Changing the Manufacturing Workforce
Bridging the skills gap and providing sustainable diversity practices
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
DIVERSITY DIRECTLY AFFECTS YOUR BOTTOM LINE
• According to the McKinsey study “Why Diversity Matters,” companies are 15% more likely to generate above average profitability
• Companies with more racially and ethnically diverse employees have a 35% performance advantage vs companies relying on a “culture fit”
• Companies with gender-diverse executive teams in the highest quartile outperformed male-dominated companies by 21% in terms of EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes)
Addressing the skills and diversity GAPS within manufacturing separately is like trying to solve a puzzle while you’re missing a piece.
Both of these issues are served far better by solutions that tie them together rather than attempt to address them separately. Through DEI efforts, not only will will companies become more profitable and effective, but they’ll also become more attractive to diverse and next-generation talent. This will serve to make our industry more competitive and accessible to a much larger pool of potential workers, making it easier to close our skills and diversity gaps. Equity Machine Works was created to implement unique strategies to address some of the critical factors within industry and society that contribute to these gaps, detailed below:
Outsourcing
Significant and extended outsourcing of manufactured goods has led to a massive skills gap in the U.S. manufacturing industry. We lost many businesses and the jobs they supported, reducing our national capacity. We lost workforce development (WFD) infrastructure with no jobs to fill. Our transition to a national “service economy” also made manufacturing within our cities progressively more expensive, pushing companies into suburbs and rural areas with less tax revenue to support WFD infrastructure. Now with a significant amount of the workforce approaching retirement age and an insufficient supply of new workers to fill open positions, our industry is experiencing a labor crunch and the outlook is even worse.
POVERTY
A chronic issue both locally and nationally, poverty results in significant barriers to employment. Even the most driven and passionate individuals can run into obstacles like lack of food, housing, transportation, childcare services, healthcare, and more. Facing one of these challenges can be de-stabilizing enough to prohibit consistent employment, and sadly they are often compounding. Individuals trapped in the cycle of poverty also have limited educational access resulting from their barriers, further reducing their opportunity to learn the skills needed to obtain a well-paying job.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Many of the communities disproportionately impacted by poverty are also severely underrepresented in our local, and national, manufacturing economy. This is due in part to their increased likelihood of experiencing poverty, as well as, among other issues, the demographic makeup of the suburbs and rural areas manufacturing moved to. The outcome of these issues, compounded with our skills gap and aging workforce, has led to largely homogenous and static work cultures, with managerial philosophies out-of-touch with younger and more diverse populations. This reinforces the cycle of underrepresentation by maintaining either the perception, or even reality, of uninviting workplaces. Without acknowledgement, significant discussion, and effort to change, the industry we love will continue to be challenged in filling our workforce needs.
Education
Educational programs working to serve the industry often have limited resources and outreach, in part the result of inefficiencies or insufficiencies of public grants, inadequate private funding, lack of engagement from community or general industry, lack of available talent for instructors, and student barriers. Stretched thin, these programs can find it difficult to scale adequately to address the scope of the skills gap the industry is facing, or the services gap in the communities their grants target, and are challenged in meeting their enrollment, completion and employment goals.
Communication
Social division continues to skyrocket, particularly around discussions of equity and identity. Common social rhetoric has only fomented further division. Communication on these subjects within the manufacturing community needs to be approached holistically, fostering understanding and collaboration amongst groups with different lived experiences and common interest in manufacturing.
What MAkes EQUITY MACHINE WORKS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER DEI AND SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMS?
By leveraging our manufacturing enterprise, integrating workforce development solutions into our processes; and implementing, communicating, and consulting on, sustainable DEI practices; all done in partnership with community, apprenticeship, and industry organizations; we create pathways from school or out of poverty into exciting family-wage careers, all while increasing accessibility, representation, and understanding for disadvantaged populations. Ultimately this will lead to a more competitive and culturally-conscious industry that will attract a larger and more diverse pool of workers.
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How does it work?
ADDRESSING THE BARRIERS
We partner with established community programs to address the root cause of issues (barriers) to empower those entering the pipeline from disadvantaged populations in completing their path to a long-term career and self-sustenance via a stable base of subsidized support.
PRE-APPRENTICESHIP + PRE-EMPLOYMENT TRAINING
Our organization works with grant-funded training programs designed to teach future manufacturers the basic hard and soft skills they need to enter the industry and begin exciting, rewarding careers.
GET HIRED ON
Select individuals completing their pre-apprenticeship join Equity Machine Works, becoming Registered Apprentices with one of our Apprenticeship partners, and begin our 1-year structured OJT program. During this year they’ll “earn while they learn” through curriculum designed around making parts for our customer-supporters. After completing, EMW along with our recruitment and industry partners, provide the now well-qualified and experienced individuals with job placement services at DEI-committed organizations.
Culturally Competent Consulting
Companies are looking to make a difference not just in addressing the impacts of the skills gap within their organization, but also to make meaningful changes in creating a more inclusive work culture. Equity Machine Works can serve as a guiding partner in training both staff and leadership on DEI, establishing inclusive policies, creating internal training programs, and setting companies up for long-term success in a rapidly changing market.
MAKE A CHANGE
START WITH A GRASSROOTS APPROACH AND ENACT CHANGE INTERNALLY
Company Heartbeat
This seminar can help you gauge your company’s current D&I initiatives and determine ones you’d like to implement in the future.
We provide insight on impending policy changes, potential community involvement, and your own workforce’s feedback in a company-wide training session.
This open table discussion brings your employees to the forefront of the conversation and gives them the tools to understand and discuss diversity initiatives.
Leadership Workshop + Ongoing Mentorship
We know that DEI is important to your company. How do you get that involvement to extend to the boardroom?
Our leadership training program coaches your team on policy, best practices, and implementing company-specific goals.
This workshop includes 1-on-1 mentorship availability to help your leaders feel confident about embarking on this new adventure.
Mission Values Workshop
Are your core values reflected in your hiring pipeline? Are they what you’d provide to an employee or potential customer to describe your business practices? If not, there’s a problem.
We’ll walk you through the process of aligning your core and mission values with company goals and strategy.
This session will also provide you with a hiring roadmap based on the values discovered during this session.
Looking for something else?
If you don’t see a package that suits your immediate needs, don’t panic! We offer custom consultations and can find the most helpful option for you. Connect with us today to get started.
Join the Movement Become a Partner
A business looking for quality, cost-effective machined goods, that would like to see the money they spend go to more than a bottom line
A government or educational institution, or a community outreach and support organization, seeking an industry partner
Someone who either is, or is connected to, a person who might be a good fit for joining our program
A socially-aware manufacturing organization in need of skilled workers
An individual or organization who’d like to support or connect with a social enterprise working to change lives and improve diversity within the manufacturing industry
LET’S GET TO WORK
Changing the face of manufacturing is a substantial undertaking…
but we’re more than up for the task.
As job creators and suppliers, we know that you want to address the skills and diversity gap within manufacturing. In order to do that, you need to be connected with a partner, and the surrounding community, that understands manufacturing, with a passion for solving equity issues and an eye for root causes. We believe that manufacturing careers should be accessible to anyone wanting to pursue them. We understand what manufacturers are looking for in future employment and their need to adapt to a changing world, while also recognizing the lack of diversity within the field. The underlying issues and systems acting as barriers to entry within the field are myriad, complex and beyond the capabilities of any one organization to handle alone; it takes a COMMUNITY. This is why, beyond our manufacturing, training and consulting services, we’ve focused on creating that community by partnering with outreach and support programs, pre-apprentice and apprenticeship programs, industry organizations and local government to help fill the employment gap and address underlying equity issues that act as barriers to entry within the field.
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Here’s how we do it:
- Addressing the Barriers
We partner with established public and privately funded community programs to address the root cause of issues that limit outcomes, subsidize gaps where possible and provide employment paths to disadvantaged people interested in working in manufacturing.
- Pre-Apprenticeship + Employment Training
Our organization works with grant-funded training programs to teach future manufacturers the hard and soft skills they need to enter the industry and begin rewarding
- Get Hired On
When there is available space in our program, select individuals completing their pre-apprenticeship training join the Equity Machine Works team. Upon hire, they will become Registered Apprentices and begin our 1-year structured OJT program, learning the trade while making parts. After completing, Equity Machine Works SPC, along with our recruitment and industry partners, provide the now qualified and experienced individuals with job placement services at DEI-committed organizations.
- Culturally Competent Consulting
Companies are looking to make a difference not just in addressing the impacts of the skills gap within their organization, but also to make meaningful changes in creating a more inclusive work culture. Equity Machine Works can serve as a guiding partner in training both staff and leadership on DEI, establishing inclusive policies, creating internal training programs, and setting companies up for long-term success in a rapidly changing market.
Connect with us to make an impact and help bridge the gap in manufacturing employment. Stop struggling to fill seats and start building our communities by making the industry’s workforce stronger than ever.
Change the Workforce With Us
Equity Machine Works is a social purpose corporation (“SPC”), which is a Washington corporation that has organized itself to pursue one or more social purposes. Equity Machine Works is organized as a social purpose corporation governed by the Social Purpose Corporation Chapter of Title 23B RCW.
Equity Machine Works will be compliant to both ISO:9001-2015 and AS9100 D standards the day we open and will acquire certification within months of beginning our operations.