Helping Gulf Coast Employers Build a Stronger Workforce

In this episode of the WFSGC podcast, Crosby Brito walks through the support available to Gulf Coast employers, from recruitment and hiring events to On-the-Job Training, incumbent worker training, registered apprenticeships, labor market insights, regional partnerships, and transition support during layoffs or restructuring. Whether a business is hiring, managing turnover, planning for growth, or navigating change, Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast connects employers to talent, resources, and workforce strategies that support long-term success.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to the Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast podcast, where we talk about workforce trends, careers, and opportunity across the Gulf Coast region. Today I'm joined by Crosby Brito to talk about employer services, workforce challenges, and how Workforce Solutions is helping businesses across the region build and strengthen their workforce. Crosby, thanks for joining us today. So what kind of workforce challenges are employers across the Gulf Coast region dealing with right now?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

It's a really good, really good question. It's complex, but I think a lot of industries, regardless of where they're at or the type of work that they do, can all relate to some extent. Technologies are changing, the needs for skills are changing. Sometimes education doesn't all align with the needs that they uh that they have with these occupations and the workforce needs that are evolving every day. So the challenges are finding people that are well equipped, they're ready to enter the workforce, they have math skills, reading skills, writing skills, communication skills. So everybody could relate that because things are evolving, some of the valuable skills or the valuable skill sets that were available are now not available because the needs are changing. So there is a need to maybe prepare the future workforce, some younger generation of workers, also some upskilling because it again going back to the point that the needs of the businesses are evolving every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

So, how does workforce solutions Gulf Coast help employers?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

So consider us as if we were your primary care doctor. You're coming to us because I have a workforce challenge, I have a workforce illness, I'm dealing with these pain points. Our staff will listen, diagnose, and then prepare a prescription plan, if you will, or a plan for us to be able to minimize those pin points and make sure that we find the solutions to the problems that you're having. So it could be anywhere between upskilling your current workforce, it could be aligning your industry needs, your occupation needs with education partners. We partner with different entities in education, colleges, universities. We have a network of training providers where we provide scholarships to our customers. So it's important to know and understand what you are going to be needing within the next year or two so we could align our partnerships and align our scholarships to those workforce needs that you may have. You may just need a to have a hiring event. You may want to have the ability to interview 20, 30, 40 people for your open positions. Contact us so we can you know talk about doing a customized hiring event. Sometimes you may just need career awareness or career exploration. If we can partner with the local CTE STEM PTEC programs from the local ISDs, maybe it's starting to speak with your middle schools, high schools. Again, there's a wide range of different ways that we can partner and help identify the right solution, but it all starts with a conversation. Reach out to work for solutions, let's have a private conversation, let's understand what your needs are and then diagnose the problem.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So if an employer is facing some difficult situations like layoffs or challenges in the economy, how does workforce solutions help?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, and I think this is something that a lot of employers may not realize or may not know. Before you face a layoff, before you make that tough decision that I'm gonna have to close doors or lay people off, you can contact the Texas Workforce Commissions. There are resources available prior to your layoffs or prior to your reduction of force. So before you make that decision, make sure that you've exhausted all resources and you've had these discussions because there may be a way that we can help support you so you don't have to lay people off. And again, layoffs can come for different reasons, but if that's the case, make sure you contact us first so we can help schedule an interview or a consultation with the Texas Workforce Commission. If you have to make that tough decision where you're gonna lay people off, you could still reach out to us so we can go to your place of business, let's speak to the affected workers, let's help them find a job, get ready for the job hunting before you even lay them off. So, again, there's possibilities to assist you to avoid the layoff, but there's also resources available so we could help you during that transition if ultimately you have to go through layoffs.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So, what message do you want employers across the region to take away from this conversation?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

So, the message for all employers listening to us today contact workforce solutions. Sit down with us, let's have a very thorough conversation. Let's discuss your current workforce challenges. Let's look at a forecast of what other challenges you may experience. Let's look at the needs that you have now. Let's research and look into the education partners that you have, and maybe we can find other resources available. Let's also discuss your upskilling. So there's opportunities for you to build your current pipeline, there's opportunities for you to take care of your current workforce, let's upskill them and then backfill those positions with other events. So the message to employers is that there's resources and there's solutions for everything. But talk to us. Let's have a conversation. Let's sit down, let's meet each other, let's reintroduce ourselves for the first time if you've already discussed uh what things with us before.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Thank you, Krause, for joining us today and sharing more information about supports and resources available to employers across the Gulf Coast region, whether businesses are hiring, training employees, planning for growth, or navigating workforce challenges. Workforce Solutions is here to connect employers to workforce strategies, regional partnerships, and valuable resources. Thanks again for watching, and we'll see you next time.