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The idea goes something like this: In order to attract the best people, companies must make the workplace more accommodating and rewarding in order to retain top-level talent. How to do that is a challenge many area businesses face.
It is an initiative the Winona Chamber of Commerce has brought to the forefront along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Sounds logical. Sounds easy enough.
But it’s not. The work force is changing dramatically, and this isn’t your father’s work force. Issues such as child care, health care and scheduling flexibility all present problems that were virtually unimaginable two decades ago. The problem remains that companies are painfully slow to adapt to change.
Not being able to attract top-quality workers takes a toll on the entire community, too. An economy like Winona’s is interrelated and dependent. That’s why the entire community has a vested interest in the overall quality of the work force.
When companies fail to recruit and retain good, if not great employees, their business suffers. And when businesses in the community hurt, it doesn’t take long before we’re all hurting.
Conversely, when a company’s work force is strong, reliable and experienced, the product is usually better and it improves in the bottom line positively. Healthy companies mean healthy communities, often with more money to spend.
It’s important that area businesses ask not only what they can do as individual employers, but what we can do as a profession or community. We need to be doing exactly what the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce is doing — bringing people together to exchange best practices and talk about the mutual challenges most any employer faces.
We want to salute the Chamber for working hard on the issue of workforce retention and recruitment. This initiative will hopefully mean positive results for Winona employers for many years to come when businesses hire the right person for the right job. That equals happy employees.
Businesses that want to change the workplace environment, updating it for the 21st century, should get involved with the Chamber’s initiative in some way. If businesses can’t do that, they should learn from some of those participating.
After all, while it may be a battle to get good employees, it shouldn’t be a fight to share information and ideas so that in the end, all of Winona benefits.
Ehrlick writes on behalf of the Winona Daily News editorial board, which also includes publisher Rusty Cunningham, online editor Jerome Christenson and photo editor James A. Bowey. To comment, call (507) 453-3522 or send e-mail to letters@winonadailynews.com.
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