Synchronist Supplemental Workforce Survey

Summary

• Conducted from July 2013 to October 2013

• Companies throughout the seven county region known as Iowa’s Creative Corridor

• 43 companies took part

• Represent 9,000+ jobs in Iowa’s Creative Corridor

Companies Participating

Acciona WindpowerAlliant EnergyApacheCarePro Health ServicesCentro, Inc.CIPCOCIVCO Medical SolutionsCompleWare CorporationEconomy Advertising CompanyESP InternationalFrontier Natural Products

GDITGEICOIDx LLCInfinity ContactInnovative Software EngineeringIowa Bridge & Culvert, LCIowaWORKSLeepfrogMediRevvMercerMercy Hospital

Companies Participating

Metro Wire and CableMidamar CorporationMidwest Metal ProductsMidWestOne BankMount Mercy UniversityMSI Mold BuildersNIS, Inc.NordstromProcter & Gamble/Oral BProcter & Gamble Beauty PlantRiverside Casino & Golf Resort

Robert Half TechnologySDW ConsultingSedgwick CMSSkyworks Solutions, Inc.Stamats Communications, Inc.TrueNorthUnited Fire GroupUniversity of Iowa FoundationWCHCWest Music Company

Q2: In the past year at your facility, how many new hires were:

Q 6, 7 and 8: Of the 827 salaried, executive and management level hires:

• Approximately 21% are from outside the area• Approximately 25% are

recent grads (associate, 2 year, 4 year, professional, or technical college degree or certification)

• Approximately 7% were non-Caucasian

Q4: At this time, how many unfilled positions in your company

0-3 positions53%

4-10 po-sitions18%

11-20 positions

15%

21-75 positions

12%

76+ positions3%

980 unfilled positions (includes an outlier of 671)

Q35: What basic skills/knowledge gaps do job applicants have in your industry

Humanities/arts

History/geography

Science

Government/economics

English language (spoken)

Reading comprehension (in English)

Mathematics (computation)

Writing in English (grammar, spelling, etc.)

Technical (computer, engineering, mechanical, etc.)

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

2.7%

2.7%

8.1%

8.1%

16.2%

21.6%

40.5%

62.2%

67.6%

Q 6, 7, 8: Which position(s) are you having the biggest difficulty hiring?

Tech

nica

l/Eng

inee

r

Hea

lthca

re

Prof

ession

al

Advan

ced

Mftg

./Ski

lled

Labo

r

Gener

al L

abor

Custo

mer

Ser

vice

/Cleric

al

Other

Hou

rly0

5

10

15

20

25

30

25

4

21

8 75 4

Increase27%

Be Stable47%

Decrease2%

None (Don't antic-ipate hiring from outside the area)

24%

Q 9 & 10: Do you anticipate the % of new hires from outside the area will:

Q 9 & 10: Do you anticipate the % of recent college grads you hire will be

Increasing35%

Stable47%

None (Don't anticipate hir-ing recent col-

lege grads)18%

Q11: How difficult is it to attract candidates from OUTSIDE the region?

Year/Avera

geNot 2 3 4 5 6 Very

2013/4.2

6.52 10.87 19.57 17.39 19.57 17.39 8.7

2012/4.6

2.6 2.6 28.2 28.2 10.3 28.2 0

2011/3.64

7.69 12.82 35.9 15.38 10.26 15.38 2.56

Q12: How challenging are these factors when recruiting

In the past three years, the top challenging factors for recruiting talent from OUTSIDE of Iowa’s Creative Corridor have stayed the same:

1. Perception of area2. Opportunities for spouse/partner3. Salary4. Cost of living

National Boards16%

Networking / Fam-ily / Referrals

19%

Company19%

Agencies19%

Marketing the Area28%

What have you found to be your best tools or strategies for attracting talent from OUTSIDE the region? Please

provide 2.

Q13: What have you found to be your best strategy for attracting talent?

Q 16 & 17: Top 3 reasons salaried and management level employees leave

Limited Growth Opportunity

32%

Compensation17%Relocating

11%

Culture/Work-Life Balance

15%

Proximity to Home6%

Retirement4%

Changing Careers4%

Bad Fit/Management10%

n=38

Q 16 & 17: Top 3 reasons hourly, contract, temp employees leave

• Compensation

• New Opportunity

• Shift/hours

Q21: How challenging is it to retain workers from OUTSIDE the area

Scale

Not 2 3 4 5 6 Very

2013/

3.157 10 8 9 2 3 2

Q25: Does your organization have an internship program?

Yes - Formal, PAID internship program

Yes - Formal, UNPAID internship program

No internship program0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Q26: In the past year, approximately how many interns have you had?

0 interns13%

1-3 in-

terns37%

4-5 in-

terns30%

6-10 interns10%

25-99 interns7%

100+ interns3%

n=29

Q28: Rate the characteristics of the interns at your organization

ScalePoo

r 2 3 Good 5 6Excelle

nt

Quality/5.71 0 0 0 6 5 8 9

Stability/5.25 0 0 2 6 8 7 5

Local Availabilit

y/5.181 1 2 5 4 9 6

Create a strong pipeline

Long term investment

Developing future leaders

Opportunity for staff to mentor and supervise

New point of view

Community relations

Increase diversity

Other (please specify)

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

82.1%

60.7%

50.0%

46.4%

32.1%

35.7%

32.1%

7.1%

Q27: What are the benefits of an internship program

Increasing48.3%

Stable41.4%

Decreasing3.4%

None (Don't antic-ipate using in-

terns in the next 3 years)6.9%

Q29: Over the next 3 years, do you anticipate the use of interns to be:

Q30: What Iowa schools for interns?

Iowa; 39%

Kirkwood; 26%

Iowa State; 18%

Coe; 7%

Mt. Mercy ; 7%

Cornell; 1% Hawkeye Tech; 1% NICC; 1%

Inside or outside Iowa?

Q31: What external schools for interns?

• Schools listed alphabetically– University of Illinois– Michigan State– University of Minnesota– Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

(Terre Haute, IN)

– Stanford– Wake Forest– Washington University– University of Wisconsin

Q32: What challenges do you attribute to internship programs?

Lack of housing

No need

Need more diversity

Timing

Head count restraints

Don't know how to start

Lack of right candidates

Lack of meaningful work

Time Commitment

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

1

1

1

2

2

2

3

4

5

What challenges do you attribute to managing or establishing an internship program?

Q41: Over the next year, what will you focus on most regarding workforce?