Hamilton Caster Participates in Workforce Recruitment Experiment
Hamilton Caster & Mfg. Co, member of MHI Industry Group ICWM, is participating in “a novel experiment” in recruiting workforce.
Hamilton Caster, along with other business in the area, are looking for ways to combat an aging—soon to be retiring—workforce. Not only is the workforce aging out, but there aren’t new people with the necessary skills available to recruit.
The United States is entering an odd period in which we have jobs but no people to work them. So communities are offering to pay people to relocate to where the jobs are.
And it seems to have a lot of promise.
In Hamilton, OH, where Hamilton Casters is located, a foundation, modeled on other similar programs, was created to offer 11 “scholarships” or grants of $5,000 toward student loans for graduates with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and, mathematics) degrees in exchange for living in Hamilton for two years.
They’re also revamping the downtown area to draw in a younger population. Local businesses are seeing the potential. The Wall Street Journal reports that as part of this program, the High Street shops “are nearly fully occupied, compared with a ghost-town occupancy rate of 2% a decade ago.”
Companies will also need to adjust their culture to match with changing values. “If every company works on culture and trying to make it an attractive place to work, and the city is an attractive place to live, I think that things will happen,” Dave Lippert, President of Hamilton Caster said. “If we don’t, we’re not going to be around.”
While this experiment is in it’s infancy, the economic incentive offers great ROI for the communities that foot the initial bill. Workforce recruitment problems won’t be solved in a day, but initiatives like this one are a step in the right direction.
To read the full article in the Wall Street Journal, visit https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-bad-is-the-labor-shortage-cities-will-pay-you-to-move-there-1525102030
