Updates from the GSDC

March 9

• Engage Leaders: Capital One: Associate Career Journeys
• Grow Business:
  • gBETA Spring Announcement
  • GSDC Showcases Region at National Site Selectors Guild Event
• Expand Talent:
  • Employee Retention – Listening to your Employees’ Needs
  • Exploring Career Pathways for our Future Leaders
• Shape Tomorrow: MN Cup 2021
• Insights & Inspirations: Economic Value of Diversity and Inclusion

Capital One: Associate Career Journeys

One of GSDC’s four strategic imperatives is “Engage Leaders”. The GSDC brings community leaders together so their combined thinking and resources have a much greater impact on our region’s vitality than would be possible with only a few people acting alone.

gBETA Spring 2021 Announcement

Employee Retention – Listening to Employee Needs

Retaining top-performing employees is one of the biggest challenges employers currently face. Competition for talent is tighter than ever, and qualified job seekers are quickly snapped up by companies looking to fill positions. 

When these productive employees leave your company, they hurt the business. Employee turnover comes with a price tag attached — a CAP Study estimates it costs up to 9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them (and even more for senior executives), not to mention the impact to productivity as their new replacement ramps up. It can be difficult to quantify these “soft costs” of hiring and training a new employee, but they can have a significant impact on a business’ bottom line. 

To maintain positive employee retention, it is essential that employees feel they are heard. With the challenges of the pandemic, remote work, family demands and more, quality and timely connections with your employees are critical.  A couple key topics to consider: 

• If your employees have children at home, how are they doing with distant/hybrid learning? Are they struggling to maintain productivity while providing distance learning/homework support to their children? 

 Provide them information about Around Cloud Tutors – the free online tutoring platform for providing K-12 virtual tutoring support for our community – www.aroundcloudtutors.org

• Are they stressed with childcare challenges? 

Securing and maintaining quality affordable childcare is one of our most critical challenges in our community today. The pandemic has only exasperated this issue to a crisis. Have you polled your employees to understand how this may impact your teams? Are you offering benefits to support your employees needing child care services? To learn more about work happening in this area or partner with our community to find solutions for your company and our community, visit United Way of Central MN’s website: https://www.unitedwayhelps.org/what-we-do/financial-stability

Taking time to listen and hear your employees is a key to retention of talent and will help identify you as an employer of choice. 

Exploring Career Pathways for our Future Leaders

GSDC, along with several community partners, are very committed to helping connect classrooms to careers and life to learning. 

Luke Greiner, our local DEED Labor Market Analyst, shares some great information and tools regarding career exploration and education: 

If you are a graduating senior, the task of picking a career or education pathway can be a daunting task, possibly the reason why so many students plan to “figure it out later“. Committing time to research occupations and educational options is competing against a plethora of more exciting activities, but the value of gaining some baseline knowledge and direction can empower you to achieve your dream job. 

Take a look at Luke Greiner’s Video Update and Monthly Blog to learn more.

Xcel Energy set another single-year record in carbon reduction

International Women’s Day & Women’s History Month

Monday, March 8 was International Women’s Day! How did you celebrate? If you don’t know how, here are some ways you consider celebrating for the rest of this week and month.

1. Support Women Owned business. Enjoy the warm weather and head to downtown St. Cloud to shop small, women owned restaurants and shops.
2. Write letters of appreciation of gratitude to women who inspire you (don’t forget yourself!).
3. Learn about women’s history and the disparities women still face today. Not sure where to start? Try this free resource and read these Women’s History Milestones.

Coming Up

Women’s Business Alliance Webinar: Empowering Practices for Parents for 2021 Wednesday, March 10 at 1:00 p.m. REGISTER HERE! Many families continue to have to navigate the challenges of raising children during a pandemic. Join us for an interactive conversation about the gifts and challenges of parenting in 2021. Meg Flynn will share simple, empowering practices you can quickly incorporate in your family: Learn how to re-balance kids who are showing signs of stress. Get ideas on how to create rituals that will ground kids. Discover new ways to engage in self-care new systems or new skills. (Things you can do to nourish and nurture yourself as a parent and with your family.) Be empowered by understanding developmental milestones. Learn about the importance of play and touch during this time. Acknowledge all the things you are doing well as a parent. About Meg Flynn, LMFT Meg Flynn is the owner and director of New Directions Counseling and training in St. Cloud, MN. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with special training in child development, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas, and a B.A. in Psychology and Theology from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. Meg focuses her practice on building and strengthening family relationships. The Women’s Business Alliance Central and North are joining to continue a series of webinars designed to help you think through your business practices, processes and procedures to address the concerns around COVID-19 and planning in general to help your business stabilize and continue to thrive.