by David Hill
Editor
Manufacturers play an important role in the economy of communities in northwestern Minnesota and the state of Minnesota. Thursday, Oct. 20, manufacturers gathered at Legacy Event Center in Thief River Falls in recognition of Manufacturer’s Month.
Manufacturers help to drive Minnesota’s economy, with $18.84 billion in manufatured goods exports in 2020. They also employed 11.36 percent of the workforce.
Thief River Falls Mayor and president of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Brian Holmer welcomed manufacturers to the luncheon. Holmer said that in many of his presentations he’s referred to the three-legged stool that represents successful manufacturing. Holmer said that three-legged stool has one leg that’s shorter than the others. Holmer said he’s open to new ideas that help solve the community and region’s workforce shortage.
Holmer also talked about the Inflation Reduction Act and the potential for grants to help address problems that impact workforce shortages, how to keep employees, and provide training.
Nationally, it is hoped that the Inflation Reduction Act will reduce costs for small businesses by maintaining lower health care costs, supporting energy-saving investments and bolstering supply chain resiliency.
Michelle Grim, from Marvin, was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. Grim focused on helping to solve workforce shortages by expanding diversity, equity and inclusion. At Marvin, she’s helping the company make progress in hiring individuals with disabilities.
Grim explained that what comes to mind when people think of disabilities is an individual who moves about with assistive devices. Grim said less than half of the individual with disabilities require assistive devices.
Grim also noted that more, much more can be done to include individuals with disabilities in the workforce. At one time, only 25 percent of people with disabilities were employed. Today, 37 percent of people with disabilities are employed. “Although there have been improvements, there’s significant room for improvement,” said Grim.
Grim has been working at Marvin for two years. During that time, there has been significant progress. Using false names to protect their identity, Grim supplied three examples of how hiring people with disabilities has had a positive impact on the lives of the individuals, Marvin and the community.
She described “Joe” as an individual with cognitive development issues, but who had always wanted to work for Marvin. Working with resource providers, they were able to identify the accommodations he needed.
She explained that they go about the interview process much differently. In fact, the process is often just the opposite of what most people would experience.
“Joe” began working 10 hours per week, and he continued to grow and improve. His team leader now considers him a vital and important member of the team. She said it also gave the team leader hope that a job would be available for one of her loved ones who struggles with the same issues.
“Russ” has autism and has never had a successful work experience. Again, working through resource providers, they identified accommodations that needed to be made. One of his accommodations was to allow him 15 minutes to re-focus and re-set whenever there were changes in his routine. He started at 25 to 28 hours per week, a part-time employee, and quickly became a valued full-time employee. Today, he works 40 hours plus overtime. In the last eight months, he has only used 20 hours of time off. He’s excited to be working, and does a great job, said Grim.
“Susan” has a mental illness and has never been able to keep a job. Whenever the illness asserted itself or flared up, she would spiral down and eventually lose her job. Again, they reached out to service providers and determined the accommodations that needed to be made. Those accommodations included allowing her to take time off when needed.
Through this effort like the ones described above, Grim said they learned that company morale and overall culture had improved, and believe that employers who embrace disability see an increase in employee retention.
She noted that keeping people at the center of what they do because it’s the right thing to do is one of the chief company values at Marvin. Marvin, she said, is a special place to work because it aspires to create better ways of living and working.
Another speaker Thursday was James Whirlwind Soldier, workforce strategy consultant in the region for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Soldier’s job involves aligning resources, expanding training programs, working to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, facilitating collaboration and leveraging expertise for employers.
Soldier said manufacturers frequently talk to him about the challenge of finding enough people. He encourages manufacturers to see this as an opportunity to slow down and think of different ways to solve the problem.
He also talked about challenges created by retiring Baby Boomers, and the opportunities of working with Generation Z, arguably the largest and potentially most influential generation to come.
Overall, Soldier said he’s beginning to see a profound change in organizational structures, and anticipates seeing more changes in the future.