photo by: Joselyn King

Mike Howard, chief operating officer of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce; Nathan Butts, executive director of Project BEST; and Dianna Vargo, president of Wheeling University, participate in a panel discussion during the annual “Economic Outlook Conference” this week at Wheeling Island Hotel- Casino-Racetrack.

WHEELING — Pay transparency, career education and just understanding how young workers think all could be the keys to keeping employees in the workplace, local experts suggest.

A panel discussion on “Workforce Ready — Today’s Workforce Climate” took place this week during the annual “Economic Outlook Conference” this week sponsored by the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce at the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack.

Participating in the discussion were Nathan Butts, executive director of Project BEST; Dianna Vargo, president of Wheeling University; Jessi Becker, human resources specialist at Willow Glen Capital; and Alex Weld, executive director of Generation WV.

Panelists addressed the issue of employee retention.

“What I’m seeing today is that retention looks different with younger people,” Weld said. “We don’t see people in the same role for 30 years like we once did. That’s not the trend. The trend is a few years.”

Weld added that she interviewed a job candidate recently, and noticed on their resume they had been at each of their last two jobs for less than two years. She asked a human resources director if she should be concerned, and was informed that was very common.

“It’s not a red flag anymore. People are looking for opportunities constantly to leverage what they’ve already learned,” Weld continued. “If you can provide that internally, that’s amazing. If you can’t, changing the culture around growth is really important.”

She suggested employers should support those workers who want to better themselves.

“Letting that become part of your workplace will encourage growth and exploration of young employees, as well as a way to break in new staff,” Weld said.

Becker suggested pay transparency might be more important to young people, as past generations considered it a personal thing not to be discussed.

“That is just not the way the world is going,” she explained. “Pay transparency is mandated in some states. It’s not in West Virginia. But when we were having trouble attracting talent, that was one of the things we found out we needed to do.”

There is a ton of statistics that show 80% of job seekers are more likely to apply for a job when they know what the salary range is, according to Becker.

“But yet we continue to say it’s private and personal,” she continued. “If you want to be competitive, you have to compensate competitively.”

Butts noted business has been good for the construction industry in recent years.

“We just need projects to keep happening and we’ve been pretty lucky,” he said. “I’ve been at this job for two years, and ever since then I’ve seen a lot of good things happening in the valley. Obviously, when construction projects are happening, more people are working and there is more need for workers. That fits right in with retention. That’s common sense.”

The answer is a little different when it comes to keeping young people in the region, he continued.

“I think we just have to go back to educating kids about what’s around here, because I don’t think they are aware,” he said. “I was part of Leadership Wheeling this year, and we would go around to businesses and learn about them and take tours.

“I think if there was a way to get high school kids to do that – take them to The Health Plan, to WesBanco, to Form Energy and show them what’s here.”

Butts noted he coaches high school basketball, and finds that the youths with which he connects are “clueless to what I do” on the job.

“They are clueless as to that WesBanco’s headquarters is just 10 minutes away, or what The Health Plan does,” he explained.

“I think the more we showcase this area, the more it’s going to retain them. If they are already going away to college it’s too late. We have to let them know what’s here, and you have a better chance of keeping them here.”

Wheeling University has been seeking to strengthen its internship opportunities for students, Vargo noted.

“Our engineering students are performing internships at Technocap and Kalkreuth Roofing,” she said. “We have our business students performing internships at WesBanco.”

Others are being placed with the Wheeling Nailers, with hospitals and with local schools, Vargo reported.

“These students are able to get experience in these fields which helps them to determine whether it is the right profession for them, or whether Wheeling is the right place to stay when they finish their degree,” she said.

Vargo added that local companies also send representatives to the campus to speak to students about what they can expect on the job.

“They tell you better have a work ethic,” she continued. “That is what we are working on with students in all areas, and through career services.”