Beth Kelly owns HR Collaborative, a human resources firm and has spent 40 years helping local companies find and hire workers. She says West Michigan is doing a lot right, but there are some opportunities to improve. Companies struggle to fill jobs in manufacturing because fewer people are going into the field. Kelly believes they have to change perceptions to reflect what manufacturing is today.
“It’s not a dirty factory floor where you go in and work on a dangerous machine for 8 hours. In fact, it can be very collaborative, it can be very high tech.”
When attracting new people to West Michigan there’s room for improvement too when it comes to diversity. Kelly says for instance, a person of color may still be a minority at business events.
“We’ve got a ways to go there. If you go to any of the other kind of emerging towns, especially in the larger cities, you see a great melting pot and I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
She says today’s business owners are trying to engage the new generation of workers, but it’s not just about higher wages and the flexibility to work at home.
“The biggest driver is a sense of purpose. It’s doing a job that’s meaningful and you can see how you impact the world around you, and makes you feel like you’re valued and respected in the workplace.”
