[Senate Hearing 115-91]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 115-91
NEW HAMPSHIRE'S WORKFORCE CHALLENGE:
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO ATTRACTING
AND RETAINING SKILLED WORKERS
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
AUGUST 22, 2017
__________
Printed for the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
----------
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho, Chairman
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire, Ranking Member
MARCO RUBIO, Florida MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
RAND PAUL, Kentucky BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
TIM SCOTT, South Carolina HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
JONI ERNST, Iowa EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
TODD YOUNG, Indiana CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
Skiffington E. Holderness, Republican Staff Director
Sean Moore, Democratic Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Opening Statements
Page
Shaheen, Hon. Jeanne, a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire.......... 1
Witnesses
Zanchuk, Val, President, Graphicast, Jaffrey, NH................. 4
Koheil, Tamer, Center Director, Job Corps, Manchester, NH........ 9
Przybyszewski, Phil, Workforce Solutions Project Director,
Community College System of New Hampshire, Sector Partnership
Initiative, Manchester, NH..................................... 13
Warren, Emily Hall, Director of Administration, Badger Balm,
Gilsum, NH..................................................... 21
Whitaker, Lisa, Director of Associate Services, Omni Mt.
Washington Resort, Bretton Woods, NH........................... 25
Alphabetical Listing
Koheil, Tamer
Testimony.................................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 11
NEMO Equipment, Inc.
Letter dated September 1, 2017............................... 36
Przybyszewski, Phil
Testimony.................................................... 13
Prepared statement........................................... 18
Shaheen, Hon. Jeanne
Opening statement............................................ 1
Warren, Emily Hall
Testimony.................................................... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Whitaker, Lisa
Testimony.................................................... 25
Prepared statement........................................... 27
Zanchuk, Val
Testimony.................................................... 4
Prepared statement........................................... 7
NEW HAMPSHIRE'S WORKFORCE CHALLENGE:
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO ATTRACTING
AND RETAINING SKILLED WORKERS
----------
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017
United States Senate,
Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship,
Nashua, NH.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:00 a.m., in
the Demoulas Room, Rivier University Benoit Education Building,
29 Clement Street, Hon. Jeanne Shaheen presiding.
Present: Senator Shaheen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JEANNE SHAHEEN, RANKING MEMBER, AND A
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE
Senator Shaheen. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Committee's field hearing in Nashua on Workforce Development
will officially come to order.
I would like to ask Sister Paula Buley, who is the
President of Rivier University, if she would like to say a few
words and just thank her very much, and thank Rivier, for
hosting us this morning.
Sister Buley. Senator, thank you.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome. Welcome to Rivier
University. We are delighted to have you.
Senator, we're also honored to have you. Thank you for your
leadership in the areas that mean so much to higher education,
the STEM workforce development, small businesses, and, of
course, exporting the best of New Hampshire's economy.
Rivier joins you all today as a key participant in
workforce development, for that is what we truly do. Through
our innovative employment partners, we have students on day 1
consider the careers that they will enter upon at graduation,
and our expansive behavioral health programs that are serving
the State in a particular way as we consider treatment,
prevention, and recovery in substance abuse.
So, Senator, for your energy and for your leadership, thank
you; and to all that join us today, you're most welcome.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much.
[Applause.]
And I do want to echo what Sister Paula has said about the
role that Rivier, like all of our colleges and universities in
New Hampshire, has played in supporting our business community
and trying to address the workforce issues that we have.
Now, before I introduce our official panel, let me just
recognize some of the people who are here this morning.
Jim Donchess, who is the Mayor of Nashua, is here. There he
is, in the front row. Thank you for joining us for the hearing.
We have the head of the Small Business Administration in
New Hampshire, the District Director, Greta Johansson. Nice to
have you here, Greta.
And Rich Grogan and Warren Daniel. Rich is the head of the
Small Business Development Centers, and Warren is one of the
people who works very hard for the SBDCs.
We also have members of my Small Business Advisory Council
who work with me on small business issues: Adria Bagshaw in the
front row; Peter Antoinette; and Mark Lane. So, thank you all
for being here as well.
I should also introduce Zenagui Brahim, who is the head of
our Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which does a great job
dealing with issues affecting manufacturing businesses.
We also have a number of representatives from the New
Hampshire Job Corps who are here. Can I just ask all of you
to--thank you all very much for being here.
Let me also recognize members of the Small Business
Committee who are here from Washington today. We have Sean
Moore, who is the Director of the Minority staff on the Small
Business Committee.
And I hesitate to call up Minority staff because the Small
Business Committee, despite what you may have heard in other
areas, works very closely together in a strong, bipartisan way.
We're pleased to have Tara Schonhoff, who is here from the
Majority, sent by Senator Risch, who is my colleague from Idaho
who chairs the Small Business Committee, and I'm the ranking
member.
We also have Brian Weiss and Kathryn Eden, who is the Clerk
of the committee. They are here--raise your hand, Brian and
Kathryn--so they can make sure that we conduct everything in
the appropriate, official way.
Because this is an official hearing of the Small Business
Committee, we will not be allowing questions from the audience.
That's the way the rules work in Washington at hearings, so we
will be hearing statements from our panelists. Then we will
have a roundtable discussion about the issues, and we will
allow written testimony from anybody in the audience who would
like to submit it.
So with all of that as background, let me again welcome all
of you this morning and thank you very much for coming to this
discussion that I hope will be profitable as you think about
the workforce challenges we face in New Hampshire.
Everywhere I've been as I've traveled the State in the last
several years, the number-one concern I hear from our
businesses is they can't get the workers that they need, the
skilled workers who have the training and the background and
the experience and the knowledge, and even in terms of
businesses who are willing to train their workers, they're
finding it hard to find people. We're fortunate because we have
the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the country, but that's
presented its own particular challenges. So this is an issue
that I hope we can examine today.
New Hampshire is a small business State. More than half of
our private workforce is employed by small businesses, and I'm
sure we all know the statistic that's one of my favorites that
Greta shares everywhere she goes, and that is two-thirds of the
jobs that are created come from small businesses.
But dynamic industries like advanced manufacturing and
technology require skills that some of our schools may not yet
be prepared to teach. So this is one reason that our workforce
training programs need to be flexible. We've got to keep pace
with the evolving labor market so that Granite State workers
can get the high-skilled, high-wage jobs that are being created
today.
I've had the opportunity, as I said, to visit a number of
businesses, and two I want to just call out because I found
what they were doing very interesting.
Recently I visited Admix, which is a small manufacturer in
Londonderry, New Hampshire. They are an ESOP, an employee stock
ownership program. They provide employees an ownership interest
in the company, and we're going to hear from a company like
Admix on the panel today to talk about the benefits of being an
ESOP.
But one of the things that I was interested in when I
talked to the employees at Admix, they said that even more
important than that share in the company was the flexible
schedule that they had. They had a schedule that allowed them
to take certain Fridays off, and that that was what the
employees said was most important to them.
I also had the chance recently to visit Seacoast Harley-
Davidson in Northampton. Because they were having trouble
getting the skills they needed, they partnered with the Great
Bay Community College to create a technician program, a 24-week
course in motorcycle maintenance and repair. It was interesting
to me that the only other two programs that do similar things
in the country are in Florida and Arizona. So it's
understandable that we're having trouble getting the trained
technicians that we need.
We know that our workforce challenges are complicated and
they really require us to work together, the public and private
sector at the State, municipal, and Federal level, to address
these challenges. We've got to be creative, we've got to be
flexible, we've got to look at what works and what doesn't
work, and that's again what I'm hoping we can examine a little
bit this morning as part of this discussion.
Now let me again thank all of our witnesses who are here
this morning. They all have extensive biographies that I am not
going to read because I'm hoping that we can spend more time in
discussion, but just know that they are all very skilled with
lots of experience and good, creative ideas on this topic.
I'm going to start with Val Zanchuk, who is at the far end
there. He is the President of Graphicast, Inc., which is a
Jaffrey-based manufacturer of precision machined zinc alloy
castings. They've been in business since 1978. They are an ESOP
company, and employees own about a third of the company.
Now, I'm not, as I said, going to go into all of Val's vast
experience in economic development in New Hampshire, but now he
serves on the State Workforce Innovation Board, so he has
particular insights into some of the State policies that are
trying to address workforce.
Next to Val is Tamer Koheil, who is the Center Director at
our New Hampshire Job Corps Center. For all of you who know me,
you know that I have a special place in my heart for the Job
Corps Center because I started working on this over 20 years
ago, when I was a governor, and it's taken us a long time, but
now it's here and it's doing a great job.
Tamer, we're delighted that you're here this morning.
Before he came to New Hampshire, he was the Center Director
at the Shriver Job Corps in Fort Devens, Mass., where they
consistently ranked among the top performing Job Corps centers
in the country. So we know you're going to bring that expertise
to New Hampshire.
Next to Tamer is Phil Przybyszewski, who is currently the
Workforce Solutions Project Director at the Community College
System of New Hampshire. Before that he was the Project
Coordinator who managed and oversaw the implementation of all
aspects of the TAACCCT Grant that we received in New Hampshire.
It was a $20 million-plus grant to work with companies and our
community college system to try and provide the workers that we
need for the future.
Thank you for being here, Phil.
On my right is Emily Hall Warren, who is the Director of
Administration at the WS Badger Company, which is a family
owned and family friendly business built around healthy living
in the workplace. They are a B Corporation, which adds to
transparency in the company's social and environmental business
practices.
Before Emily went to Badger, she had extensive experience
in human resources in training and advancement for Claremont
Savings Bank and the Timken Company.
So, thank you for being here.
And finally, Lisa Whitaker probably came the farthest of
anybody today. She is the Director of Associate Services at the
Omni Mt. Washington Resort and Ski Area, and before that she
was the Vice President of Human Resources at Granite Bank in
Colebrook, New Hampshire.
We are delighted to have all of you here. I look forward to
hearing your thoughts and ideas about what we should be doing
in New Hampshire.
I'm going to ask each of you to speak for--I know we told
you 5 minutes, but if you can stay a little under that, that
will give us more opportunity to talk and be more interesting,
I'm sure, as we engage around the ideas that you present.
So let me begin with you, Val.
STATEMENT OF VAL ZANCHUK, PRESIDENT, GRAPHICAST, JAFFREY, NH
Mr. Zanchuk. Thank you, Senator. I'll speak as quickly as
possible.
With New Hampshire's low unemployment rate and a growing
economy, attracting and retaining skilled employees is probably
the first priority of every business in the State.
However, our population demographics are not helping us
meet this challenge. School enrollments are steadily declining.
A large portion of our workforce will be retiring in the next
five to ten years, and skill requirements are growing, with
more emphasis on post-secondary education.
Across the State, business, government, and education are
working toward a common goal, which is that 65 percent of our
workforce will possess a post-secondary education by the year
2025 to meet the demands of the economy. This goal, which we
call 65 by 25, is not arbitrary. A study by Georgetown
University identified evolving workforce needs for every State
based on each State's economy and projected economic growth.
For New Hampshire, we are currently at about 51 percent of
our workforce having these skills. Through natural organic
growth, we will reach about 58 percent by 2025. To get to the
65 percent level, however, which is essential for continued
economic health, we will need to add about 50,000 more people
in the State to attain this level of training. And, of course,
the question is how are we going to do this?
A starting point for individual companies, I think, is
greater engagement, both with their employees and with their
communities. Employee engagement, getting our employees to be
part of the solution to business problems and challenges, is a
break from the traditional command and control management
structure. This trend is evident by the adoption of lean
manufacturing and other techniques that bring everyone into the
process of running the business. Ongoing training and tuition
reimbursement plans also help increase skill levels of
incumbent employees. These efforts help employees feel more
valued and respected, and they are more likely, then, to stay
with their employer.
Increasingly, businesses need to get out of their comfort
zones and reach out to their local school systems to help the
schools understand the career opportunities and needs of
businesses. These needs are not only academic skills but also
include work habits and workplace expectations. Conversely,
businesses need to understand the challenges of the educational
system. This helps to establish common ground from which to
work together to create graduates who are more aware and better
prepared for careers. Internships, extended learning
opportunities where students learn skills at a business, and
mentoring are among the ways that businesses and schools can
collaborate.
The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire and
the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation are collaborating in
this area. The BIA has established a workforce development
effort focused on bringing businesses and schools together to
accelerate the process of these career awareness
collaborations. The BIA has collected information from its
members who are already working with schools to use as a
template for other businesses to model their own engagement.
The BIA-Charitable Foundation partnership is also
undertaking a 65 by 25 oversight role, working with all
entities in the State focused on workforce development and
post-secondary education. By developing metrics to measure our
collective progress towards that goal, and by increasing
awareness of each entity's efforts, we hope to ensure we are
working most effectively to accomplish our task.
However, we will not reach 65 by 25 just through high
school graduation rates. The decreasing school-age population
will not provide enough people to meet the demand even if every
student knew exactly what career path they planned to travel.
We will help ourselves if we can increase in-State enrollment
in our colleges and universities, as New Hampshire is one of
the highest exporters of students to out-of-State higher
education institutions. We will also help if we can retain more
graduates within the State. Here business engagement, in the
form of internships and sponsored research, is critical to this
effort. All of this is part of the 65 by 25 challenge.
A second area of effort is retraining the underemployed for
higher skilled jobs. New Hampshire has a large segment of
people who have had some post-secondary education but no
degrees. These capable people often do not know of the
opportunities available in business, or of the educational and
training resources already in place in the State to help them
make a transition. The Strategic Partnership Initiatives are
part of the solution to this challenge and will be discussed in
more detail by Phil.
Attracting skilled workers from out of State is the third
way of meeting the 65 by 25 goal. As every State is also
involved in a similar effort, New Hampshire has a lot of
competition for these skilled workers. The particular advantage
New Hampshire had in the past is no longer effective, as other
states have improved their attractiveness to the skilled
workforce. Immigration from other parts of the world can help
overcome these issues, as New Hampshire still provides an
attractive place to work and live for many educated people
coming from other countries.
I have highlighted a few of the many efforts underway in
New Hampshire that are addressing the challenge of growing and
retaining our skilled workforce. The common goal of 65 by 25
has been a way to focus these efforts.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Zanchuk follows:]
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Senator Shaheen. Thanks very much, Val.
Tamer.
STATEMENT OF TAMER KOHEIL, CENTER DIRECTOR, JOB CORPS,
MANCHESTER, NH
Mr. Koheil. Good morning and thank you, Senator.
Again, my name is Tamer Koheil. I am the Director of the
New Hampshire Job Corps located in Manchester, New Hampshire,
the center which opened in 2015, designed to serve 300 students
at a time.
The center serves students from New England, primarily from
New Hampshire. Participants are economically disadvantaged
youth between the ages of 16 to 24.
Job Corps is primarily a residential program. Students go
through an admissions process prior to enrollment. Once in Job
Corps, they live at the center and receive academic,
vocational, and social skills training.
The center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have
dormitories, recreational facilities, and wellness support for
our students on our 30-acre campus.
The New Hampshire center is a career and technical training
and education center that offers comprehensive hands-on
training in nine of New Hampshire's most in-demand fields.
Trade programs include Advanced Manufacturing, Electrical,
Facilities Maintenance, Security Services, Culinary Arts,
Hospitality Services, Medical Administrative Assistant,
Clinical Medical Assistant, and Licensed Nursing Assistant. We
also offer advanced college training programs in our CAD
program, Computer Aided Design, Robotics, Registered Nursing,
Hotel and Restaurant Management, Pharmacy Technician, and
Cybersecurity. We have partnered with Manchester Community
College, Nashua Community College, St. Joseph School of
Nursing, and CVS to offer these programs.
All of our instructors have years of experience working in
the field that they teach. Our students receive industry
recognized credentials and certificates that give them a leg up
in the job market and assure employers that our students have
the skills they are looking for.
We also accept students with or without high school
diplomas.
Based on my more than 10 years of Job Corps experience, I
have identified three proven strategies that actually help us
prepare our students for the New Hampshire workforce.
The first one is employability and soft skills development.
So in addition to academic and vocational skills training, we
dedicate significant time and effort helping our students
develop their soft skills. Punctuality, being respectful,
dressing appropriately, these are all vital components to
successful employment. As a residential program, we conduct a
number of employability skills development programs after the
normal training day. Based on feedback from our business
partners in the New Hampshire community, we know how important
cultivating these life skills can be.
The second factor is employer involvement. Active employer
involvement is essential. We work closely with a number of New
Hampshire employers to determine their training and workforce
needs. We conduct Workforce Council meetings to have employers
review our curriculum, tour our training sites, meet with
students to discuss career goals, and provide input into the
certifications and skills needed to be prepared for above
entry-level jobs. Many examples that we have, we have employers
that currently work with us at the Omni Resorts Mt. Washington,
Portsmouth Internal Medicine, Textiles Coated International,
and many others.
The third factor is actually work-based learning. A key
component of our training is off-center work-based learning,
commonly known as internships or work experience. Typically,
students spend four to six weeks at a job site to receive on-
the-job training. It is our goal to work closely with the
employer in order to transform these experiences into full-time
employment upon completion of Job Corps. However, we recognize
that not all students will be hired after their internship. But
it is a tremendous work experience and allows us to get
employer feedback on how to strengthen the job readiness skills
of our students.
One of the things that we also work on with our employers
is having a pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program. We
just signed an MOU with CVS for an apprenticeship program, and
more to come. This is our direction to support the needs of the
workforce these days.
Also, I would like to mention that as an entity we are all
about supporting small business. We have spent in the past year
or so more than $1 million on various goods to support our
mission. All were purchased from local small business vendors.
Our program is for people that want to change their lives,
who want to achieve their career and life goals. We give them
marketable and highly sought skills so they can do that.
In closing, I would like to extend my thanks to Senator
Shaheen and the entire New Hampshire congressional delegation
for all their efforts in supporting the mission of the New
Hampshire Job Corps. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Koheil follows:]
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Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Tamer.
Phil.
We're sharing mics this morning.
STATEMENT OF PHIL PRZYBYSZEWSKI, WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS PROJECT
DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, SECTOR
PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE, MANCHESTER, NH
Mr. Przybyszewski. Hello there. My name is Phil
Przybyszewski, and as the Senator did a great job pronouncing
my name, I really appreciate that, because most people don't.
Senator Shaheen. I practiced.
Mr. Przybyszewski. It says here I work for the Community
College System of New Hampshire, which is true, but I'm on loan
to the Office of Workforce Opportunity to start a new program
called Sector Partnership Initiative, and I'm going to talk
about that today, and I appreciate the opportunity to do that,
Senator.
As you know, the adoption of a Sector Partnership
Initiative or sector strategy in New Hampshire is a requirement
of the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act of 2014. It's not
like an option. We'll be doing this because we need to do it to
continue getting the appropriate funds we need to support our
workforce.
The Office of Workforce Opportunity, which I work for
within the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, on
behalf of the State Workforce Innovation Board, was charged
with implementing this new way of approaching workforce
development, and the initiative was funded by a Federal grant--
thank you so much--a National Emergency Grant, which included
money for staff, and this is the staff right here, as well as
training dollars that we use to provide training, support, as
well as on-the-job training and reimbursement to companies who
bring people into their facilities to get trained.
Really of significance here is the fact that SPI is an
industry-driven initiative. Even though I work for the
community college, the intent of this program is to enable
industry sectors to be able to run with this once we've got it
set up and running, and we are well on our way to making that
happen.
The process began in 2015, so we've been at this for a
little bit over two years. But since that time, a lot of the
focus and effort has been devoted to developing sector
partnerships in several key industries. A steering committee
was established comprised of stakeholders from the industry,
State agencies, community-based organizations, education and
training providers, the DOL Office of Apprenticeship, and the
Governor's Office participated on our steering committee.
A data-driven approach was taken to leverage the resources
of the New Hampshire Economic and Market Information Bureau,
which are fabulous resources the State has, to select four
sectors to work on. The sectors that we selected were
manufacturing or advanced manufacturing, depending on how you
want to look at it; health care; technology, which we used to
call IT but it's really more than just IT--technology covers
all the sectors, quite frankly; and hospitality. Each of these
sectors is a vibrant contributor to our economy here in New
Hampshire.
And keeping to the industry-driven concept, each sector has
champions and intermediaries to drive the process in their
sectors. As a matter of fact, we have some of those people
right here in this room today. So we have a champion for our
manufacturing sector here whose name is Val, and I think way in
the back we have a champion from our health care sector, one of
our champions, Sarah Courier.
Senator Shaheen. Raise your hand.
Mr. Przybyszewski. Sarah is way in the back.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
Mr. Przybyszewski. And every one of our sectors has
champions and intermediaries that help drive the process. Since
it's going to be industry driven, we need those people. We need
those people very much.
There's a process called asset mapping. We went through and
looked at each one of these industries and developed a lot of
data points and a lot of information, and what I have here are
the reports for the four sectors that we tackled, and we are
about to embark on a fifth sector called infrastructure,
loosely called infrastructure. Because it's such a big thing,
we don't know exactly what it's going to end up, but I'm going
to tell you about that in a second.
Each of the sectors has very distinct characteristics, as
well as challenges, as you might guess, and a lot of them were
even discussed earlier. In the case of manufacturing, we have
68,000 employees in the State of New Hampshire spread out over
1,950 industries. That's an average of 35 employees each, small
business for sure. Relatively flat growth projected here, but a
lot of churn, a lot of movement within the population of the
workforce primarily caused by retirements, which again I think
was mentioned earlier. Thirty-plus percent of our people
working in this sector are over age 55. If you talk to any
companies, like I'm sure the Senator has, and they say they're
going to be impacted by retirements, you'll hear in the next
five to seven years I'm going to lose about 20 percent of my
workforce. It's a very significant number.
The good news, strong hourly wages here, and the top needs
we find are in CNC machinists, machinist mechanics, and first-
line supervision.
In the case of health care, 88,000 workers spread over
2,800 establishments. That's an average of 31 people per
establishment. Again, small business for sure. Huge growth
rates here, growth rates 10 to 15 percent over the next five
years. That's a lot. Good wages at the top, not so good wages
at the bottom rung of the positions there. Top needs are
nurses, licensed nursing assistants, and medical assistants.
Technology, which we used to call IT, every sector has
technology, believe it or not. If you've got a computer, you're
using technology. There are 61,000 employees, roughly; growth
rates approaching 12 percent over the next five years. Hourly
wages are good here, $37 at the top end, but even the help desk
people make a pretty good wage in this particular sector. We
see the top needs here as being developers, systems analysts,
and user support specialists.
Hospitality, 68,000 employees spread over 4,500
establishments, an average of 15 people per establishment.
Seventy percent of the jobs are concentrated on food service
and drinking establishments. It's a really young workforce
here, 36 percent below the age of 25, so they have different
needs there because of that. High turnover caused by lower
wages, and it's seasonal, particularly up north. A lot of
people may work three or four months a year and then they have
to get another job for the summer or the winter. I think some
of the top needs here are better defined career pathways. They
exist, but they're not recognized by potential employees. And
training programs.
I mentioned infrastructure earlier, and we're really in the
exploratory stage here, but this could be anything from an
airport to a wastewater treatment plant, A to Z practically. So
we're doing our asset mapping, like we did over here, and by
the end of next week we'll have our first draft of the report,
and we'll probably select two or three sub-sectors out of this
large sector. Right now if we can get construction, heavy-duty
construction, bridge work, broadband, which is very important
for us, and energy.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, a
really high number of businesses are small, so the numbers are
just--we validated that for sure. Helping small businesses is
really a key for us to be successful in Sector Partnership
Initiative, or SPI.
One of the things you need to understand, as SPI we kind of
act as an intermediary. I like to call it the connector of the
dots, right? So there are lots of companies out there, and
there are lots of resources, but sometimes they don't know they
exist. So we're trying to connect those people to make sure
they take advantage of what's out there.
One of the ways we do this is we have a document that's
actually embedded in these reports called a summary of major
assets for this particular sector, and what's in here, within
these five or six pages, is identification of all the people
who are convening something in this sector, something that
relates to, in this case, manufacturing. It lists them all out.
This is the first place where this has all been done, although
I know that the 65 by 25 group is doing something very similar
to this. We also identify where can you get training, from high
schools to CT centers to two-year colleges to four-year
universities to third-party independent providers of training.
We also identify in here the target audiences. So one of
the things I like to call the gene pool, we have a fixed gene
pool right now, and we've got to make that pool bigger.
Otherwise, we're just going to keep grabbing out of the pool.
All we're doing is just recycling people. So we're looking at
targeted populations like the unemployed, underemployed,
veterans, what can we do for veterans here, and women, of
course. Technology allows women to do jobs that 10 or 20 years
ago they couldn't because the technology wasn't here yet. It's
here today, so they can have a better opportunity for career
growth.
And also refugees. We're doing a lot of work here
identifying people in the country that maybe have a language
issue or maybe they have a degree wherever they came from, but
they're driving a cab or working at a low-end job. How do we
unleash their potential there?
And also people with disabilities are very important. We
think this asset map is valuable, too, to unlock some of the
secrets to that.
We try to work with companies because we have a lot of
small companies and they don't all have the wherewithal to have
internal training programs or an HR department that has a
training contingent. Most small companies--Val's company is 18
employees or something thereabouts, and he's the bottle washer,
dishwasher, et cetera. He's the guy, right? It's his company.
So we try to bring groups together to work collaboratively and
then find funding sources to help them. We do a lot of work
with NAP because they do a lot of collaborative work just like
that and it fits nicely with what we're trying to do.
And--I was going to call you Governor. Sorry about that.
And, Senator, when you were governor, the New Hampshire Job
Training Fund was formed under your watch, and believe me, we
are using that every day of the week. We've done a lot of
training programs in lean manufacturing, energy management,
first-line supervision, auto repair, ISO 9000 compliance, and
CNC boot camps, all through the use of the Job Training Fund.
A key about this is it's not a free-for-all, right? The
company has to put some skin in the game. They've got to match.
It's a matching grant, so there has to be some investment on
that side of the equation.
In collaboration with the Community College System of New
Hampshire and the Department of Labor Apprenticeship Office, we
strongly support the adoption of registered apprenticeships
with our sector partners. We see this as a proven way to
attract and retain workers while companies commit to investing
in their workforce. Today we have seen most activity in the
health care sector, with training of LNAs and MAs, and the
manufacturing sector with machining and maintenance
technicians.
We also work closely with our education providers. That's
all part of the food chain for us. And we're doing a couple of
projects right now with local high schools, the Nashua High
School right up the street from here. We're helping to
rejuvenate their machine tool program. It was kind of in
disrepair. We rebuilt the advisory board using our leverage to
connections, and now we're locating funding for teacher
training for them so that we can get that program back up on
its feet.
The Creteau Technical Center in Rochester, where we are
helping to develop an in-school training program in composites.
If you know where the Creteau School is, it's 100 yards down
the road from Great Bay Community College's composites
laboratory. So we're trying to work with them to develop a way
to get high school students, using Running Start and other
programs like that, college credits so that they can get a job
right down the street shortly thereafter.
So we're leveraging all those resources, because there's a
$5 million laboratory there. It was paid for by a TAC grant.
We're leveraging that in this particular way.
We already mentioned the 65 by 25. That's really the true
measure of success for a lot of our work here, developing
trainings that will yield some kind of post-secondary
certificate or credential. That's critical.
In closing, Senator, we really appreciate your continued
support of New Hampshire's economy and well-being, and we look
forward to doing that over the years.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Przybyszewski follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Shaheen. Thanks very much. Can you just tell us, if
somebody wanted to get a hold of the reports that you showed,
are those available online?
Mr. Przybyszewski. They are. They are available online at
NewHampshireWorks.org. All of our research is online. So
instead of doing hard copies, if you want to know something
about sector, go to NewHampshireWorks.org. If you want some
more direct information, just see me after, give me your card,
and I'll be happy to spend some time with you.
Senator Shaheen. That's great.
Mr. Przybyszewski. Thank you.
Senator Shaheen. Emily.
STATEMENT OF EMILY HALL WARREN, DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION,
BADGER BALM, GILSUM, NH
Ms. Warren. Thank you for this opportunity.
Senator Shaheen. Can I ask you to speak into the mic?
If you can't hear in the back, if you'd just raise your
hand, we'll try and get the mic closer.
Ms. Warren. Can you hear? Get in closer, okay.
Thank you for this opportunity to talk about some of our
business practices. I work for the Badger Balm company. We're
located in Gilsum, New Hampshire. We are manufacturers of
organic body care products. We have about 100 employees on our
staff. Something that we do a little bit differently is that
we're a B corp., which means that we are incorporated as a
benefit corp., and we also undergo a rigorous certification
process every two years to ensure that we are living up to our
commitment to honor a triple bottom line. That's caring for the
people of our company and our community, caring for the planet,
and also paying attention to our profit, which is important to
do everything else.
Because of our focus on community and people, we have an
embarrassment of riches. I'm honored to say that we're an
Employer of Choice in the region. We do almost no recruiting.
Our employees come to us and they want to stay with us. I
really think that this is because of our approach to business
in that we want to be a force for good in the world, and we
want to be a force for good for our employees.
Because of this, we put a lot of time and energy and
resources into treating people, our employees, as a whole
person, trying to support their families, trying to support
their personal lives, their work/life balance. Examples of that
include a commitment to a living wage. We have a Babies at Work
program where new parents can bring their babies in until
they're six months old or crawling, whichever comes first. We
have a near-site child care center once the babies have aged
out of the Babies at Work program. We have paid primary care
leave for new moms and dads, and paid secondary caregiver leave
for new moms and dads. Just in the last couple of weeks we've
made a commitment to having paid FMLA leave for everyone else
to care for their aging family or for themselves or for another
family member.
So when I talk about all the benefits we have at Badger, I
think that people sometimes think that we're a bunch of crazy
hippies up in Gilsum and that normal companies can't do this.
But there's a lot of things that we do that I strongly believe
other companies can adopt and that they can do with very little
cost and that will lead towards happier, healthier businesses
and happier, healthier employees.
The number-one thing you can do to support families in the
workplace is to offer a flexible workplace schedule for moms
and dads so that they can leave if their kids are sick, or they
can go to a baseball game. There's no cost to that. It might be
a little bit harder to do scheduling-wise, but it makes a huge
difference in the lives of people.
Every company can make a choice to run their business
transparently, to talk to their employees about what they're
doing in their business. Every company can encourage employees
to bring their whole selves to work and create a supportive
community for them.
Another example of a program that we have that is very easy
to implement and has a very structured cost so that you can
budget for it is we have a wellness fund. So we say to
employees we know that you have costs to be healthy that are
not covered by our health insurance, and we'd be happy to pay a
certain amount of money per year towards running shoes or for a
fitness center, and we just budget that in a line item for
every employee, a limited cost, very predictable and very easy
to do, and it makes a huge difference. People feel like they're
being cared for.
So, I guess what I want to say is that Badger is always
looking for new ways to care for its employees and the
community, and when it comes to attracting and retaining
employees I think the most important thing that businesses can
do is make sure that everyone has a voice and a role and feels
like they're part of the organizational process. Val talked
about employee engagement, and that's exactly what I'm talking
about.
Engagement is key to building and retaining a motivated
workforce, so Badger is happy to serve as a resource. We are
happy to talk about this to anyone and everyone who will
listen. So please come and see me afterwards if you'd like to.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Warren follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Shaheen. Thanks very much, Emily.
Lisa.
And again, if you can't hear, raise your hand.
STATEMENT OF LISA WHITAKER, DIRECTOR OF ASSOCIATE SERVICES,
OMNI MT. WASHINGTON RESORT, BRETTON WOODS, NH
Ms. Whitaker. Good morning. Can everybody hear me? Thank
you.
This past February, the Omni Mt. Washington Resort began a
partnership with the Job Corps Center in Manchester, New
Hampshire. Students and staff of the New Hampshire Job Corps
were invited to the Omni Mt. Washington for a tour where they
were able to prepare their own lunch and enjoy smoothies
alongside our team of culinary professionals. After their
enthusiastic visit, which we now plan to make an annual event,
the New Hampshire Job Corps invited a representative from the
Omni Mt. Washington to attend their job fair and tour their
facility. These tours served reciprocal benefits, introducing
the students to the many hospitality and culinary opportunities
available to them at the Mt. Washington, while showing the Mt.
Washington the Job Corps' quality program and potential talent
available to supplement our workforce.
As a result, the Bretton Woods Culinary Academy came to
fruition, which consists of a three-year apprenticeship in
which up to 10 participants will be accepted each year. In
partnership with White Mountains Community College,
participants will also earn a culinary arts associate's degree
after successfully completing the program.
The students participating in this program will be residing
in Bretton Woods while working for the resort and attending
college. In addition, some of their classes will be hands-on
while working for the hotel.
We currently have three Job Corps students in our culinary
program and another working in our food and beverage
department. We have found these students to have good work
ethics, great attitudes, and a desire to learn. They are
engaged, and they are excelling.
So we're located in southern Coos County. The Omni Mt.
Washington draws employees from southern Coos County, as well
as northern Grafton and Carrol Counties. It's a very small
population within commuting distance, so recruitment and
staffing of up to 1,200 employees during peak periods of
business is very difficult for us. Partnerships, like our new
relationship with the New Hampshire Job Corps, is vital.
New Hampshire is also experiencing an aging population, as
has been mentioned earlier, due in part to our younger
generation leaving for areas with more opportunities. New
Hampshire Job Corps provides opportunities to New Hampshire
youth who may not have otherwise had them, and helps them to
turn their lives around, providing them with the potential to
have careers while retaining them for the New Hampshire
workforce.
The Omni Mt. Washington is a proactive employer. We are
always improving our training programs to train and retain
employees and help them to learn to become professionals in the
hospitality industry, an industry which is crucial to the
northern New Hampshire economy. We're also working with
educational facilities at the college and high school levels to
hire youth and provide them with career opportunities in New
Hampshire.
So our new relationship with the New Hampshire Job Corps
has been a successful supplement to our workforce, and we look
forward to a continued and growing partnership with them.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Whitaker follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Lisa.
And thank you all very much for some very interesting and
challenging thoughts about what's happening in the workforce.
I want to start with an issue that most of you mentioned,
and that is that we're losing so many of our young people.
They're leaving the State. They're going out of State for
college and other things, and then they're not coming back.
Several of you addressed ways that you're trying to attract
people here, but are there policies that we should be thinking
about at the State level that would help make New Hampshire
more attractive to younger workers? Are there things that we
should be putting in place to try and keep people here?
I will direct that or open it up to all of you.
Val.
Mr. Zanchuk. I think there are several issues there.
Certainly a financial issue is one of them. In-State tuition is
not necessarily all that attractive, so many of our students
get better deals from other states. They should be getting
their best deal from New Hampshire. That's a State issue
probably more than a Federal issue, but it certainly is one of
the things that makes it difficult for many students to stay
in-State.
The other thing I think is the lack of awareness of career
and career opportunities. So I think, again, at the State level
we need to be reaching out to kids all the way down to maybe
middle school or even below to begin to introduce them to
careers. If the students know that there are opportunities in
the State, they are more likely to stay. If there's an
internship or an extended learning opportunity or some sort of
mentorship available, then those students recognize that there
is something here, and that can go through starting in middle
school up through their high school years and then continuing
into college. So they end up with a relationship with a
business or businesses or industry in New Hampshire and know
that there's an opportunity here.
A lot of these things are being addressed and approached
right now on the State level. I don't know if there's a Federal
opportunity there, but certainly on the State level we are
trying to reach down lower and lower into the grades to develop
career pathway information so that students know early on if
I'm interested in this, then this is the path I can take, these
are the things I need to learn to do. And if we can stimulate
some interest in a career early, then the student has less
uncertainty as they work through school and they begin to
understand what they need to do to get to where they want to
go.
Senator Shaheen. You know, I've also visited some advanced
manufacturers who have talked about not just the need to reach
out to students but to their parents, that many parents still
think about manufacturing in the way that it was when I grew up
and my father was in the shoe business. The shoe factory looked
very different in those days than advanced manufacturing looks
today.
So what we need to do is to help parents recognize the
career potential in those businesses, that everybody may not
need a four-year degree in order to take some of those jobs.
Mr. Przybyszewski. I think the other thing that's important
is when parents think about the dirty, dark, and dangerous days
of the grandfather who lost a finger, et cetera, it's not like
that. You can eat off the floor in most of these companies.
The other people who have to be educated is the guidance
counselors in our school systems to understand that there are
opportunities, fabulous opportunities out there that don't mean
you have to go away to college somewhere, maybe community
college, and maybe a certificate program.
We've got jobs begging for people that don't require four-
year degrees and that are well-paying jobs. So they're out
there. Believe me, they are.
Now I sound like Donald Trump, ``Believe me, they are.''
[Laughter.]
Senator Shaheen. Emily, you wanted to add something.
Ms. Warren. I do. You're talking about students choosing to
stay in New Hampshire for college, but then once they graduate
from college it's a different demographic. You're looking at
young families. When I think about young families and their
needs, things that I think about that can be impacted on a
State and Federal level include quality child care
availability----
Senator Shaheen. Absolutely.
Ms. Warren [continuing]. Quality school systems for young
children, and then another issue that is on the Federal level
is paid FMLA. So parents who are caring for young children,
parents who are caring for their aging parents, and making it
affordable and flexible and enjoyable to stay in the workforce.
Senator Shaheen. For sure. Unfortunately, I think our
Federal tax credit for child care has increased only one time
since the 1970s, and clearly it's not keeping pace with the
cost of child care.
As I think maybe you pointed out, Val, we also have too
many students who, because of their student loans, can't afford
to take the job that maybe they want to take because they can't
pay off their student loans. That's a huge role for the Federal
Government and a place where we can partner with states.
Mr. Przybyszewski. I think one of the things just to add
that we find in our analysis is that affordable housing is a
big issue, particularly up north, but even in Portsmouth. If
you live in Maine and drive across the bridge to go to work, we
need to find a way to get more affordable housing for our
people. And if you're a millennial and you don't have internet
service, forget it, I'm not going to work here. They live on
their phones.
So we need to figure out, make sure broadband is all over
the State, where it needs to be.
Senator Shaheen. And then I know it's an issue in the North
Country.
Ms. Warren. Yes, very much so. And I've heard of other
states as well who have, say for recent college grads, if they
stay in the State, they would get some kind of loan
reimbursement, tuition loan reimbursement or help with housing
if they decided to stay in the State.
Senator Shaheen. I think both of those are really creative
ideas. The challenge has been resources, of course. So we need
to think about how we can provide incentives for the kinds of
things that you talked about, Emily, that don't necessarily
cost money but help attract people to the jobs.
I want to ask you, Phil, a little bit about broadband,
because it is one of the things that I find the most
frustrating in work that I've done in New Hampshire. I've been
working on broadband since I was governor 20 years ago, and we
still have the same pockets in so much of the State where you
can't get high-speed internet. And what does that mean? I mean,
maybe all of you can address what that means for your effort to
attract workers for your employees as they're thinking about
where they want to go.
Mr. Przybyszewski. I think that for a younger person--I
mean, I'm an old dude, but I still do a lot on my phone. But
they do everything on their phone. They live and breathe on the
phone. I've had people tell me, quote, ``I will not take a job
in New Hampshire unless there's internet coverage where I'm
going to work and live.'' It's just pervasive. I mean, we have
to deal with that somehow. It's real, and it's an issue.
Senator Shaheen. Any other comments on that?
[No response.]
The other thing I would say is--I know Lisa knows this, but
for people in the North Country, there are areas of northern
New Hampshire that not only don't have access to high-speed
broadband, they don't have access to cell coverage. And it's
something, again, that we've worked very hard on in my office
but still remains a challenge. We need to think about what we
can do primarily at the Federal level to provide some
incentives for the private sector to get in and provide
service. At some point we may need to think about what we did
back in the 1930s with rural electrification where we have to
step in and really pay for that last mile for broadband to get
to some of our homes and communities in the State.
Women in the workforce, you addressed that a little bit,
Phil, in talking about that being a place where we could get
some additional workers.
Emily, you talked about what Badger has done to keep women
in the workforce. How important is what you talked about in
getting women to stay in the workforce after they have
children?
Ms. Warren. I think you can't really quantify how important
it is. Women are over half of our workers, right? It should be
this way. We're still oftentimes carrying a lot of the burden
for caring for our children, at least in the early years. With
our Babies at Work program, for example, we found women are
excited to come back to work. They can bring their child back
to work with them. It encourages children's health because of
the opportunity to breastfeed. It encourages mom's health
because they have a community who is surrounding them,
recognizing that they have just had a momentous change in their
family. And they're more engaged because they're not wondering,
oh my goodness, what's happening to my little, fragile newborn
while I'm not with them. So I think it makes a huge difference.
Senator Shaheen. Val, one of the areas that it's often been
challenging to get women to participate in is the STEM jobs,
engineering and some of the non-traditional roles for women.
Has that been an issue that you've seen, and have you tried to
address that in any way?
Mr. Zanchuk. Well, in our business we've had some women
working on the floor, on the factory floor. That's been sort of
an in-and-out type of situation for us, although we do have
women working for us. They're all beyond child-bearing age and
they have a pretty stable existence.
In my work with the Pre-Engineering Council, we've had a
lot of effort on Technology Days and Women in Engineering
programs and whatever, and it is certainly getting better. But
I think the last numbers I saw were something like 20 percent
of engineering involvement is women. They make up half the
population. Why isn't it 50 percent women? And we have a
shortage of engineers in certain areas, and here's all this
talent and potential not being utilized.
But I think still, within a lot of these industries,
there's a lot of bias against women being there. It may not be
overt, but it's certainly in many cases very subtle and hidden,
and it's very difficult for women to have a career in these
areas. Besides their life pressures of having children and
whatever, there are a lot of people who I think just don't want
women in the workforce, and that's unfortunate. It's getting
better, but it's a difficult process to get beyond, and I think
there are a lot of things that happen to discourage girls from
going into STEM fields right from the beginning. Even their
teachers and their parents saying things to them and influence
them to get away from that--no, you don't want to go there, you
want to go here--so that's what they hear.
Luckily, what we're finding with a lot of the pre-
engineering programs, because we're bringing them down to
kindergarten now with State legislation, our support of pre-
engineering goes K through 12, there is an opportunity to
introduce technology to these young girls early on where it
becomes a natural part of their operation.
Here in Nashua, in the middle schools, all three middle
schools have the same pre-engineering program, and it's part of
their curriculum. It's not a special project. It's not
something they elect to be in. It's part of their curriculum.
The girls go through it just like the boys do. It's a natural
part of training. What's happened is their interest in pre-
engineering and STEM, it goes into the high school.
Now the high school is getting overwhelmed with all of
these students coming out of middle school wanting to get
involved with pre-engineering and manufacturing. Phil and I
have been over trying to get the manufacturing program
reinstituted, but we know that the pre-engineering faculty is
having to be increased to meet that demand.
So the earlier we get them, the more natural it is to be
inquisitive and mechanical and a tinkerer, then the women will
not think it's a strange existence and they'll be there. We're
getting there, we're getting there.
Senator Shaheen. Tamer, what are you seeing among the
students who come into Job Corps? Do people self-segregate?
Mr. Koheil. We try not to do that, but most of them, they
come for hospitality and culinary arts, medical. However, we
currently have one student in facility maintenance, we had one
in electrical, and we had one in advanced manufacturing. So Job
Corps continues to promote women in non-traditional trades.
That's what we're trying to do. But most of them come to Job
Corps with their mind set on either medical or hospitality.
Senator Shaheen. Phil, you talked about one of the areas
where there is potential for workers in New Hampshire, among
our immigrant population. I know that one of the real
challenges we've had this summer with the hospitality industry,
as the number of visas have been shrunk, has been getting in
some of the workers that we need in the industry.
I don't know if that's been an issue that you've seen,
Lisa, but maybe you could speak to what that has meant as you
struggle to find people for this season.
Ms. Whitaker. It is. It has been difficult. We had a call
with one of our agencies just yesterday and learned that it may
be decreased even more with the next round. We, of course, are
always recruiting for U.S. citizens to work for us, but we
can't fill all of our jobs.
For example, right now we have about 950 people employed.
We have about 75 job openings right now, current openings. So
it's always a chore. It's always difficult to fill those
positions, so we do need to supplement, bringing in J-1 visas
or H2Bs. We actually have H2Bs coming in this Friday.
So it is essential to us to be able to provide the service
and keep our business running to have these workers come in,
and having those programs cut is making it very difficult.
Senator Shaheen. Phil, do you want to comment?
Mr. Przybyszewski. One of the things we've uncovered in our
work--it started out in health care but ended up being more
than that--is that there are roughly 3,000 immigrants and
refugees in the Nashua, Manchester, and Concord strip, and we
found a company that is applying for a grant, and we're
supporting their application for that to unlock opportunities
for them, and it really impacts all of our sectors because they
have a lot of good skills, they're underemployed today. They
might have a language issue that we can fix with English as a
second language classes. They have normally fabulous work
ethic, maybe even better than our own people do because they're
hungry to succeed.
So we're trying to tap into that, to get to that gene pool
thing again, to enlarge that pool somehow. So we're seeking out
agencies and organizations that work with--Easter Seals has a
good program. Asyntria has a good program. That's the
connecting-the-dots part. We're trying to figure out where they
are, how can we help, and how we can connect them with the
right folks and sectors.
Senator Shaheen. Great.
I know we're about out of time, but I want to address one
final issue before we close, because it has been such a huge
challenge in New Hampshire, and that is the heroin and opioid
crisis that we have faced and how that has affected the
workforce, because another concern that I've heard as I've
traveled around the State has been it's been hard to get
workers because we find so many people who have been using
drugs or have taken opioids that have led to addiction and
substance use disorders.
Can I ask if that's anything that's come up among your
workforce, or is it something that you've heard from people?
And it leads us to the second half of that, which is how do
we continue to address this crisis in a way that helps people
with substance use disorders and gets them back into the
workforce to become productive citizens?
I don't know if anybody has addressed this.
Mr. Zanchuk. Well, as a 26-person operation, we've had some
issues with employees having abuse problems, but I think even
if we get past this crisis, we're going to have a population
that has some sort of history of abuse, and I think as
employers we're going to have to come to grips with the fact
that many of our employees are going to have some sort of
history that maybe in the past we felt we could avoid, but
we're going to have to learn how to deal with it.
How do you deal with someone that's been an alcoholic or
has been a substance abuser, someone that spent some time in
county jail or something like that? I mean, these people had an
issue. They have, many times, overcome it, but they're left
with this trail. With the unemployment rate so low and all of
us struggling for workers, I think we're going to have to
understand how we're going to deal with this population that's
coming through. We can't ignore them.
I'm sure in the hospitality industry it's a common issue,
and how do you deal with it is going to be a question. It's a
change in philosophy and thought about how in the future, as
employers, we're going to deal with this. We have to worry
about safety on the floor and all these other sorts of things,
but we also recognize that a lot of people are going to be good
workers, they just have had an issue in the past that we have
to somehow understand and be sensitive to and not just reject
them.
Ms. Warren. I would really echo what Val is saying. This is
something that we're thinking a lot about at Badger and have
been in the last two months or so, because whether it's someone
in your community who has a substance abuse disorder or it's
their family members or their friends or they're affected by
it, we don't know anyone who isn't affected by this crisis
right now.
Thinking about businesses' role in society and role in our
community, the place that we've come to is to say we need to be
providing support for our employees and helping them through
the flexibility that we offer in the workplace, but also
through education. So we're working with two organizations in
the State of New Hampshire. One is a new organization. It's
called Be An Opportunity, or BAO Communications, education
about how you can be a recovery coach to people, and we're
going to be providing that training to all of our managers. And
then also Hope for New Hampshire Recovery offers a workplace
initiative program where I can provide a phone number to anyone
in our company who comes to me and says this has been going on
with my family, this has been going on with my friend, and they
will do--I think they call it assertive linkage to a recovery
center in the State.
I agree, this is about not shutting down people's
opportunities. It's about how do we manage and help people to
keep those opportunities so that they can get well, versus
being ostracized. We feel pretty passionately about that.
Senator Shaheen. That's very well said from both of you.
One of the things the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery
Act legislation did at the Federal level was to try to look at
some of the forms that are typical that employees fill out when
they're applying for a job, or that workers fill out when
they're applying for a job, and think about where there are
changes that need to be made to that so that it doesn't
automatically disqualify you if you had a problem at some point
in your life with substance use.
So I do think, as you point out, this is very important for
employers to think about because the happier the workforce is,
the less concerned they are about their families, about their
own personal situation, the more productive they're going to
be, and the better the workplace is going to be. So it's
something that is really important for all of us to be thinking
about.
As I said, we promised we would try and end by noon. I want
to again thank all of you for testifying. You've given us a lot
to think about and very thoughtful responses to the real
challenges that we're facing, and ideas for how to address
those and how to keep New Hampshire's economy robust and give
people opportunities.
My father always said to me that the best thing you can do
for somebody is give them a good job, and I believe that
wholeheartedly, and thinking about ways in which we can
increase opportunities for people in New Hampshire is really
important.
So thank you all very much for what you're doing on a day-
to-day basis, and especially for being here.
Let me just close out officially the hearing and let you
know that the testimony today will be part of the official
transcript of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Committee. It will be shared in Washington. And as we think
about legislation that we should be looking at to address some
of these challenges, it will be very helpful as we think about
that legislation.
I also want to again point out that we have written
testimony that can be submitted. In two weeks anybody can
submit written testimony within a two-week period, and we will
include that as part of the record of this hearing as well.
Let me also just point out, since Phil brought his show-
and-tell reports, I wanted to point out that we have a resource
guide that's available I think on the table outside, if you
would like it, that is put out by the Small Business Committee,
and it's helping New Hampshire small businesses. It's the
resources that are available to small businesses in the State
as you're looking at the challenges that you face.
So again, thank you all very much for being here. Thank you
to the panelists especially for the great ideas and for the
work that you do.
I would now like to officially close this hearing.
[Applause.]
[Whereupon, at 12:08 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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