Biz 723 Upskilling Dept_Dept 7 / 7 / 23 11 : 09 AM Page 1 W O R K F O R C E “ We interviewed 20 job seekers and conducted 12 focus groups with employers representing industries from a broad spec - trum , including banking , construction , education , government , manufacturing , technology , tourism , trades and utilities , ” says Devon Zimski , a senior research proj - ect administrator at WRI who served as An Essential the lead on the project . “ The goal of taking all this data was to analyze it and then highlight the overlapping themes Tool between our job seekers and our em - ployers , to add to the body of evidence Upskilling can be mutually beneficial to around how people are finding and keep - employees and employers as the business ing jobs and to help build on a lot of the progress that we know is already hap - landscape continues to evolve . pening in South Jersey . ” [ by Matt Cosentino ] Theimportance of upskilling factored into several of the many conclusions or the past two decades , the Senator Walter Rand Institute for drawn from the research . No longer just Public Affairs ( WRI ) at Rutgers University - Camden has followed its for new hires , the practice of upskilling — mission of conducting comprehensive research projects pertinent meaningcontinuous education and skill - to the issues of the day in the eight southernmost counties of New building through training opportunities F Jersey , including Burlington , Camden and Gloucester . With the anddevelopment programs — can be mu - goal of informing public policy and connecting its findings to influential leaders , tually beneficial , allowing employees to WRI concentrates its work on several focus areas , such as transportation , public be promoted to higher levels within the health , population health , education — and workforce development . organization and further their careers while helping employers to fill needed positions from within and foster company loyalty . “ A strong theme that folks talked a lot about … was to have a job develop into a career and [ their desire ] to stay at a firm if it was providing those growth opportunities , ” Zimski says . “ The em - ployers also recognized the value of pro - viding growth opportunities and sup - porting inclusive environments to retain folks and have them rise through the or - ganization . ” Both Zimski and William Moen Jr . — the executive director of workforce de - velopment & innovation at Camden Coun - ty College — agree that employees and employers alike are seeing the advantages to upskilling , and that South Jersey edu - cational institutions in both K - 12 and col - legiate settings have answered the call by providing those programs . “ Since the pandemic , we’ve seen more companies and organizations like non - profits that recognize there are these kinds of opportunities that are in most cases very low cost but high value for their employees , and are one of the things that are provided to employees as a measure to keep them happy or keep It was that last category that led to a recent report titled “ Seeking Work themwith the organization or company , ” in Southern New Jersey . ” Since businesses are dealing with drastic changes Moen says . “ If there’s an ability for an as a result of factors like the pandemic , a slow economy , globalization and employeewho likes their company to re - automation , just to name a few , WRI and its partners set out to better ceive a promotion but there’s some type understand the barriers and opportunities facing both employees and of training or certification that is required — employers . and they might not have the means per - 38 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | VOLUME 13 ISSUE 7 | SouthJerseyBiz.net