Northern Kentucky's economy is growing, businesses are hiring, and the region's workforce is strong, according to 47 local employers. But the region must continue to invest in talent and workforce training to thrive.
In August 2012, Tri-ED officially launched business retention and expansion program
NKY Boost to support the continued success of the region's businesses. Program leaders set an ambitious goal to visit every primary employer in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties with a face-to-face visit every 18-24 months.
Since the launch of NKY Boost, the program has visited 47 businesses, representing 16,702 jobs in Northern Kentucky -- that's 34 percent of the region's primary industry jobs.
"NKY Boost visits focus on building relationships and trust to identify opportunities and challenges facing our companies," says Wade Williams, Vice President of Business Retention and Expansion for Northern Kentucky Tri-ED.
The annual report for NKY Boost shares findings from these visits. Overall, the report shows a satisfied local employer base.
"The majority of these companies are hiring and experiencing sales growth," Williams says. "Nearly two-thirds ranked the quality of the workforce in NKY as good or excellent."
Ninety percent of companies visited said they had no concerns about local government services in Northern Kentucky, and the majority had no concern with technology infrastructure or utilities. Most companies ranked as good or excellent the cost of doing business in Northern Kentucky (77 percent), the local business climate (83 percent), and quality of life (87 percent).
For a program that's less than a year old, the results are impressive -- and reflect a community-wide commitment to making Northern Kentucky a great place to do business.
"Tri-ED does not have the ability to help these companies alone," Williams says. "NKY Boost success is driven by our relationships with our partners and allies to help find solutions, to solve problems and respond to opportunities."
To honor and celebrate that commitment, Northern Kentucky Tri-ED and Duke Energy will periodically present the NKY Boost Ally Award to an organization whose cooperation, service, and support is vital to keeping businesses in the region. The Ally Award honors Duke Energy's ongoing contribution to economic development in Northern Kentucky -- and especially the financial support Duke Energy has provided to launch NKY Boost.
"We are honored that Tri-ED chose to name this award in recognition of our long-standing partnership with them and for our regional efforts with economic development," says Rhonda Whitaker, Director of Government and Community Relations for Duke Energy. "Beyond the resources we provide, we've worked many an expansion with Tri-ED, as well as with prospects too numerous to mention. We greatly value that partnership and what it provides for a region that continues to flourish."
"We know that expansions are helping to grow our economy in a big way, and we need to provide all of the resources possible to help our businesses to continue to grow," she adds. "That in turn benefits the entire community."
This year, the Ally Award was presented to the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky for the invaluable service they provide in connecting the region and getting employees to work. TANK has been agile in response to feedback from employers collected by NKY Boost, program leaders say.
"TANK's responsiveness and creativity to improvements in its service has enhanced Northern Kentucky's attractiveness for businesses," Williams says.
"We congratulate TANK, which provides a valuable regional resource to area businesses," says Whitaker. "Their service contributes greatly to the mobility of a needed workforce."
Room to grow
While initial NKY Boost visits have revealed a general sense of satisfaction with Northern Kentucky, employers have one significant and ongoing need: availability of a highly trained, competitive workforce.
While employers are happy with the quality of the workforce that exists in Northern Kentucky, they need more of it: more people, more robust resources for recruiting, and more workforce training. Forty percent of visited companies said they encountered recruiting issues, while 57 percent of companies indicated they had workforce training needs.
It's a problem shared by employers across the country, and as the economy recovers, demand will only increase.
However, the face-to-face nature of the NKY Boost program gives employers an immediate opportunity to connect to resources within the region.
"We are already seeing companies take advantage of workforce training programs previously unknown to them," Williams said.
In 2013, NKY Boost will release a toolkit for regional employers that provides a consolidated list of resources and contacts. Site visits will continue, and data collected during those visits will provide transparent reporting to local and regional allies and stakeholders.
Most importantly, NKY Boost leaders will continue to engage the local business community, listen to their needs, and develop real-time solutions to their shared problems.
All of this means we can expect more great news when the next NKY Boost report is released.
"I'm looking forward to producing the report at the end of 2013, which will paint an even better picture of the health of our companies," Williams says.