MetroWest has champagne problems

Ryan Clutterbuck, chief operating officer for Davis Cos.

The Davis Cos. in Marlborough, which specializes in providing staffing for engineering, manufacturing and technology companies, conducts a training seminar.

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By Livia Gershon

Business in the MetroWest region is strong and getting stronger, but finding qualified workers to fill new positions – and jobs left by retiring workers – is a growing concern.

Those are some of the findings of the annual 495/MetroWest Partnership survey of area businesses, which was completed in September.

“There seems to be more optimism this year than last and less pessimism,” said Michael Harrison, the Framingham State University professor who has been conducting the annual survey for the Partnership for the past four years.

Seventy percent of the more than 100 businesses filling out this year's survey expect the business climate to improve, while less than a quarter predict no change, and 7 percent anticipate a decline.

About half the respondents also said business conditions are better this year than last, while just 7 percent said they're worse.

Harrison said, in general, the sentiment of businesses in the survey has been trending more positive since 2013. He described the typical attitude in 2014 as cautiously optimistic, shifting toward greater optimism in 2015 and then holding fairly steady this year.

“To me, 2016 looks a lot like 2015,” he said.

Shifting concerns

Between 2014 and 2015, the top concern of area business leaders shifted from healthcare costs to labor quality. This year, 22 percent of the survey respondents identified finding skilled workers as their single most important business challenge. Next up was government regulations at 15 percent, followed closely by healthcare costs and traffic, which were tied with 14 percent.

Harrison noted, if the labor market is a concern for employers, it's also a reason for the area to be proud. Survey respondents picked the quality of the labor force as one of their top reasons for locating in the 495/MetroWest area, after proximity to clients and affordability of real estate.

“While it's one of the top reasons for locating here, it's also one of the top challenges,” he said.

Low employment, high demand

It stands to reason that finding talented employees would be a challenge in the current economic environment. As of August, the unemployment rate for the area including Framingham, Marlborough and surrounding towns was just 3.2 percent.

Ryan Clutterbuck, chief operating officer for Davis Cos. in Marlborough, which helps match workers with employers, said it's a seller's market when it comes to talented workers.

“We're definitely seeing a shortage of talent in the market right now, at all levels, all the way from entry level to seasoned,” he said.

Clutterbuck said looking for good employees, particularly for in-demand positions in fields like engineering, now means targeting people who already have a good job with promises of something even better.

“You're just taking talent from one organization and putting them in another,” he said. “There's not an overflow of candidates by any means.”

Bringing up the next generation

The survey found local businesses' biggest worries when it comes to the workforce is the need to replace people aging out of jobs, followed by the skills gap of applicants for their openings. To Clutterbuck, those worries manifest themselves in a very high demand for skilled workers with zero to seven years of experience on the job – people who can replace retirees and inject new energy into a workplace.

Companies that are successful in attracting those workers tend to be able to offer more than just a good salary, he said. These workers are also seeking the chance to dig in to interesting work with a clear purpose.

In engineering, he said, the questions applicants are asking are: “Is the product cool? Are they using the newest tools? Is it going to have an impact?”

Meanwhile, Clutterbuck said, it's not there aren't potential employees out there, but many of them don't fit the profiles that companies think they need. Some workers have been out of the labor force for a while, or were laid off from retail jobs and hope to enter another field. Some also don't immediately fit the image that employers have of the ideal worker they're seeking.

“There's a fair amount of disabled people that could work and tend to be better workers than other workers, as long as people are approaching it with an open mind,” he said.

Training a competitor's employees

Paul Joseph, president and CEO of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, said one reason employers are sometimes hesitant to provide a lot of training is that they're worried workers will gain new skills to jump ship for a competitor who pays more. That's a particular concern for the small businesses with financial constraints that make up the majority of the chamber's members.

“Essentially, they're paying for someone else's benefit,” he said.

Joseph said one solution to the problem is more vocational training outside the workplace. Increasingly, technical high schools and colleges in the area are working with area employers to offer clear paths to in-demand jobs. Workers can often take a class or two, either online or in person, when they have time, and use their new skills to advance right away.

Big fish, small pond

Joseph said another part of building the local workforce is retaining and attracting recent graduates. While MetroWest has some obvious downsides compared with Boston, or other busy, nightlife-rich urban centers, he said it has its own attractions.

“You can be a much bigger fish in a smaller pond out here,” he said. “The best thing we can do in MetroWest and Central Massachusetts is to build that value and demonstrate what makes us different and better. We don't want to replicate Cambridge.”