Conference Program,
October 22-24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
6:00 - 8:00 pm Networking Reception
Meet fellow practitioners, renew old acquaintances, make new friends, and unwind from the day’s travel. Beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
8:30 - 9:15 am Breakfast and Welcome
Fuel up for the day as Goodwill Staffing Director Rudy Herrera officially welcomes us to Austin and provides a brief overview of their work in central Texas. Begun as a pilot for the state in 1995 to help persons with disabilities find work and move toward full-time employment, Goodwill Staffing has since grown to nearly $7 million in annual sales, now serving both public and private sector employers and assisting people with a variety of barriers to employment.
9:30 - 10:45 am Employer Perspectives on Alternative Staffing
How can you best communicate the value-add of alternative staffing to prospective customers? We’ll hear directly from three employer customers in different cities and sectors who will share their experiences using alternative staffing suppliers. We’ll learn what was compelling to them about the sales proposition, what they most value about their vendor’s staffing services and employee supports, how management concerns or performance problems have been addressed, and their general views about recruiting, managing and retaining low-skilled workers. The panel includes:
Confirmed:
- Michael Doss, Purchaser, Enterprise Contract and Procurement Services, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
(Goodwill Staffing, Austin)
- Trish Keefer, Director of Operations, Gilmore Associates
(Chrysalis Staffing, Los Angeles)
- German Tejeda, Senior Director of Income Policy, Food Change
(
FirstSource Staffing, Brooklyn)
10:45 – 11:00 am Break
11:00 am – 12:15 pm Business Workshops
A. In Pursuit of More! Applying the Lessons of Top Sales Performers
(Part 1)
Colleen Francis, Engage Selling Solutions will share her no-nonsense, field-tested approach to the sales process, from cold calling to caring for existing customers. Based on the habits of top sales performers in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, Colleen’s “sales imperatives” will help you open communications, build trust and loyalty, and ensure consistent success. Her strategies and tactics are proven to build lasting and measurable results in the form of more prospects, more returned calls, more margin, more closes and more repeat customers.
B. Integrating Employee Benefits into Alternative Staffing Practice
Learn about two approaches to connect low-wage workers to a range of income-enhancing benefits. EarnBenefits, a web-based screening tool developed by Seedco, helps low-wage workers in seven cities access Food Stamps, Medicaid, utilities discounts, low-cost financial services and more. Employ America, a national provider of management services and comprehensive employee benefits offers workers low-cost banking services, transportation supports, a limited benefit health plan, portable life insurance and access to Individual Development Accounts, among other benefits. Seedco’s senior program manager Becky Gray and Employ America’s president Louis Morales will describe their respective services and suggest ways you can use these or similar strategies to augment wages and strengthen your workers’ financial stability.
| 12:30 - 1:45 pm |
Lunch and Roundtable Discussions: Sales and Service Issues Related to Worker Populations |
Alternative staffing agencies serve diverse worker populations, each with their own obstacles to employment, public system “players” and employer concerns. Select among five roundtable groups to discuss the essential knowledge and understanding, important worker supports, community partners and employer perceptions related to serving:
- Ex-offenders
- Homeless or near homeless individuals
- People with disabilities
- Recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
- Youth
2:00 - 3:15 pm Business Workshops
A. In Pursuit of More! Applying the Lessons of Top Sales Performers
(Part 2)
Colleen Francis will continue the morning’s sales workshop, introducing relevant and concrete steps that you can immediately apply. Her training methodology includes accountability and feedback to ensure follow-through and results. Session participants will have the opportunity to re-convene with Colleen via a group teleconference on November 24th (2 pm EST) to share their outcomes and reinforce the strategies and techniques learned today.
B. Beyond Workforce Attachment: Career Development and Mobility for Entry-Level Workers
Alternative staffing gives entry-level workers a foothold in the labor market and reduces employers’ cost of turnover, delivering a valuable service to both. Through an innovative coaching model, Springboard Forward takes this win-win proposition a step further, helping workers tap their individual aspirations and potential for career mobility and helping businesses improve their performance and customer service and in turn strengthen their brand and bottom line. Springboard Forward founder Elliott Brown will describe the organization’s highly successful Engaged Employment model and lay out the business case for persuading employers to invest in their entry-wage employees.
3:15 – 3:30 pm Break
3:30 – 4:45 pm Effective PR in the Changing Media Environment
How can you use earned (vs. paid) media to benefit your alternative staffing business? Jeff Hahn, principal of TateAustinHahn will review the changing nature of media channels, erosion of trust, and importance of storytelling in the current media environment. All of your staffing programs have great stories! Jeff will outline the process to package these using “signature events” that will showcase your services and results to key audiences.
3:30 – 5:15 pm Site Visit – Goodwill Austin
Join Rudy Herrera for a tour of Goodwill Industries’ Community Center, a business complex that houses Goodwill Staffing in addition to two other social enterprises, Goodwill’s Norwood retail store and Computer Works, a computer recycling business. Rudy will take you behind the scenes of these dynamic social enterprises, which provide valuable training and employment to hundreds of local residents each year while also excelling as competitive businesses.
6:30 – 9:00 pm Riverboat Dinner Cruise
Welcome aboard the Lone Star Riverboat, an authentic paddle boat! Relax, mingle and feast on fabulous fajitas as we cruise on Lady Bird Lake. Beer and wine will be served.
Friday, October 24, 2008
8:15 – 9:15 am Breakfast
9:15 - 10:15 am State of the Staffing Industry
Diana Gabriel, strategic services executive at Staffing Industry Analysts, will review the staffing industry’s near term outlook, including trends in various market segments. She’ll also discuss changes in the economic, political and business environment and review key success factors,according to their research.
10:15 – 10:30 am Break
10:30 - 11:10 am Alternative Staffing Demonstration Report – Part 1
Four of our practitioner organization members have been the subject of a three-year, in-depth Alternative Staffing Demonstration project to explore their operations and services. Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the study aims to better understand how alternative staffing organizations (ASOs) function and documents how these social enterprises serve both jobseekers and business customers. Today, for the first time, both research organizations will present the project results.
To begin, Françoise Carré, Helen Levine and Brandynn Holgate from the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Social Policy (CSP) will compare ways alternative staffing operations differ from those of a conventional staffing company, and review their findings about the nature and level of organizational capacity needed to maintain a significant volume of job placement activity. They’ll also report on perspectives of both business customers and jobseekers about the staffing services delivered, based on interviews with client businesses and focus groups with workers.
11:10 – 11:20 am Break
11:20 am - Noon Alternative Staffing Demonstration Report – Part 2
Josh Freely from Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) will focus on data about ASO applicants and employees. Specifically, Josh will discuss who applies to ASOs for employment, the barriers to employment they face, the services they receive from ASOs, their placement outcomes through ASOs, and their level of satisfaction with ASO interactions. P/PV’s report pays special attention to the relationship between barriers to employment and job placement, and how supportive services can improve outcomes.
Noon – 12:40 pm Getting the Word Out: Using the Demonstration Findings
to Promote Alternative Staffing
The Alternative Staffing Demonstration study adds significantly to the body of knowledge about our sector and provides valuable insights to existing and aspiring practitioners. Building on these findings and drawing from your own experiences, we’ll brainstorm actions the Alliance can take to use this information to promote alternative staffing to employers, policy makers and funders.
12:45 - 1:45 pm Lunch and Wrap-up
Phone: (617) 232-5380, ext.
104 - Fax: (617) 232-9545 - Email:
jvanliere@altstaffing.org
