The Shifting of a Future Workforce: Why Entrepreneur Training is Your Best Economic Development Strategy

By Zachary Barker, Executive Director, StartSupported.com | GROWEDO

“Over 25% of tech sector wants permanent work from home,” writes Laura Wronski, research science manager, and Jon Cohen, chief research officer, SurveyMonkey, in an op-ed article recently published by on CNBC.com. (link: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/how-silicon-valley-work-from-home-forever-will-hit-every-worker.html). Adjusting to COVID and the desire of high-talent labor, many of the United States' leading companies are allowing employees to work from home “forever” such as Google, Salesforce.com, Twitter, Square. Still others, like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon (to a degree), are deeply considering the same.

In many communities, economic development strategies remain traditionally committed to property-centric development and tax incentives. With the mindset of top talent excepting remote flexibility, a property-based policy could mean major trouble, even render useless, if the talent is not physically required in collective spaces. As noted,

“In the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey, about half of all people in the workforce (48%) indicate they’ve been able to do their jobs remotely in recent weeks. In the survey, remote workers report higher levels of job satisfaction than those still going into the office. Many workers say they want to keep working from their improvised kitchen.”

Some economic development leaders, expectedly, will shrug away this feedback as “COVID-related” bias, however, take a quick poll in your office to source data from your personal work community. How many co-workers feel (A) they can successfully work from home, and (B) prefer the freedom to work from home?

Assumptively, if you work in a business that does not require a physical presence in space for commercial transactions – retail, food service, tourism, gig economy -

you will likely find a majority do not feel they need to be in the office to be successful, nor do they desire to be there… (or at least be required to do so every day).

To compound matters, consider that the United States has transitioned from physical manufacturing to tech and service-based labor force, which, barring a major reshoring of physical manufacturing, many of the jobs of today and tomorrow, can be done for a major employer in Seattle, Washington while working from your kitchen in Lafayette, Louisiana. For small businesses, this realization is even more crucial as the battle for and retention of quality talent will no longer be fought in a local fashion. The days of hoarding local talent are over.

For communities that have been (or currently are) investing explicitly into community-wide entrepreneurial development programs, their labor force is better equipped for the expected shift of local economies from 8 to 5 at the office to “get it done” from home. In the Harvard Business Review article, 5 BENEFITS OF JOINING A STARTUP, it is suggested that “Whether you’re just starting out in the workforce or aiming to take your career in a different direction, a position at a young company can provide you with skills and experience that you’d be hard-pressed to find in a larger, more mature business environment.” (link: https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/benefits-of-joining-a-startup)

The article also suggests “not only does this make you a more proactive and resourceful team player, but it allows you to pick up problem-solving techniques and skills you might not have been exposed to in a more segmented role at a larger company.” For economic development leaders, this means a labor force that is better prepared to:

1. Adapt to changing and uncertain environments
2. Have contributions be more closely scrutinized by leadership
3. Remain motivated and engaged through challenging times
4. Understand the impact made individually on ALL areas of the business
5. Maintain production with great personal freedom

For now, COVID-19 has many communities thinking about alternative economic strategies and implementations. Some are looking seriously at their strategies, seeking diversified options for developing and retaining the talent-driven businesses of the future. Others are doubling down on status quo, courting retail site selectors, or providing webinar after webinar of programming about “pivoting and resilience,” while hoping the community does not recognize the lack of investment in skilled entrepreneurial leaders and talent development programs.

Until a vaccine is found, determining which economic strategies are best in assuring communities to survive and thrive is yet to be seen. For now, we hope we make it and can support the shifting of our future workforce.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zachary Barker serves as Executive Director of GROWEDO, an economic development consulting group delivering startup programming and support, technology recommendations, and access to industry leaders for the purpose of empowering local economic development organizations to successfully and independently operate startup growth programming. Zachary is a graduate of the Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute (OUEDI) with over 20 years of experience in community building, growth training, developing entrepreneurial communities, corporate attraction, talent recruitment, and technology use.

In 2019, he was a featured speaker at the International Conference on Business Incubation presented by the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) on the topic, “Creating a Culture of Innovation Within Your Entrepreneurship Center.” In June 2020, Zachary will again be presenting with InBIA on the topic "Marketing Strategies for Growing Your (Entrepreneurial) Community."

If you are interested in available Startup and Entrepreneur Programming, email [email protected] or learn more about programs via download: How to Build a Startup Community

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