Workforce Southwest Washington
Workforce Southwest Washington is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Their mission is to lead a regional workforce development system where every individual has access to high-quality employment, and every business has access to a highly-skilled workforce. They envision a region where economic prosperity and growth exists for every person.
Workforce Southwest Washington is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Their mission is to lead a regional workforce development system where every individual has access to high-quality employment, and every business has access to a highly-skilled workforce. They envision a region where economic prosperity and growth exists for every person.
On August 25th, 2021, Launchpad held a webinar with Darcy Hoffman (Director of Business Services) and Miriam Halliday (Director of Programs) of Workforce Southwest Washington discussing the modernization of workforce development and the new economy. The recording from the webinar can be found below:
Launchpad Products Used
Case Management
Business Services
Launchpad Products Used
Case Management
Business Services
WSW has had to adapt to the new economy that has been impacted by COVID-19. They had to adapt quickly and drive towards virtual services, ramping up that virtual access in the first six months, including career services, case management, career development, training, gaining credentials, and connecting to jobs. As the pandemic continues into its second year, they are focusing on a hybrid approach. They have found that combining human interaction with virtual services such as workshops was most successful in finding job placements.
This hybrid approach is being embraced across the country and is also being embraced by the communities they serve. They are seeing more job seekers engaging with their platforms and services. Using Launchpad’s Case Management system, they can see the engagement levels with their services and provide them perspective and important information on the outcomes of those services.
When it comes to how COVID-19 affected businesses in their region, businesses were really struggling to find and retain employees, and businesses were having to face closings and layoffs. But also, COVID-19 has allowed people time to reflect on what is important to them, their career paths, and what they need from an employer to provide for themselves and their families. Job seekers are looking for more than just a paycheck.
WSW recently launched its new strategic plan in the Vancouver-Portland metro area, and one of its top goals is to implement a Quality Jobs Strategy. WSW is working with stakeholders in the community to define better what job quality means locally. For example, are wages high enough to support an individual or an individual AND their family? They are also looking at implementing benefits packages. An often overlooked but equally essential part of workplaces is workplace culture and employee hiring policies. Do employers genuinely demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Is the workplace safe, and do employees feel it is a healthy environment where their ideas are heard and opinions respected? Have they thought through career pathways within their organizations? WSW is committed to working with businesses that provide these quality jobs.
How Launchpad helped WSW provide services to job seekers and employers
How Launchpad helped WSW provide services to job seekers and employers
Launchpad enables them to record data on these businesses that offer high-quality jobs and connect them to job seekers who have the skills they’re looking for. WSW also uses Launchpad to track how businesses are making progress on improving their company to provide better job quality.
WSW have also mobilized their partners to use Launchpad business outreach and service delivery tracking. Because all of their partners are on Launchpad, it makes it very easy to communicate with everyone things such as workforce plans and projections.
Tracking outcomes isn’t limited to just partners. Tracking investments for both job seekers and employers has been a challenge for WSW. Launchpad allowed WSW to track job seekers throughout their entire journey, from enrollment to placement. It also allows them to see the experience they had within the system as well. Having the ability to see this information in real-time enables WSW to make any adjustments right away to ensure that both spending and focus are where they need it to be. They can now report key information to stakeholders such as what businesses and industries have been impacted by the pandemic, how employees were affected, what programs are being used to maintain themselves, etc.
Being able to track these things was a simple configuration that WSW was able to make to their Launchpad software on their own, which was game-changing. The ability to configure and make changes as we need them has been immensely beneficial.
Lastly, now that Launchpad has integrated with LinkedIn Learning, job seekers can now log in and take courses at their own pace and schedule. Launchpad automates that information in real-time to WSW’s CRM, so they can see what the job seeker is learning and where they are.
Also, when it comes to automation, Launchpad’s capability to automatically link job seekers to programs and services available to them allows WSW as a WorkSource board to mitigate many risks and concerns and ease the administrative burden.