“Low-road” companies cut corners to lower costs. “High-road” companies believe that high worker performance leads to the company’s success, so they invest in training and other support resources. Once they find workers, companies themselves vary significantly in their willingness to invest in workers and help them progress along a pathway, Holzer says. “Part of the role play today is creating a clear career path, and then tangible steps to advance, and so they know, ‘Hey, this is what the next role could be.’ It’s very important for low-level workers so they have hope for what’s in front of them,” she says. To earn their engagement and loyalty, organizations need to show low-wage workers the possibilities that lie ahead. Feeling stuck can lead to decreased motivation, production challenges, and turnover, she says. She says that lower-level workers consistently have trouble envisioning a career path beyond their current role. Prior to joining ManpowerGroup, Frankiewicz led Quaker Foods North America, one of PepsiCo’s largest subsidiaries. Becky Frankiewicz is president of ManpowerGroup North America. Staffing and temporary placement firms may offer another entry point for some workers. The norms of corporate America are strange to you.” Formal and informal apprenticeships and job-training programs may also offer pathways to advancement. “It doesn’t matter whether you come from an urban city or Appalachia. “If you’re a person from a disadvantaged neighborhood, however you want to define that, the norms for corporate America are foreign to you,” Artis says. In addition to soft and technical skills, Year Up helps its students gain access to connections and become familiar with workplace norms, says Jeff Artis, Year Up’s national director of corporate engagement. The yearlong program offers professional and personal development, an education stipend, college credit, and other professional advisers and mentors to help young people prepare for upwardly mobile career opportunities. Organizations like the nonprofit Year Up combines rigorous classroom training and a paid internship to help connect disadvantaged youth with good jobs. Some organizations are working to connect companies with talented populations of workers who may not have traditional backgrounds or degrees. Turnover often prevents them from getting on a career ladder of some type that might exist in the company,” Holzer says. Informal barriers, such as lack of social contacts and social capital and discrimination, may also be factors, “but even once they’re in the companies, we know these populations have higher turnover rates. “The higher-wage companies are often looking for a higher level of skill, whether that’s measured by education and credentials or by previous work experience,” Holzer says. In his work studying low-wage populations and their barriers to advancement, Holzer found that skill deficits in written and verbal communication, poor problem-solving ability, and lack of occupational training or experience, among others, make it difficult for low-wage workers, especially those without college degrees, to find higher-paying jobs that offer advancement opportunities. Holzer, Georgetown University professor and Brookings Institution nonresident senior fellow. The reasons people work in low-wage jobs range from a lack of skills or degrees to a lack of access or other factors that make it difficult to find better jobs, says economist Harry J. But first, companies need to understand the needs of such candidates-as well as where to look for them and how to help them advance. As companies look for more workers to fill various roles, finding and hiring low-wage workers and helping them develop internally may be a solution.
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