Community members come from all walks of life. Not all had the opportunity to attend college, receive career guidance, or even finish their high school education. However, they have still developed and can develop skills to enter the workplace. State and federally-funded community workforce development programs help individuals earn skills to fill employment gaps in their area.
A study of CAAL-Skills showed that a year after entering the program, participants made nearly $1000 more per quarter than when they started. Results like these can be encouraging, but it requires careful planning and alignment between workforce programs and the organizational goals of businesses in the area.
Workforce development software like PlanStreet bridges the gaps between entities involved in workforce development, easing communication and aligning goals between the two sectors. Keep reading to learn how.
What is Workforce Development Software?
Workforce development software is a platform for professionals to administer state and workforce development programs. Tools built into the software help communities foster talent in their area with intuitive features such as needs assessments, educational resources, and employer engagement.
Software creates an online hub to streamline training, upskill community members, and match them to employers needing their skills. While in-person services can still be part of the program, software allows you to complete this work from any location, allowing more people to learn and grow.
How to Align Workforce Development with Organizational Goals
While workforce development programs are a fantastic resource, they must match the organizational goals of businesses and the community as a whole. If not, they’ll offer skills that aren’t needed, wasting time and taxpayer dollars.
Workforce development software can help align service providers with organizational goals through:
- Improved collaboration and networking: brings partners together in a central location to share data, insights, and feedback.
- Elevated service delivery: increases resource availability for community members and helps organizations deliver services faster.
- Skills development: tracks employee skills and performance to identify areas for improvement.
- Data-driven decision making: Analytics and data show which programs work best, allowing organizations to improve outcomes.
Follow the four steps below to match workforce development to organizational goals, creating ideal workforce alignment to community needs.
1. Implement Training Programs That Improve Strategic Objectives
Employment plans and training programs are critical for clients to grow and develop the right skills for the community. Organizations can communicate with local leaders about strategic objectives, such as regional economic growth or sector-specific skills, and create plans to match them.
Tracking these training programs and goals is critical to their success. Only 51% of companies even consider aligned goals, but it’s one of the best ways to ensure programs match gaps. Workforce development software can help employees break down these goals into programs that upskill workers to meet market demand. PlanStreet offers Outcomes and Tracking Management, which aids organizations in tracking participants through program milestones, including:
- Skills assessments
- Job training
- Placement
- Retention
- Employer engagement
Organizations can utilize software to stay aligned with strategic objectives and make changes where necessary to remain on track.
2. Prioritize Performance Improvement Through Skill Building
Organizational goals can only be met if the community knows the right skills to meet them. Workforce development software offers critical tools to upskill and reskill employees.
One of the most essential parts of the workforce development process is the vocational evaluation. During the assessment, an expert uses a mix of standardized testing, interviews, and previous work experience to help clients find the best career path. An evaluation like this is often the first step to creating an employment plan. PlanStreet offers an intuitive skills assessment tool to match clients to the right programs.
Another helpful tool in workforce development software is the customized client journey. Your team can populate the process needed to complete a skills development program. Then, as the client works through the program, the software guides them on each step to take next. This encourages completion with minimal oversight from your team. Of course, you can always use the outcomes tracker to understand bottlenecks or barriers to completion for your clients and then figure out the solutions to help them move past them.
3. Use Analytics to Achieve Long-Term Growth
Three in five organizations look to data analytics to increase innovation. One of the most significant benefits of workforce development software is the ability to track long-term growth through data analytics. You can create a steady pipeline of talent by understanding the trends in employment and matching them with the skills development provided.
Data-driven workforce development involves:
- Tracking skills gaps: utilize reporting to regularly check which skills are most valuable in the workplace and then develop programs to help people attain them.
- Performance improvement: reporting can show where clients are doing the best in learning new skills and which programs need some changes to satisfy the needs of clients and communities better.
- Long-term organizational progress: tracking progress on a software platform enables you to glean data from different silos, with reporting features to study what’s worked and what hasn’t. This helps you obtain a bird’s eye view of which programs are creating long-term organizational growth and which ones need restructuring.
PlanStreet utilizes Microsoft Power BI, which is embedded into the software. You can easily visualize data with a few clicks, with hundreds of options and pre-built data connectors. This allows you to build dashboards that are easy to understand, creating access to understanding for critical stakeholders.
4. Utilize Workforce Training Solutions for Community Development
Workforce development software helps organizations scale their programs for community and state-sponsored initiatives. These programs typically follow strict guidelines to meet funding requirements and follow proper procedures and protocols. For example, under the WIOA, states must submit plans covering the six core programs of the workforce development system.
Workforce training solutions can be highly specialized in workforce development software. Users can create custom plans down to the individual client. The software also helps organizations partner with community colleges, with collaboration tools allowing seamless communication. This means that the skills clients develop can come from accredited institutions, giving them more ability to increase financial gain when entering the workplace.
Plus, referral features keep newly developed talent within the community, driving business growth and developing economic stability for the surrounding area.
Workforce Development in Action: Maricopa County, AZ
The Apprenticeship USA program is a great example of how communities can utilize local workforce development. The Maricopa County Workforce Development Board follows the RAP model, which consists of paid on-the-job learning (OJL) and an academic component that supplements OJL. The program has an exciting success rate, with 93.6% of the participants employed. The program has a few suggestions for others looking to see these kinds of statistics:
- Get leaders of all levels involved, informing them of the values of workforce development.
- Conduct regular check-ins with all workforce development programs.
- Create goals that work for everyone, and design a program that reflects these goals.
- Ensure all the players understand what apprenticeship looks like to mitigate expectations.
- Have one staff member on-site at the apprenticeship location to serve as a liaison.
- Conduct a needs assessment and provide services to maximize participation.
- Never forget to celebrate the successes.
Software like PlanStreet can facilitate these suggestions. Our robust collaboration tools, needs assessment, and outcome tracking helps everyone understand the importance of the program and to help celebrate the wins.
Implement a Business Growth Strategy With PlanStreet’s Workforce Development Software
PlanStreet offers the tools your workforce development program needs to align organizational goals and achieve long-term growth. Our power platform creates a place for all collaborators to communicate, track outcomes, and improve their communities.
Our workforce development software includes:
- Needs assessment
- Outcome tracking
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities
- Access to educational resources
Let our team show you how our workforce development software can improve outcomes at your organization, and schedule a live demo today.