Business leaders' alliance to conduct workforce seminar

Area business leaders who are interested in learning more about the local workforce and communicating with employees will be able to do just that during a public seminar next month in Fort Scott.

Representatives of Southeast Kansas, Inc., a Cherokee-based alliance of business leaders in 13 counties, will conduct the agency's annual Manufacturer's Forum from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the Grand Hall of the Fort Scott National Historic Site.

The forum, which is open to the public and particularly manufacturers and businesses in the Southeast Kansas region, is designed to help employers understand the hidden rules and driving forces behind the different economic classes in today's workforce.

The seminar will give participants an inside look at people in each of these classes, according to a statement from Southeast Kansas, Inc., which works to maintain and offer a wide diversity of jobs to future generations.

"It will help you view employment issues from different perspectives and, perhaps, help you think outside the box when working with a workforce in Southeast Kansas, many of whom are living in poverty," the statement said.

Pat Jones, an administrative assistant with Southeast Kansas, Inc., said the training seminar will be conducted by two presenters from the region, Anita Cooper and Georgia Masterson. Both women have also been trained as facilitators of the book titled "A Framework for Understanding Poverty" written by author Ruby Payne.

Southeast Kansas, Inc. is an agency that works to compete with larger metropolitan areas through lobbying in Topeka and at other higher levels of government.

"We're a legislative voice for the area," Jones said.

The forum's two guest speakers were coordinated by Neosho County Community College Dean of Outreach and Workforce Development Brenda Krumm, who said Payne's book discusses the issue of poverty around the world.

"What really opened my eyes is how people in different economic classes talk a whole different language," Krumm said. "I thought, ‘We're doing a lot of things wrong.' They (those in poverty) value different things than we value. It's different in Southeast Kansas, because it is a depressed region economically. We need to learn to talk a different language to them."

Certain benefits that many employees in higher economic classes enjoy, such as paid sick leave, pay bonuses, paid vacations, and higher salaries, and other luxuries that several of these employees may take for granted, are often not available to employees living in a poverty-stricken area, so those people typically place value on different aspects of their jobs, Krumm said.

"It may not be money," she said. "It could be benefits, or time off with family. Many of these people are on public assistance so they have different motivators."

Krumm said the seminar will focus on the predominant economic classes in Southeast Kansas, which are mainly made up of middle-class and poverty level employees. The forum will allow those in attendance to discuss different views on how to learn from these employees and help them become more productive, she said.

Other than the presentation, the seminar will feature a question-and-answer session with the presenters, Jones said. Any employers who want to learn more information on the forum's topic will be able to attend a more in-depth training session that will be conducted at a later date. More details on that session will be provided at the Nov. 14 seminar.

Jones said reservations for the seminar must be made by noon Wednesday, Nov. 7. Those people who do not cancel prior to this deadline or who do not show up at the event will be charged the registration fee. Fees, which include lunch the day of the program, are $10 for members of Southeast Kansas, Inc., and $20 for non-members.

Southeast Kansas, Inc. has represented manufacturing, retail, and service businesses along with county and city governments from 13 Southeast Kansas counties since the 1950s. Visit the agency's Web site at www.sekinc.org for more information.

In 2003, the Manufacturer's Forum, then an independent association, merged with Southeast Kansas, Inc. to become the Manufacturer's Forum of SEK, Inc., according to the Web site.

For more information, or to make a reservation, call Jones at (620) 231-7371, or e-mail her at patj@sekinc.org.