How Adaptive Skills Can Play a Pivotal Role in Building the Manufacturing Sector of the Future
This new research from MI and EY on adaptive skills in the manufacturing workplace. What are adaptive skills? Simply put, they are skills or traits that enable individuals to transform their abilities as their demands and environment change. There is a need for broader and evolving skillsets in the manufacturing sector and for building a workforce motivated by opportunities for growth. Doing this will help manufacturers transition to workplaces to a point where forward-thinking, engaging, and digitally enabled work is the norm.
New Hiring Pipeline Highlight: Pfizer’s Refugee Hiring Program
In 2021, Pfizer launched a company-wide Refugee Hiring Program, with the goal to hire a minimum of 100 refugees by the end of 2022 and provide mentorship opportunities to an additional 150 — with 50 of these opportunities earmarked for LGBTQ+ refugees. In less than a year, the initiative is well on its way to reaching its goal — having hired 68 refugees so far — and garnering widespread enthusiasm from Pfizer’s workforce.
“The knowledge curve might be a little [steeper], but in the end, there’s so much data that shows refugee hiring pays off immensely,” said Mona Babury, one of the creators of the program at Pfizer. “They’re very hardworking, loyal and thankful for the opportunity to enter a new workforce.” Read more about the program details and success here.
Interested in learning how to start your own program? Check out these webinars from the MI team on hiring refugee talent:
Case Study: The Building Blocks of a Successful Second Chance Hiring Initiative
In early 2021, The Manufacturing Institute began collaborating with Union Pacific to build a Second Chance hiring initiative to expand candidate pools to be more inclusive of those with criminal records. Union Pacific Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz made expanding his company’s talent pipelines a priority and considers Union Pacific’s commitment to Second Chance employment an important part of that strategy.
To help design and implement Union Pacific’s Second Chance initiative, the MI partnered with Envoy Advisory via its Envoy initiative to make use of its expertise in inclusive hiring policies and practices and build partnerships with high-performing reentry and workforce organizations in Houston, Texas.
Assessing and adapting Union Pacific’s existing hiring policies and practices allowed for a deeper understanding of the candidate journey and illuminated potential barriers and support gaps for candidates from this population. While the pilot program was aimed specifically at candidates with criminal records, many of the identified employment barriers applied to a broad range of candidates from vulnerable backgrounds. Our case study outlines the three essential components of a successful Second Chance hiring initiative. Read the full case study here.