Claire Fiddian-Green: Indiana employers must become co-producers of talent

Talent shortages abound in Indiana and throughout the United States. These shortages—defined as an insufficient number of adequately educated and trained people to meet employer staffing needs—are increasing, due to an aging population and changing skill requirements related to the impact of machine learning on job responsibilities.

To navigate this complex and rapidly evolving talent landscape, employers in every industry must take a proactive approach and work alongside educators to co-develop the next generation of talent, starting with high school students and extending into adulthood.

As co-chair of CEMETS iLab Indiana, I co-lead a statewide coalition of more than 200 Hoosier leaders working to build an employer-led professional education and training pathway rooted in an apprenticeship starting in high school. This is modeled after a similar pathway in Switzerland and was created under the guidance of global experts at Switzerland’s Center on the Economics and Management of Education and Training Systems. CEMETS is an international education system reform laboratory housed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Why Switzerland? Its system is considered the gold standard for preparing young people for careers and meeting the talent needs of employers. The country’s professional pathway, which starts in the 10th grade, complements the traditional college-going pathway. Importantly, the system allows learners to traverse across the professional and college pathways if their career aspirations change. The result is that young people in Switzerland have many education pathways and no dead-ends.

Through my years-long study of the Swiss system, I’ve learned the most critical component to its success: Employers are highly active in the talent development process.

First, Swiss employers have organized through membership-based “professional organizations” to speak as one voice regarding their talent needs—not just for their own company but for their entire industry. For example, Swiss mechanical and engineering manufacturers agree that a total of nine occupations meet the entry-level job needs of all their companies, including plant engineer, automation technician and multi-skilled mechanic.

Second, professional organizations regularly convene their member companies to identify the knowledge, skills and competencies needed for each occupation.

Third, professional organizations partner with educators to design a curriculum consisting of work-based learning and classroom instruction, and every member company uses that curriculum to ensure quality and consistency.

Finally, to recruit apprentices, employers engage with students and their families about potential career opportunities starting in the eighth grade.

Swiss businesses go to great lengths when it comes to talent development—and fully fund all employer-led activities—because their efforts lead to a larger pool of well-qualified employees, which is good news for any business. Employers provide training wages to apprentices, pay fees to professional organizations to fund the cost of occupation selection and curriculum development, and invest in personnel to manage apprenticeship cohorts. The federal government covers the cost of career advising and vocational schooling aligned with each occupation and additional professional or college education after the apprenticeship is typically paid for by employers.

In the case of a market downturn, employers don’t stop hiring apprentices, because they know downturns eventually end and they will need qualified employees when their customers start buying products again. This means the apprenticeship system has stickiness throughout market cycles.

iLab Indiana members believe the Swiss have it right when it comes to employers acting as co-producers of talent and are working as we speak to make that a reality in Indiana. Employers and schools interested in joining the iLab can visit ilabindianastrategicplan.org to learn more.•

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Fiddian-Green is president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, whose mission is to advance the vitality of Indianapolis and the well-being of its people. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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