The Governor’s Quality Award is accepting prospective members of its 2020 Board of Examiners.

Each year, Arkansas companies benefit from employees who train and serve as Governor’s Quality Award examiners. This training and hands-on assessment opportunity is relevant across all industry sectors. The free three-day training prepares individuals to examine the practices of an existing Arkansas business and apply analytical skills through a thorough organizational assessment.

Working with a team, examiners individually and collaboratively review an organization’s application for a Governors Quality Award. As a team, a feedback report is prepared for the organization to use in planning and leadership strategies. Examiners become skilled in identifying business best practices and opportunities for improvement.

The Examiner Training and Assessment Process provides a rich and beneficial professional development experience that creates a benefit for the professional and the employer. The examiner training and the Governor’s Quality Award process aligns with the National Baldrige Award Process.

Examiner Training I for new examiners is March 12 at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.  Examiner Training II for all examiners is April 7-8 at the National Guard Professional Education Center in at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.  Training is free contingent on individuals serving on a team of examiners.

Click here for an application and additional information about serving as an examiner for 2020 or contact Trish Villines at 501-372-2222 or tvillines@arkansasstatechamber.com. Returning Examiners click here. The Governor’s Quality Award Program is administered by the Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence, an affiliated program of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Abernathy, an economist and managing partner at North Carolina-based Economic Leadership, worked through a 45-minute presentation describing how low unemployment, a tight labor market, an aging workforce, urbanization, technology and education are moving so quickly that many businesses can’t possibly know what the landscape will be for their industry 10 years from now.

“Technology jobs and other jobs are going to be how we head forward and I would take a real strong look at where you’re growing, what types of jobs are already successful, and then try to double-down on what you’re already good at,” he said.

The speed of change, the power of data, and constant disruption from automation and innovation are contributors to predicting the hazy future for many companies. Abernathy noted that Arkansas is among the Top 15 states that will lose jobs due to the disruption.

“When you look at automation and what the impacts are going to be, it’s by type of occupation. So you can measure at the state level or even the county level,” he said. “If you know they’re going to be disrupted, then you need to start planning. That’s not going to mean you’re going to lose jobs. You’ll lose some, you’ll gain more, but it means you’re going to have to retrain almost everybody whose in those current jobs.

The availability of skilled labor is the No. 1 requirement driving business expansion and location, he said. But that will get more difficult as older baby boomers retire and younger millennials make up a smaller percentage of the population. Those millennials are also having babies at a much slower pace than previous generations and that is going to compound business owners’ need for new labor.

The trend is not just an Arkansas problem, it’s an American problem, Abernathy said.

“Nationally, there’s not enough labor. I was in a room last week where 80% of the businesses in the room said they would expand if they could find more people. Right now, what we’re seeing in the country is a throttle on our growth based on the fact that companies don’t have enough people to fill that need. So they’re drawing back, they’re adding robots, they’re doing what they can, but they’re forced to go overseas – not because it’s cheap labor, but because it’s labor anywhere,” he said.

Abernathy revealed data from a survey of roughly 400 business leaders from Arkansas and found:

• A majority of leaders were more satisfied with business taxes and healthcare than they were the skilled labor force;
• 61% said there was a disconnect between K-12 education and needed job skills; and
• 51% said there was a disconnect between what’s being taught in higher education and job skills.

Randy Zook, CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Arkansas, closed the annual meeting with a call for attendees to support next year’s half-cent sales tax for roads and highways. The ballot issue was referred by the Arkansas legislature and will be on the November 2020 ballot.

“We need this for good, high-value, safe, predictable highway transportation,” Zook said.

He also touted a new initiative to combat opioid abuse, a subject that is decimating workforces. Earlier in the day, the chamber announced the Arkansas Opioid Response Initiative, a toolkit of resources to help businesses and workers prepare, prevent and respond to the crisis. Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care are partners in the effort.

Together Arkansas, an opioid response initiative developed by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC), was unveiled Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the State Chamber/AIA Annual Meeting at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Together Arkansas provides employers with a toolkit of free resources to help them prepare, prevent and respond to the opioid crisis. The online course consists of five modules (13 to 16 minutes per module) that cover legal and operational issues, best practices for drug-testing, developing policies and procedures, how to respond to an employee’s misuse of harmful drugs, where to refer an employee who needs help, and providing options for an employee to return to work.

Opioid-use disorder took 43,400 workers out of Arkansas’s labor force between 1999 and 2015, according to the American Action Forum, and 574 million work hours were lost to substance-use disorder during the same time period.

“Opioid-use disorder is impacting Arkansas employers of every kind – from small operations to large corporations,” said State Chamber/AIA President & CEO Randy Zook. “It is creating daily challenges for employers because it affects their greatest asset: their employees.”

Opioid-use disorder caused $33.5 billion real economic output in lost productivity for Arkansas’s economy between 1999 and 2015, according to the American Action Forum, and seven of 10 human resource officials reported their company felt the effects of substance-use disorder including absenteeism, decreased productivity and safety.

“The opioid epidemic is one of the biggest threats to business and our economy today,” said Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield President and CEO Curtis Barnett. “Providing Arkansas employers with tools to address a problem as pervasive as opioid-use disorder is critical. That’s why Arkansas Blue Cross is supporting the Together Arkansas initiative. Helping employees break the bonds of addiction, get and stay healthy keeps them creative, innovative and productive. And that makes Arkansas strong.”

Seventy-five percent of employers have had an issue with opioids in the workplace, according to a National Safety Council Employer Survey.

“At AFMC, our mission is to improve health care for all Arkansans,” said AFMC President and CEO Ray Hanley. “We hope this toolkit will better equip employers across the state to deal with the issues resulting from employees who may be struggling with opioid or substance abuse.”

Today, Americans are more likely to die of opioid abuse than a car crash, according to the National Safety Council’s Injury Facts.

Ninety-five percent of all overdoses occur in working-age adults between the ages of 18 and 64, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

In Arkansas, opioids take one life every two days and in 2017 there were 194 opioid-related deaths in the state, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) Arkansas Opioid Summary.

To access the Together Arkansas modules or learn more about the initiative, visit www.togetherarkansas.com. For assistance, contact help@togetherarkansas.com.

For More Information on Together Arkansas

Contact:

Shelley Short, Arkansas State Chamber/AIA, 501-944-2028

 Max Greenwood, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, 501-378-2131

 Carol Cassil, AFMC, 501-212-8732 or 501-804-2392

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by Andrew Moreau | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / October 24, 2019

The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s business advocacy tour rolled through Little Rock on Wednesday, and Randy Zook, president and chief executive, outlined improvements that are needed to make the state more competitive in the next decade and beyond.

The event is one of 18 around Arkansas the chamber is holding to galvanize the business community and motivate leaders to build a more competitive climate that promotes business growth and adds jobs.

“We need to create an environment in Arkansas that is conducive to and supportive of a very robust opportunity for business expansion, recruitment and investment — resulting in economic growth that is equal to or better than our regional competitive states,” Zook told about 60 business leaders gathered Wednesday at the Chenal Country Club.

One of the state’s main challenges is workforce readiness: making sure that Arkansas has the right workers trained with the right skills in the areas where businesses want to locate and expand.

“Not a week goes by that I don’t talk with a business owner or manager who says I need more people,” Zook said. “We’re constrained by this challenge to enhance workforce readiness across the state.”

Yet the state is making progress. Arkansas has gained a top-10 ranking for overall cost of doing business in a national survey of site-selection experts conducted by Area Development magazine.

“We have a relatively competitive set of tools for economic development,” Zook said. “We need to do more.”

The top three factors businesses consider when expanding or moving to an area are the availability of skilled labor, labor costs and highway accessibility. To that end, Arkansas has some work to do — especially in making sure the state has more large sites with highway access and clear control and ownership of the land.

“We are behind the curve and we need a few more of those, especially in central Arkansas,” Zook said of site availability for large industry.

As for highways, Zook asked the business leaders to build support for approval of an extension of a half-percent sales tax, which will be presented to Arkansas voters next year. The extension would raise more than $200 million devoted to highway improvements. “This is a critical infrastructure decision that we will make,” Zook added.

The Chamber is wrapping up its door-to-door meetings, with the last events scheduled for next Tuesday in West Memphis; Nov. 12 in Texarkana; and Nov. 14 in Fort Smith.

The State Chamber will hold its annual meeting on Nov. 6 at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Ted Abernathy, managing partner of a consulting firm that recently completed a workforce development study for Arkansas, will be the keynote speaker.

The State Chamber/AIA and Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, P.C. are presenting a seminar titled “2020 FLSA Changes: Overtime & Exemption” from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21 in the Bob Lamb Conference Room of the State Chamber at 1200 W. Capitol Ave. in downtown Little Rock.

The Department of Labor recently announced the final rule for 2020 changes the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) effective January 1, 2020.

In the final rule, the Department is:

• raising the “standard salary level” from the currently enforced level of $455 to $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year for a full-year worker);
• raising the total annual compensation level for “highly compensated employees (HCE)” from the currently enforced level of $100,000 to $107,432 per year;
• allowing employers to use non-discretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) that are paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level, in recognition of evolving pay practices; and
• revising the special salary levels for workers in U.S. territories and in the motion picture industry.

Missy Duke and Greg Northen of Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, P.C. will present on how to ensure you understand the changes and are ready for the new year.

The cost is $50 per person and includes lunch. To register, click here.