011 Developing Your Workforce with Autistic Talent

In this episode, Kate Hardin and Carolyn Amon of Deloitte address key findings from their report, The Natural Gas Workforce in a Decarbonizing World, noting that decarbonization is a growth opportunity for natural gas utilities. They address how gas companies can reorient their workforce force towards the emerging renewable natural gas, geothermal, and hydrogen industries and further amplify growth by engineering a digital skill advantage. Listen in to learn about decarbonization strategies that can help gas utilities attract the growing talent pipeline they will need to achieve their targets.

This insight-packed podcast addresses the important role veterans play in the energy workforce and how to attract more of these skilled men and women into energy employment. Leaders from Veterans in Energy, Cassandra Wheeler (Southern Company) and John Broschak, (Consumers Energy) cover the gambit of topics including best practices in military recruiting, the GI Bill, recruiting apprentices, the importance of creating an energy community for those who have served, working with military spouses, and much more!

Deloitte's Brad Denny and Carolyn Amon talk about their report, The Decarbonized Power Workforce: Digital and Diverse, which suggests decarbonization by 2035 could lead to a tripling of the power workforce. Our guests offer suggestions on what the power sector will need to do to fill these jobs, including expediting digitalization, preparing to compete against other industries for those with select digital and data management skills, planning for continuous training of a digital workforce, recruiting for talent in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and from a more diverse pool of talent, and changing misperceptions of industry employment.

Dave Kearon, Director of Adult Services for Autism Speaks, joins us for this episode of People Powered to make the business case for companies to hire people with autism. He talks about particular strengths, such as attention to detail, deep focus and concentration, visual acuity, and comfort with repetitive tasks, that those on the spectrum can bring to the workplace and addresses what companies should consider about hiring from the neuro-diverse community. Listeners will learn what resources and support Autism Speaks offers as part of their Workforce Inclusion Now program.

In this episode, Steve DeWitt, the Deputy Executive Director for the Association of Career and Technical Education, explains the importance of collaboration between educators and businesses to ensure students are prepared for local employment needs. With 98% of students now touching the CTE system, employers must help identify skills needed for tomorrow's careers. After learning why to get involved with CTE, learn how to prepare for making these important local connections.

Chris Manshio of Accenture joins People Powered to talk about the creation of a thought-provoking new piece, Reinventing the Utility Employee Experience. This work product, developed in collaboration with CEWD, seeks to challenge traditional thinking in how the industry hires new employees and how the industry may best succeed in the competition for talent, especially in light of workplace changes spurred by the pandemic.

Cheryl Carrier, the Executive Director of Ford's Next Generation Learning Program, joins us to discuss how they work with businesses, schools, and communities to build collaborative educational models that benefit students. She unveils a bit of the "secret sauce" they have learned through influencing career decisions of more than 400,000 students.

On this episode, Manjari Raman, the Program Director for the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work shares what her research team has been working on in regard to the gig economy, hidden workers, and why employers must focus on people, now, more than ever before to attract and retain the best and brightest to energy sector careers.

In this episode, Ron Painter, the CEO of the National Association of Workforce Boards, explains how workforce boards operate, why they are important for employers, including those in the energy sector, and how to make connections with the 500 boards across the United States. He stresses the value of participation with these groups that manage federal dollars allocated for workforce initiatives within local communities and have the ability to make connections between men and women looking for skilled jobs and companies that seek motivated and job-ready talent for permanent and part-time positions.

This episode, featuring Bob Mosher, the CEO and Chief Learning Evangelist at Apply Synergies, addresses the five moments of learning need and why and how those have changed for employees in world class learning organizations. The future-looking dialogue explores the three most important components of how people learn, important pivots between content and context, and enablers that empower learners for high performance within their organizations.