Washington Business Winter 2019 | Washington Business | Page 23

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You have said that business owners need to change their
mindset from being consumers of talent to being creators
of it. What do you mean?
What our businesses have become accustomed to doing is waiting
at the end of the university pipeline to slurp up the talent. There’s a
great study by Joseph Fuller, “Dismissed by Degrees.” He talks about
how expensive that talent is that doesn’t necessarily have the skills
that business generally needs. Starting earlier, businesses can do a
lot more to shape that talent as they want it, as needed and as a way
to build a deeper loyalty from that talent toward their business. If
they collaborate with other businesses, they can have a foundation
for scalable skills for those individuals to work within the industry
overall and raise the number, quality and caliber of the talent in
that arena. Becoming a talent creator requires investing, but you
don’t have to invest and throw that money away. They get a return
on investment [through building a tailored workforce]. But it also
requires a partnership with government and academia so that we
are part of providing the framework and conditions so they can get a
return on their investment instead of being the only company putting
skin in the game. The governor is dedicated to doing this and I know
that regions and several counties are dedicated to doing this, but
it’s about creating a framework where the businesses can focus on
the salaries and coming together to define the competencies and
curricula of what’s needed.
Taking a break from your statewide listening tour, what are
some of the initiatives you are striving to achieve within
ESD over the next few years based on the feedback?
is business, labor, community college boards and the Workforce
Board. There are other initiatives I believe will be really important
as we move forward. How do we have economic resilience? We
suffered a terrible recession in 2008. What did we learn from that?
And how do we make sure we’re resilient and ready for whatever
may come in future economic cycles? How are we making sure
we’re laying the groundwork for the workforce of the future? A
very critical thing we’ll be launching is Paid Family and Medical
Leave. That’s a really big one. Making sure employers understand
the value proposition and our citizens are able to be honored in
their time of need.
ESD does a lot of work to support military members and
their spouses as well as those leaving the justice system
to find meaningful employment. Can you explain those
efforts?
I am so proud of the work that is happening across our workforce
system, especially here in Washington state. We’re really leading
the nation around military veterans and their transition. But as we
think about readiness, retention and resilience for our military,
it actually falls more on the spouses. What are we doing to help
spouses have the dignity of work even before they move here so that
those members of the service who are based here feel like they have
maximum support. Another way we are trying to go upstream is to
support those who are just as involved. It’s not just how do we help
them, but it’s how we help businesses tap into that labor pool. How
we do that is through Work Opportunity Tax Credits that businesses
can get if they are hiring those individuals. ESD offers protection
to employers by providing fidelity bonds to workers who might
otherwise be denied coverage due to prior arrests, convictions and
other issues. These are the tools that would be great for more people
to be aware of as businesses to tap into different populations who we
so deeply need to serve.
The listening tour never ends. I have completed over 20 townhalls,
visits and listening sessions. Fundamentally, a good leader has an
amazing team and I am blessed with an amazing team. So, first is
making sure my team feels valued and supported and go back to
basics and make sure we have the tools we need to do our work well.
Second, I want ESD to set the model as
an employer for employers across the
state. How are we as ESD embracing
suzan “suzi” levine at a glance
the value system of inclusivity, equity
and diversity? And, what are we doing
Suzi LeVine earned her Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering with aerospace
to ensure that our employee population
applications and Bachelor of Arts in English from Brown University in 1993. She also received
matches to that of our state? Things like
an Honorary Degree from EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in 2017.
maybe we should eliminate years on
After stints at Microsoft and Expedia, LeVine most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to
peoples’ resumes when we’re hiring. If
Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 2014–17 at the request of former President Barack Obama.
a symphony can put a screen in front of
She has extensive experience in workforce development, apprenticeships and the future of
who we’re listening to, how do we do the
work. LeVine served as a member of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Career Connect Washington Task Force
equivalent of that when we are thinking
and as a delegation co-chair of Inslee’s study mission to Switzerland last year.
of bringing on talent in our process? I
also want to look back and say, “Wow,
LeVine was appointed to serve as the commissioner of the state Employment Security
we brought together this partnership
Department in May 2018 and officially began her work at the agency July 9.
where we were able to contribute to
the energy — and that partnership
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