PMA member company E.J. Ajax & Sons is one of several companies featured in a business brief describing innovative employers around the country that have built their bottom line by unlocking the potential of their lower-wage workforce.
The brief presents a study (conducted by the National Network of Sector Partners and funded by the Hitachi Foundation) that compiles an interesting series of interviews with employers who have focused their efforts and resources on improving the development of lower-wage workers. Each company illustrates how investments in lower-wage workers directly benefit their bottom line, while their workers move up to better jobs.
For example, Erick Ajax, vice president and co-owner of E.J. Ajax & Sons, explains how his use of the PMA Twin Cities District M-Powered program is “a cost-effective way to get access to a pipeline of the best and brightest people that we can put into entry-level positions, nurture their growth, and help them to eventually replace my aging workforce.”
The companies interviewed view workforce development as key to maintaining a competitive edge, and they know that once the economy improves, they will need to hire. They point out that it’s much easier, quicker and less expensive to hire or promote workers that have been trained inhouse than to look elsewhere. These innovative companies view their workforce as an avenue to increase productivity and profits, and therefore understand the benefits of improving workforce culture.
The study finds that companies investing in training their lower-wage workers enjoy several tangible benefits:
- Revenues improve as quality and customer satisfaction rises.
- Costs go down as errors, corrections, and vacancies diminish.
- Employee teams become more productive and cohesive.
- Less time is lost on supervisory interventions, customer complaints, and reworking.
- The costs of excessive turnover–especially vacancies, recruitment, and re-training–all drop sharply.
- The company’s reputation improves among customers and potential employees.
- The company becomes a magnet for the most motivated and productive workers.
It also points out the following keys to success:
- Influential internal champions
- An able and willing workforce
- An eye on results
- Ability to support workers in training
- Dedicated, skilled management of the program
I encourage you to download and read a copy of this brief, From Hidden Costs to High Returns: Unlocking the Potential of the Lower-Wage Workforce, then meet with your senior management team and maybe even some like-minded companies in your PMA District to determine how these principles can help focus your workforce development efforts. Let me know what you think.
David C. Sansone, CAE, is Executive Director of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Educational Foundation and PMA's Director of Training and Education. He leads the association’s efforts to provide workforce-development solutions to the metalforming industry and interfaces with the industry’s workforce-solution providers.Share: 
