Corporate Voices' Leadership on Flexibility Highlighted on White House Blog

Corporate Voices to Release Focus Group Findings at Women's Bureau Flexibility Dialogue

Valerie Jarrett addresses Corporate Voices' partner companies at 2011 Annual Meeting White House Briefing

Corporate Voices' leadership in advancing workplace flexibility was highlighted last week by Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, in a post she wrote on a White House blog titled, "Workplace Flexibility Helps Businesses Compete."

Referencing a White House Briefing held in conjunction with Corporate Voices' 2011 Annual Partners Meeting, Jarrett said, "Organizations and businesses such as Corporate Voices and PricewaterhouseCoopers are leading advocates for workplaces that are both models of efficiency, and also responsive to the family lives of their workers. As members of the business community have shown, these goals are not only compatible - they are inextricably linked."

In an effort to create a broader awareness of the positive business and employee benefits of flexibility within the business community, Corporate Voices launched a national workplace flexibility campaign last year, after the first-ever White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility. To date, 55 employers from large and small companies across industry sectors have joined, expressing their support for flexibility as a business imperative.

As part of this campaign, Corporate Voices has also worked with the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor to organize a series of National Dialogues on Workplace Flexibility across the country. The last of these Dialogues is being held Thursday, June 30 from 9am to 12 noon EST at the City University of New York, and will focus on the challenges and solutions of using flexibility with professional workers.

Corporate Voices will release summaries of virtual focus groups it conducted on the use of flexibility with hourly as well as with professional workers at the New York Dialogue. These focus groups were organized in partnership with WFD Consulting, WorldatWork, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Twiga Foundation.

• Read Valerie Jarrett's White House blog post 
• Access the focus group summaries 
• Watch a live webcast of the National Dialogue on Workplace Flexibility in New York

Stephen M. Wing Represents Corporate Voices at Clinton Global Initiative Meeting to Announce Business Leaders United for Workforce Partnerships Initiative

Corporate Voices' president Stephen M. Wing joined Skills for America's Future, National Fund for Workforce Solutions and the National Skills Coalition in Chicago June 29-30 at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America meeting to announce the Business Leaders United for Workforce Partnerships initiative. 

The announcement comes as President Clinton and CGI respond to challenges in the United States by convening business, government and civic leaders to focus on economic recovery and job growth. The meeting will generate Commitments to Action - new, specific and measurable plans to address job creation challenges in the U.S.

Supporting industry partnerships through public policy will help address the skill shortages that are putting the brakes on economic recovery.  This is a point echoed by Patrick Flavin, AVP Director of Workforce Initiatives for The TJX Companies, Inc. and a member of Corporate Voices' Board of Trustees.  He stated, "In order to better realize long-term economic recovery, we need to close the gap between untapped talent and entry-level workforce needs.  

Corporate Voices is proud to be part of this new collaboration, which has identified concrete measurable goals to help ensure workforce training investments are targeted at the jobs that will be part of our post-recession economy.  

President Obama Announces New Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

On Friday, June 24, President Obama announced the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a $550 million project to bring together industry, government and higher education to invest in emerging and cutting-edge technologies to help restore America's global leadership position in advanced manufacturing. He announced this Partnership during remarks at the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he said, "If we want a robust growing economy, we need a robust manufacturing sector." During a visit to an Alcoa aluminum factory in Iowa on Tuesday, June 28, the President again emphasized the need to focus on manufacturing when he said, "We've got to make things right here in America."

The AMP is a national effort that will support innovation and job creation through investments in research and development, tax incentives for businesses and training and education of a highly-skilled workforce. Investments would build domestic manufacturing capabilities in national security industries, support next-generation robotics and develop new technologies that reduced the time required to design, build and test manufactured goods.

The Partnership was developed based on the recommendations of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, in a report which states, "We need a workforce that includes not only scientists and engineers with advanced degrees, but also factory floor engineers able to oversee and improve complex manufacturing processes. Manufacturing firms frequently cite the inability to find an adequate supply of factory engineers and workers as a barrier to locating manufacturing in the U.S."

This echoes similar findings on the skills gap highlighted in a recent report published by Corporate Voices and Civic Enterprises, "Across the Great Divide." This report also calls for partnerships specifically between higher education institutions and industry to help people complete their postsecondary education, close the skills gap and improve the competitiveness of America's workforce.

These Learn and Earn partnerships are vital to the future competitiveness of not only the manufacturing industry, but to industries throughout the economy. Four new business case studies published by Corporate Voices in conjunction with its annual meeting in mid-June highlight how collaboration between education and the business community can make significant contributions to workforce development and to college completion. The case studies document partnerships spearheaded by the Health Careers Collaborative, PG&E, Walmart and the Western Association of Food Chains.

• Read more about the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership
• Read the report, "Ensuring America's Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing"
• Access Corporate Voices' Learn and Earn business case studies

Greater Louisville Employee Education Delivery System Launched

The Employee Education Delivery System (EEDS) has the goal of helping 3,500 working adults in Greater Louisville, KY, a Ready by 21 community, complete bachelor's degrees by 2014. EEDS is run by Greater Louisville, Inc. (GLI) and is funded by a grant from the Lumina Foundation.  EEDS helps to ease the process for returning to school and completing a degree by providing important resources to adults and employers about college knowledge, affordability, logistics, and ongoing support.

Corporate Voices for Working Families was proud to submit a letter of support for this grant to the Lumina Foundation and in supporting Louisville's efforts. GLI is currently looking for businesses interested in joining the program. For more information visit 55000degrees.org/eeds 

Corporate Voices is pleased to announce the addition of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Goodwill Industries International, Inc.to its membership. They join an exemplary list of companies who are committed to improving the lives of working families. 

By joining Corporate Voices, members have a unique chance to bring the private sector voice into the public dialogue on issues affecting working families.  Through community-based, federal, and corporate policy solutions, our corporate partners help employees to be more effective and caring family members, as well as more productive employees. We strive to bring business leaders and our practical experience on work-life issues to the table with policymakers.

Corporate Voices' Partner Company Celebrates Fulfillment of Three-Year Commitment to Pro Bono Services

Recently, Corporate Voices' partner company Deloitte celebrated the fulfillment of its three-year, $50 million pledge to Billion+ Change, a federal initiative to encourage American businesses to champion pro bono work by complementing their philanthropy with the contribution of in-kind services. Nearly three-quarters of the organization's personnel, which numbers more than 50,000 in total, are setting aside their work to volunteer at more than 800 events nationwide.

As part of IMPACT Day and to commemorate its pro bono accomplishment, Deloitte is hosting pro bono forums in several major markets across the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Hundreds of civic leaders, nonprofit executives and corporate philanthropists will be on hand at Deloitte's offices to discuss how the business community can help address social issues through the contribution of skills based and professional talent. To guide the discussion, Deloitte professionals will draw on key insights learned over the past three years. These learnings are also highlighted in a new report documenting the organization's journey to complete its multi-million dollar pro bono commitment, titled "Community - it's our business."

To learn more about volunteerism at Deloitte, the organization's 12th Annual IMPACT Day and to access the newly released pro bono report, visit www.deloitte.com/us/community.

The Undereducated American: College-Level Jobs and an Unprepared Workforce

"We are hurtling into a future dominated by college-level jobs, unprepared," warns Tony Carnevale, noted labor economist, in a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The Undereducated American, by Carnevale and Stephen Rose, details how the demand for college-educated employees in the U.S. is growing much faster than the current supply. To address the disparity and meet the expected market demand, the authors suggest we should aim to add another 20 million postsecondary-educated workers to the workforce by 2025.

Meeting this goal would serve the interests of working families and employers, of course. But according to the Georgetown researchers, it would deliver another eye-popping benefit--boosting the nation's gross domestic product by $500 billion, they estimate.  Moreover, it would address the widening income inequality in our economy, which itself is a direct function of the dearth of college degrees. In 1980, Americans holding bachelor's degrees earned about 40 percent more, on average, than those with high school alone; by last year, that gap had widened to 74 percent, and will be a projected 96 percent if current trends hold.  Interestingly, the authors find that a college degree confers an income 'premium' even in many fields where a degree isn't required-such as for construction workers, retail salespeople, and many more.  "More postsecondary education will achieve not only a more dynamic and vibrant economy," the authors conclude, "but a more equitable society" as well.

The new research is most relevant to Corporate Voices' ongoing work around a national postsecondary completion agenda, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Through our Learn and Earn initiative, we are spotlighting innovative partnerships between employers and community colleges to help low-income young adults in particular compete in the 21st-century economy. As always, we welcome your ideas on model programs and practices that might interest other readers.

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