Workforce Business Development Award Nomination Oklahoma

Oklahoma Workforce Business Development Award Nomination: Oklahomans Employer Council Business Service Model

Contact Information of Individual Submitting Nomination

Nominator: Cody D. Cox

Email Address: cody.cox@oesc.state.ok.us

Agency Name: Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

Oklahomans Employer Council Business Service Model

Business Services are the critical link in the workforce development cycle and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s (OESC) responsiveness to the needs of business plays a critical role. To that end, OESC developed an innovative business-lead model coined Employer Councils. Oklahoma Employer Councils are a cooperative educational effort of the OESC and local human resource professionals. Employer Councils bring together employers in communities across the state of Oklahoma to learn about current local employment and training issues. Council oversight is a shared responsibility with a board of local human resource professionals driving the educational components and OESC team members managing the logistics and communications. The educational events are taught by experts in their respective fields and are held on a monthly basis in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas and quarterly in the Lawton and McAlester communities at no charge to employers. Each program has been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit through the Human Resources Certification Institute. The HRCI certification is five times more requested than other human resource certifications and requires annual credits to keep certifications active. OESC is also recognized by the Society of Human Resource Management to offer Professional Development Credits.

Provide a statement of results, accomplishments, impacts, and any other appropriate information that demonstrates why the nominee's efforts described in question #1 were an exceptional contribution. Response (400 word limited).

Oklahoma's Employer Councils have been received with great enthusiasm statewide. The average attendance for each event exceeds 75 employers. The educational events impact every area of Human Resources including Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Performance Management, as well as Federal and State regulations that are often time sensitive. Employer Councils provide environments to engage with other business and partners in local communities and create holistic approaches to meeting the needs of the business and human resource communities. The Employer Council model has also been used on a smaller scale to offer lunch-nlearn opportunities in areas that don't necessarily warrant a regular-occurring event. A great example of this is Guymon, Oklahoma. Guymon is a small town in the panhandle of the state. Recent census estimates put the population at 11,278 people. The town businesses reached out to OESC and inquired about the ways medical marijuana might impact unemployment claims. The management team in this area of the state was able to reach out to the Employer Council teams in the other areas and procure a speaker to come discuss the effects of the new medical marijuana legislation on employer policies and employee separations. The first lunch-n-learn event had 35 employers in attendance.

Provide a brief description of the nominee's significant contributions in any one of the other two areas listed under "criteria" that you did not focus on above. Response (400 word limited).

A robust business service model creates thriving local, state, and national communities. It was with this in mind that the OESC Employer Councils and a handful of workforce partners and business leaders created this strategic partnership that would leverage state resources to meet the needs of the business community. The Employer Council model has successfully created a business centered design which has been replicated in each quadrant of the state. As the human resource world continues to evolve and is changed by technology, the OESC affirms its commitment to the continued education of building business professionals through the employer councils.