate high school, are they aware of the employment possibilities
Making Milwaukee a destination for manufacturing careers
// By Babatu Short Head of Integrated Talent Management, HellermannTyton NA
12 12 | |
Joining the Manufacturing Talent Roundtable was something I was uncertain about initially. While I was enthusiastic about making a difference, there were some underlying question marks: How? In what time frame? And will working with competitors for talent really bring forth tangible results? I’m happy to say these questions were answered through a very favorable experience.
Milwaukee MilwaukeeCommerce, Commerce,FALL FALL2019 2019
The development of manufacturing talent initiatives was run like a start-up, with “design thinking” principles and guided workshops where context would be set, then small groups or the full group of top-tier Southeastern Wisconsin manufacturers would be let loose on problem-solving and solutioning work. Timelines and frequent stakeholder validation helped ensure alignment. This approach also resulted in a clear way to measure progress against
core milestones. One of the more memorable design sessions involved addressing “uncomfortable truths” —frequent negative perceptions of manufacturing. This led to a pivotal shift in thinking. Rather than treating talent like a supply problem (not enough people), we realized it was a demand problem (not enough people seeking manufacturing as a career). This epiphany shifted our collective
