Paying for Pre-Hire Training

More companies realize they need to pay for the training of entry-level workers, with some now backing short-term programs at community colleges. Also, a coalition of tech giants describes how AI is changing job roles—and the training workers will need to keep up.

Investing in Frontline Workers

More working learners are interested in pursuing short-term education and training. But community colleges often struggle to meet this demand, as fast-track programs in high-demand fields tend to be expensive to offer, particularly when they include support systems students need to complete and go on to land a good job.

Government support helps. But a growing number of employers are stepping up to pay for on-ramp training at two-year colleges, sometimes after philanthropies have contributed startup funding. For example:

• Maine’s community colleges have tapped $75M from the Harold Alfond Foundation for one the nation’s most ambitious pushes on short-term workforce training, with a network of roughly 1,700 employer partners increasingly paying for program costs.

• The Georgia Association of Manufacturers is covering at least 70% of the training costs for six fast-track programs it’s helping the state’s technical colleges to develop, with GAM members matching the remaining 30% of costs.

Low birth rates and an aging population are driving the change in Maine, says David Daigler, president of Maine’s Community College System.

“We’re in a transformation point in our economy,” he says. “We don’t have enough young people coming in to replace people in our workforce.”

Employers recognize the urgency. Daigler points to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a large shipbuilding company that’s been based in the state for 140 years. BIW helps cover costs for short-term training at community colleges, including three-week tracks for manufacturing technicians with year-round start dates. That training is free to students, who get a job interview with BIW when they complete.

Defense industry players have been particularly proactive with the state’s community colleges, thanks in part to support from the Pentagon, which is concerned about the workforce crisis in the trades. Healthcare companies also are well represented among the system’s partners.

But paying for short-term training remains a big shift for most employers, Daigler says, noting that businesses have long treated frontline workers as a “disposable commodity.” But companies increasingly realize they’ll need to pay for pre-hire skills development, as well as for upskilling incumbent workers.

“Businesses are beginning to see the need to invest in the frontline worker,” says Daigler, a former CFO for the system.

For students, the draw for short-term training is about time as much as affordability. And Daigler notes that 40% of Maine’s high school students don’t attend college.

Georgia’s manufacturers are getting more hands-on with short-term training because of their struggle to hire and retain workers. Last year the overall turnover rate for the state’s manufacturing firms was 56%, meaning companies lost 238K workers across a total of 424K jobs.

The new fast-track programs GAM helped the Technical College System of Georgia develop are aimed at addressing immediate workforce needs, says Stephanie Scearce, GAM’s vice president of workforce innovation. The noncredit training focuses on fundamental skills needed for technicians, welders, and entry-level production workers.

“These training solutions were purposefully developed to equip individuals with no manufacturing experience with up to level-two technician skills within three to five months,” Scearce says. Click over to Work Shift for a Q&A with Scearce on the new fast-track programs.

Not the Advisory Councils of Yesteryear

The Harold Alfond Foundation has earmarked three gifts totaling nearly $100M for short-term workforce training at Maine’s community colleges. The goal of the third grant, for $75.5M over five years, will be to train more than 70K workers. Since its creation a few years ago, almost 27K students have taken workforce training courses through the Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce.

The state’s momentum on short-term training wouldn’t have been possible without the foundation’s support, Daigler says. 

“They were able to see the value,” he says, and have provided funding that is “transforming the way people approach education in the workforce and how businesses train their frontline workforces.”

Making those programs sustainable, however, requires a multifaceted approach.

Federal money has helped, particularly $35M in pandemic relief. Daigler says that onetime funding, paired with support from the Alfond Foundation, allowed the system to go big on its concept for short-term training. 

Extending Pell Grants to short-term education and training, like those offered in partnership with the Bath shipyard, would help extend those programs. But the system can’t afford to wait on Washington. And support from Augusta, Maine’s capital, likely won’t cover gaps in funding. “The state’s got to balance its books,” Daigler says.

That leaves employers. The community colleges are optimistic that companies will cover their share of the $190M that’s needed to keep developing and growing short-term training programs, as they gradually become less reliant on the Alfond money.

The system initially thought it would be able to enlist 500 employers in its compact on short-term training. But the project has taken off, with roughly 1,700 employer partners that collectively employ 324K workers, or 47% of Maine’s workforce. Fully three-quarters of the compact’s members have fewer than 100 employees.

Daigler says business leaders are the compact’s best ambassadors. He cites Shawn Moody, who owns an auto body shop chain and once ran for governor in Maine. “They’ll listen to him more than they will to me.”

Some participating companies have begun offering stipends to students who are enrolled in pre-hire community college training. Others provide help with basic needs and, for incumbent workers, schedule flexibility as they pursue more education. Daigler says compact members work with the community colleges to figure out where the training gaps are and where to invest.

The Kicker: “These aren’t the advisory councils of yesteryear,” Daigler says. “These are business meetings.”

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AI’s Impacts on Tech Roles and Training

A recently formed consortium of top tech companies has released its first report. The almost 200-page analysis tracks the impact of artificial intelligence on technology roles and describes what types of foundational and job-specific AI training workers will need.

The Cisco-led group includes Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP. Collectively, the companies have committed to train and upskill 95M people over the next decade.

The new analysis drew information from consortium members about how AI was affecting 47 top information and communication technology job roles in the U.S. and Europe, ranging from data scientist to IT support technician and business analyst. It found that 92% of those jobs are expected to undergo at least moderate transformation due to advancements in AI.

Impacts on the technical writer role might be high, for example, as the core skill of documentation can be significantly automated. Other common skills for technical writers that will be affected include scientific research, task coordination, and regulatory compliance.

To stay competitive, the report says, technical writers will need to pick up new skills, such as in automated testing and AI model development. They should focus on upskilling in project team management and other areas where AI can complement their work.

The analysis highlights the top 10 skill sets that are expected to become increasingly relevant across job roles, including AI ethics. It also identified 10 skills that may become less relevant. For example, 31% of job roles indicate a reduced need for basic software programming and language skills.

To keep pace with the changing job landscape, the report says academic institutions should prioritize investments in work-based learning, use flexible learning paths, and deepen collaboration with high schools.

“We have to act intentionally to make sure populations don’t get left behind,” said Francine Katsoudas, Cisco’s chief people, policy, and purpose officer.

Among its next steps, the consortium plans to introduce an AI workforce playbook. The companies also will explore public-private partnerships to contribute to an AI skills taxonomy that provides a common lens for skills to be defined and mapped to corresponding job roles.

Ryan Oakes, Accenture’s global health and public service industry lead, pointed to the U.S. public workforce system, which is funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. In comments included in the report, Oakes said the WIOA system is “well-positioned to support this upskilling at an accelerated pace and scale in collaboration with businesses such as those leading this consortium.”

Open Tabs

Economic Growth
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced $184M in awards to back strategies for creating good-paying jobs and economic growth in some of the nation’s most economically distressed places. The Recompete Program grants were authorized under the CHIPS and Science Act and will go to six selected communities. For example, a project that seeks to connect eastern Kentucky residents to resources and job training will receive $40M.

AI’s Impacts
Companies and the government need to work together on a “social contract” that would alleviate fears around AI by giving workers some guarantees, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman. She envisions companies tapping government support to analyze job disruptions, provide targeted retraining, and give people assurances about a job on the other end.

Entry-Level Opportunities
An analysis from the American Opportunity Index identifies the 50 best large companies for workers with high school degrees to start their careers. These companies are as much as 4.3 times more likely to hire entry-level workers than workers at other large firms. Their employees are 2.5 times more likely to get promoted than their peers at other businesses, and five times more likely to get a substantially higher-paying job elsewhere when they leave.

Semiconductor Jobs
Intel will cut more than 15% of its workforce amid intense competition with Nvidia and other companies on AI chip production. Most of the 15K planned job cuts will occur this year, the company said, with more than $10B in reduced spending in 2025. Intel’s U.S. semiconductor production plans remain on track, Axios reported, and the $28B plant fab project in Ohio won’t be affected by the spending cuts.

CHIPS Money
Funding from the CHIPS and Science Act has led to commitments from five top semiconductor manufacturers to produce chips in the U.S., the Biden administration announced. The latest investment is up to $450M in incentives for SK Hynix, which will build on the South Korean company’s plan to spend $3.9B on AI-related facilities in Indiana, creating 1K jobs. SK Hynix also is helping to develop a research hub in partnership with Purdue University.

AI Education
The University of Florida has tapped a $70M partnership with Nvidia to ramp up its AI program. The university now offers roughly 200 AI courses that reach nearly 12K students per semester, reports Milla Surjadi for The Wall Street Journal. UF also created a three-course certificate program that prioritizes real-world uses of the technology. Surjadi cites other universities that have rolled out AI-related minors and joint degree programs.

This was another busy week where I couldn’t get to all the incoming news. Catch you next week. —PF