By Suzanne Behnke| Editor
At the Business Record, we’ve heard business leaders and public officials bemoan the ongoing lack of skilled workers to fill jobs (we’re at 2.4 percent for unemployment as of the latest numbers released last week).
We need more workers -- and recently the conversation has also included that we need more diverse workers.
Diversity and inclusion are the hot topics, so it was helpful earlier this month to get some input from Darlene Slaughter, United Way Worldwide’s chief diversity officer.
Her work includes "leading efforts to expedite and advance worldwide diversity and inclusion strategies, partnerships and initiatives by working closely with local United Ways, as well as corporate and community partners." Before joining United Way in 2014, Slaughter served as the principal consultant and chair of the Linkage Institute for Leading Diversity and Inclusion, and at Fannie Mae, and designed the first Executive Diversity Council as Fannie Mae’s chief diversity officer. She’s also published a few books.
Slaughter happened to be in Des Moines at area United Way offices, and we caught up with her by phone to get some expert advice for businesses large and small.
Slaughter said becoming aware of biases or issue is one thing, but there have to be programs and strategies with the goal of getting and retaining more diverse workers. Attracting diverse workers may be the easier part, she pointed out, but it’s keeping them that can be more difficult if there is no support for specific populations of workers.
She also defined diversity as encompassing gender and age diversity. "There is still diversity – even without the race. A lot times people forget that," she said. That's significant in a state in which the majority of workers are white.
Read more about Slaughter's advice for Iowa leaders and on gender parity.
Lely to create North American headquarters in Pella Lely North America sought $724,900 in state tax credits as the company plans a new, 150,000-square-foot facility in Pella to house the Lely Group’s North American headquarters. The expansion will allow products manufactured in Europe to be manufactured in Pella, the Iowa Economic Development Authority reported. The project is expected to create 15 jobs at $21.61 per hour. Lely makes robotics and data analytic systems focused on animal welfare and production in dairy farms.
Smith leaving as governor’s press secretary Brenna Smith will leave her jobs as press secretary to Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg on Jan. 2 to pursue opportunities outside state government, according to a release. Smith has worked for the governor’s office since May 2017, when Reynolds took the office. "Brenna left a comfortable job in the media to join my team during our state’s historic transition of power," Reynolds said in a statement. "It was important to me to bring on a journalist to serve in this role. Just like in news, life in a governor’s office can be unpredictable, and Brenna was ready and willing to take on the challenge. I am thankful for her service to my office and our state, and I wish her well as she continues her successful career in the private sector." Smith has been a television news producer at stations in Des Moines and South Carolina. She is an Eagle Grove native and currently lives in West Des Moines.
TV 'shark' Daymond John to speak in D.M. Author and "Shark Tank" co-star Daymond John is scheduled to speak Sept. 19, 2019, at the Central Iowa Business Conference at the Des Moines Airport Conference Center. John is the brains behind the clothing line FUBU. He was named a presidential ambassador for global entrepreneurship by President Barack Obama and is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. The all-day conference is aimed at helping businesses improve.
MEMBERSHIP EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Closer Look: John Hurley II
John Hurley II has worked his entire career at Holmes Murphy, beginning as an intern the summer of 1990 before his senior year of college. He has steadily climbed the corporate ladder of the brokerage company, which during his tenure has grown from about 100 employees to 1,000. On July 1, he was promoted to the newly created position of president of property casualty brokerage services.Read more
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NEWS BRIEFS
Dow soars 600 points as stock market bounces back CNN Business: Markets today rebounded sharply from a disastrous Christmas Eve. The Dow rose as much as 600 points by midafternoon. The S&P 500 rose 2 percent and Nasdaq was up about 3.1 percent. Today was a rare respite from a very rough month for investors. The Dow was on pace for its best day of the year, but the stock market remains poised for its worst December since 1931.
GoFundMe provides refunds to donors duped by viral campaign Iowa Public Radio: For thousands of donors lured out of their money by an allegedly fraudulent GoFundMe campaign featuring a homeless veteran, the winding ordeal has finally come to an end. GoFundMe says it has returned more than $400,000 donated to a heartwarming fundraiser that captured national attention, attracting more than 14,000 donors, before taking a dark turn earlier this fall.
ONE GOOD READ How for-profit cosmetology schools entangle students in debt
BY KATE HAYDEN: In Iowa, for-profit schools charge nearly $20,000 on average for a cosmetology certificate, equivalent to the cost of a two-year community college degree twice over, a New York Times investigation found. Iowa requires 2,100 hours of training -- a year’s worth of 40-hour workweeks, plus an extra 20 hours -- compared with emergency medical technician requirements in the state, which amount to 132 hours at a community college. "Put another way: An Iowa cosmetologist who has a heart attack can have her life saved by a medic with one-sixteenth her training."
BUSINESS RECORD CALENDAR NEWLY ANNOUNCED EVENTS
Jan. 18: Beast Feast Host: Wyckoff Heating & Cooling, Access Systems Inc., Sportsman's Warehouse and Milo Locker About: Join Outdoors Dan for a feast of wonderful wild game while supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Iowa Chapter. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and live and silent auction starting at 7 p.m. When: 6:30 to 9 p.m. Where: Stoney Creek Inn Learn more View ourfull calendarto see the latest curated business and community events, orsuggestan event.
KCCI TOP STORIES
Ankeny family donates 320 fleece blankets to hospital
It's takes a lot of fleece to make 320 blankets. An Ankeny family made all those blankets to keep some kids warm and comfortable at Mercy Medical Center. Read more
KCCI WEATHER
Tonight: Rain likely. Low 38. Winds ESE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent. Rainfall near an inch.
Thursday: Periods of rain. Thunder possible. High 53. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.
The Iowa Index is an unweighted average of all 22 Iowa-based public companies. Below is a live look at those 22, plus 15 additional companies with large operations in Iowa.
