This Business Guide Addendum contains additional information to supplement the Worksheets. In particular, the case examples of different educational approaches may assist you as you plan and evaluate your company's efforts. The section titled "Designing Strategic Educational Approaches" will help you align your business and education goals into strategic partnerships, while the section titled "Documenting Added Business Value" will help you measure the outcomes of your efforts. Resources and a Bibliography are also included.
The Addendum is organized in the following manner:
Corporations need skilled workers
Businesses continue to report that employees enter the workplace without the skills necessary for today's jobs. This skills gap makes it difficult to compete in the global economy which demands the use of increasingly sophisticated technology. Corporations can play a key role in ensuring that all students receive a high-quality, world-class education, so that they will be adequately prepared for the 21st century.
Corporations want to invest in school systems that help potential employees develop the skills and knowledge needed to achieve their business objectives. Companies expect schools to provide the preparation necessary for employees to arrive at the workplace ready to tackle their jobs. If workers enter the workplace unprepared, companies are required to spend time and money on training and skill building. Currently, corporate America spends billions of dollars to teach remedial and basic skills to their workers.
Employees must adapt to the changing workplace
Three major trends—increasing competition, globalization and rapid technological change—have altered the structure of the workplace, work force needs, and work processes. Business leaders need employees who can exhibit high performance and productivity, adaptability to change, and the capacity to work cooperatively in teams. Successful workers must be flexible and demonstrate responsiveness to workplaces characterized by mergers, reengineering, and downsizing. In addition, today's workers are required to incorporate life-long learning into their career development and continually upgrade and re-tool their skills.
There have been drastic changes in the work contract between employees and employers. Currently, employees change jobs frequently and may work for multiple bosses in project-driven teams. Employees can no longer expect that they will work in positions of increasing responsibility with the same firm, leaving after years of service with benefits that guarantee a secure retirement.
Highly ranked school systems are a corporate tool for recruitment and retention
Corporations are committed to school improvement since highly rated school systems are a company recruitment tool. In order to attract qualified employees to work and live in their fence line communities, companies must be able to demonstrate that employees' children will receive a high-quality education. A recent survey by Money Magazine found that the caliber of local schools is one of the most important criteria considered by potential employees when deciding whether to accept a job offer in a different city.
Employees want to work for companies that are involved in educational initiatives. Employees report that their contributions to schools and educational systems—for the sake of children and the community—is a high priority. Companies that support employees in educational efforts report higher productivity, increased job satisfaction, and more company loyalty, which are recognized as key factors in retaining employees.
A survey of 90 companies (Parkinson, 1997) found that the primary reasons for implementing internal education initiatives were to respond to employee concerns and to promote their image as a family-friendly company. These motivators are applicable to community-based approaches, but are superseded by concerns about the future workforce. Barnes (1994) conducted phone interviews with more than 1,500 households in five U.S. cities. Over 40 percent of consumers indicated that their decision to do business with a company was affected to a "very great extent" or "quite a bit" by a company's social responsibility activities. A study by the University of Pennsylvania's Institute on Higher Education (Broner, 1998) found that businesses with programs that promote employee involvement in education have a turnover rate which is half that of other companies among workers ages 18-25. American Bankers Insurance Groups, which opened the first work-site school in 1987 in Miami, reports that reduced employee turnover and absenteeism have saved the company $475,000 per year, which is more than three times the $140,000 annual operating budget for the school (Grimsley, 1998).
Employers strive to be recognized as an "employer of choice" so they can attract and retain a quality workforce. In addition, employees with a commitment to the corporation deliver quality work with high productivity. This means that companies that have an "employee friendly" corporate culture create the foundation for employee involvement in education. In fact, work/life programs and policies are a cornerstone of being an employer of choice. What drives business involvement in educational approaches is an employer's need for an educated, skilled workforce able to compete in the global economy.
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 [Step 5: Plan, Implement and Evaluate] |
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 [Case Examples: Employee Involvement] |