Top 5 Workforce Questions to Ask During a Site Visit

Workforce continues to be a major driver of site selection decisions in today’s marketplace. Now, more than ever, there’s plenty of data to help make an informed site selection decision and find the state, community, and site that meets the needs of an advanced manufacturing project. While traditional data from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics complements more advanced job posting and talent profile data, it’s critical to ask direct questions of communities to get the full story on workforce conditions in any given market. Site Selection Group leads visits across the country that focus on workforce conditions. These visits range in duration from a few hours to a few days. Based on these experiences, Site Selection Group has identified five critical questions every company should ask a prospective community during a site visit.  

1. How far will workers really commute in this market?

Economic developers and workforce partners typically lead any workforce discussion by defining the labor shed for a community or a particular site, that is, the area from which an employer would realistically attract most of their workers. But like any good marketer, many economic development groups can get a little aggressive with that range. Especially in more rural communities, Site Selection Group often hears some type of standard “in this community, miles equal minutes, and you can expect to attract workers from at least 60 miles or 60 minutes away.”  

That’s true in some cases, but for most companies, they’re much more likely to attract the majority of their workforce from much closer in, typically 15-20 minutes away. As a result, it’s important to ask a community to “prove it” by showing an example of a similar advanced manufacturing operation in the market and from where they actually attract their workers. Showing actual points on a map of where workers commute from is much more important than exaggerated labor sheds.  

2. Who’s the employer of choice in my industry, and how do they do it?

Employer dynamics are a critical aspect of the workforce that can’t be fully captured by data.  Specifically, it’s critical to ask workforce partners, and especially partners like staffing agencies, who the employer of choice is in the manufacturing sector in this market. Now, oftentimes, that employer of choice earns that reputation because they pay significantly higher than other companies in town. But sometimes that’s because of a multitude of other hard and soft benefits such as good health care c56sxoverage, favorable shifts, good management, or simple things like treating employees to weekly lunches or beverages during the day. 

From that understanding, a prospective company can start figuring out where their niche is in the marketplace. And while competitive wages are important, Site Selection Group often sees our clients quickly understand the importance of all those other factors to be successful in that community.  

3. Who are the bottom employers, and what are they doing wrong?

The flip side is related: Who are the least attractive manufacturing employers in the community, and implicitly, how can my prospective company attract some of those workers to seed my new operations? For example, sometimes even good companies with high wages have a reputation in a community for being a tough place to work. That can be places that are physically demanding, for example, or those that have less attractive shifts. By exploring this question and the one above, a prospective company can quickly understand how it is going to stack up in a community.  

4. How well funded are your K-12 schools, technical training institutions, workforce development efforts, and other programs?

Most states and communities have a wide range of workforce training partners and programs, ranging from introducing middle school and even elementary school students to advanced manufacturing careers, to highly advanced technical training programs. There’s no shortage of workforce programs, initiatives, acronyms, and clever names during a community workforce visit. But in Site Selection Group’s experience, it’s not whether a community has the right programs, but whether they are well-funded to meet the actual needs of employers.  

As a result, it’s critical for a prospective company to ask a community to prove that it is putting its money where its mouth is. Having a targeted technical training program is great, but if the state has cut funding to the community college system in recent years, that can be a major red flag. On the other hand, a community that just approved a major bond referendum to build a training center for high school students would be a very good sign.  

5. When’s the right time to engage each of those partners?

Again, economic development and workforce partners oftentimes do a very good job on site visits of telling a prospective company about all the workforce resources in a community. But all the information and programs can be overwhelming, and it can get confusing as to when a company should start engaging with traditional workforce development agencies, community colleges, K-12, colleges, and universities. As a result, be sure to ask when you should start actually working with those partners. In some cases, a prospective company might want to start working with some partners even before a decision is made, months or even years before operations commence. In other cases, it may be years before it’s important to really start working with other partners.