New Workforce Development Council Started to Address Energy Industry Workforce Challenges

A new Workforce Development Council (WDC) will be formed within Midwest Energy Association to help its members recruit, develop, retain and maintain the health of their workforce.

Eagan, MN (PRWEB) July 17, 2007 -- The Executive Committee of Midwest Energy Association's (MEA) Board of Directors announced today that a new Workforce Development Council (WDC) will be formed within the Association to help its members recruit, develop, retain and maintain the health of their workforce.

"The Workforce Development Council concept," explained Bill Doty, Chairman of MEA and Executive Vice President, Utility Operations, Vectren, "was developed by a team of MEA field operations, senior training and human resources volunteers. These leaders and the MEA Board recognize that our industry has some significant workforce challenges ahead that go far beyond training."

"Our team was originally focused primarily on guiding the selection and content of the 200 plus technical skill, OSHA/safety and employee orientation multi-media courses that MEA offers nationally at www.energyu.org,"; amplified Joe Miller, Chair of the Workforce Development Council and Manager, Customer Services, Kansas City Power & Light. "But we had already evolved in our mission and created a very low cost, high quality Leadership Development option at www.energyu.org late last year. With a close working relationship with the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) and their work on recruiting for our industry, we realized that there needed to be one senior level council at MEA where all workforce issues and programs were located. Our future workforce will be harder to recruit, train, and retain and, yet, they are critical to customer satisfaction and safety."

"We are very pleased with the Midwest Energy Association's support of the CEWD Midwest regional group. In our June meeting in South Haven Michigan, we identified a number of key tasks such as developing a basic curriculum for vocational schools to use. MEA stepped up and is coordinating a Midwest team effort that will benefit everyone," explained Ann Randazzo, Executive Director of CEWD. "We are focused on helping the energy industry recruit tomorrow's workforce, we know that MEA understands this, because they support our recruiting efforts. This means MEA can focus on the many other workforce issues we do not address."

MEA's Workforce Council will have four teams: Technical Skills Development, Organizational Development, Workforce Health & Benefits, and Recruiting (in cooperation with CEWD). Each team will have professionals from member companies. Specifically the teams are responsible for the 5 million dollar training library at www.energyu.org and for the Pharmaceutical Collaborative which is saving members hundreds of thousands annually in lower proscription drug costs. They will also operate as centers of excellence in safety, workforce retention and health.

Midwest Energy Association is in its second century of service to the Gas, Electric, and Liquids energy industry in all 50 states. Its roundtables, learning conferences, on-line learning services and web portals provide for the sharing and development of successful practices leading to operational excellences in the energy delivery industry. Over 750 utilities, pipelines, contractors, and supplier companies and more than 50,000 of their employees rely on MEA services at www.energyu.org for compliance and skill development training and testing.

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