From the CEO

Building Crucial Relationships with Our Workforce Development Partners

It seems almost every industry association has the same issue top of mind – workforce retention and recruitment. The hospitality industry in Oregon, like in many states across the country, is one of the largest private sector employers. At the time of this writing, we are still short 29,000 workers of what we need to meet marketplace demands – 23,000 short in restaurants and bars and another 6,000 short in hotels and lodging.

There is a confluence of factors which feel overwhelming when contemplating what workforce solutions will be most impactful in retaining and recruiting the hospitality employees our small businesses across the state need. We have heard loud and clear from members on issues ranging from a lack of community childcare resources for their staff, career changes or a return to the college classroom spurred by life reflection during Covid, ongoing snarls in making sure our unemployment insurance system is helping those it’s designed to help and reducing efforts by some to game the system, and ongoing health hesitations for some in considering jobs which include public-facing responsibilities.

The challenges are clear and unfortunately the solutions are not. ORLA’s work in the coming years will include a constant focus on building stronger relationships with workforce development partners around the state. Hospitality operators will play a critical role in our ability to gain the attention we need from workforce partners to connect Oregonians with meaningful jobs in the industry. And we’ll need all the help we can get given the Oregon Employment Department is forecasting 46 percent growth for industry employment over the course of the next decade (73,800 jobs).

So where do we start? Regional workforce development boards. The Oregon Workforce & Talent Development Board has an incredibly important website we should all be paying much closer attention to. The website (Oregon.gov/workforceboard) states the fact that Oregon is part of a workforce development system that is funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) which authorized more than 550 local business-led workforce development boards that serve all 50 states. These local boards oversee workforce development services through a network of approximately 3,000 American Job Centers.

Oregon has nine local workforce boards and hospitality representation on these board is close to non-existent. We must be at these tables as Oregon’s second largest private sector employer. As business-led boards, these structures are designed to assist with the process of shoring up gaps in marketplace employment demand. If hospitality operators aren’t represented on these boards then the focus for filling industry employment gaps will continue to prioritize other industries and their needs.

There is good news. Oregon’s local workforce board along a portion of the central and north coast (Northwest Oregon Works) has identified the hospitality industry as a major sector of focus. And of course this doesn’t happen by accident. We have an active hospitality leader serving on that board for years and is currently in the Vice Chair role. Thank you Zach Poole for answering the call to leadership in this space and leveraging the resources available through your regional workforce board. It does make a difference. We have hospitality employers along the coast who have told us they have all the employees they need to effectively run their business and meet demand.

This work will remain a top priority until we are successful in replicating the success we have seen on Oregon’s central and north coast across the other eight local workforce boards in Oregon. We hope you will take the time to visit the Oregon Workforce & Talent Development Board website and consider upcoming opportunities to attend the next meeting of your local group. Doing so is the first necessary step of leadership and we need more operators to engage in this space. Our entire team at ORLA would like to thank Wendy Popkin who recently transitioned to a new position in the tourism industry after working tirelessly for our hospitality foundation over the past nine years. It’s thanks to her leadership that we have a guide map for what needs to happen next. ORLA looks forward to adding two teammates to our team in the near future who will work full-time in our workforce development space. We have great stories to tell and look forward to embracing the opportunities to come as our professional staff works with local Chambers of Commerce, Destination Marketing Organizations, and our many members in showcasing the ways a job in hospitality can propel an individual’s professional success for a lifetime.  JASON BRANDT, PRESIDENT & CEO,

ORLA

If you are interested in learning more about workforce development board service, please reach out to Jason Brandt via email at JBrandt@oregonrla.org.