Measuring Business Impact National Fund for Workforce Solutions June 11, 2013

Starter Questions  What kind of evaluations are you doing?  What does business value mean in your work? 2

Starting Place  What sort of business value are you trying to achieve?  What are the mechanisms (programs and services) that target those outcomes for your business partners? 3

Evaluation Process  Map logic model  Derive research questions  Create data plan and timeline  Frame implementation plan and timeline  Develop the mechanics – collection tools, databases, data portals, websites, data user agreements  Coach the organizations involved  Implement 4

Business Value – Three Ways to Do It  Benchmarking  Employer self report  Econometric case study 5

Benchmarking  Example: Massachusetts Building Essential Skills through Training (BEST)  Met Employer Expectations  Was Valuable to the Companies  Employers Valued Participation with Other Companies  Was Valuable to Employees  Value of Career Ladder Efforts  Return on Investment  Improved Profitability  Cost Reductions  Participation in Future Rounds of BEST  Future Participation in Workforce Development Pros: Easy to complete and provides basic feedback about value Cons: No detail; hard to do continuous improvement with this data alone

Employer Self-Report  Example: Workforce Strategies Initiative, Business Value Assessment Tool  Sets up comparisons on key factors, Program Participants vs. Non-Participants  Attempts to monetize many factors, but not all  Employers Report  Remember that these are just examples  Example: MAGNET (Manufacturing Growth Network), Impact Survey  Series of yes/ no questions on key factors  Each question is followed by a blank that asks employers to estimate a dollar value for the factor Pros: Can be used for continuous improvements such as curriculum improvements, recruiting/ screening improvements, employer services improvements Cons: Harder to fill out, requires employers time and data

Econometric Case Study  Example: Health Careers Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, ROI 2011  Estimates costs/ benefits for key factors  Comparison analysis of program participants vs. similar non-participants  Attempts to mitigate threats to validity  Small number of employers provide deep data on several hundred program participants and a comparison Pros: Produces hard numbers estimating business value. Can be used for sales, fundraising, and policy advocacy. Cons: Takes time to get to scale. Someone has to provide the data.

Recommendations  Decide on a few (3-5) key metrics that the employer value work can be built around  Develop a benchmarking tool immediately and roll it out  Develop an employer-self report tool immediately and set expectations for completing it with new employers. Roll out in the month timeframe  Econometric case study only makes sense if there are a smaller number of employers who hire a larger number of people. Need at least 100 people, prefer more.

Benefits Discussion  What are the benefits of being in a partnership as opposed to doing this on your own?  What workforce problem(s) will this (or could this) solve for you?  What business value does this (or could this) provide to you?

Return-On-Investment Value EmployersIndividualsInstitutionsPublic Can be viewed from several perspectives Implies items that can be monetized

Good Resources  Aspen Institute’s Workforce Strategies Initiative  towards solutions  Commonwealth Corporation’s Measuring Business Impact: A Workforce Development Practitioner’s Guide   New Growth Group’s Greater Cincinnati Health Careers Collaborative: Return-On-Investment Report  es-publications/ 12