Ohio Manufacturer Reports $30,000 ROI from Workforce Investments

Partners for a Competitive Workforce conducted a case study titled, “Manufacturing Institute’s Return on Investment Calculator”, which features a manufacturing company boosting their ROI with a unique calculated approach. Richards Industries partnered with local educational institutions near their Cincinnati, Ohio plant to catalyze the supply of qualified candidates for middle- and high-skill job openings.  Interested in not only the benefits of investing in employee training, but also cost savings, this partnership inspired the development of an investment calculator in which the company measures the cost benefit of industry partnerships, as opposed to traditional recruiting strategies, on overall business profit. Once the pipeline was established with local technical and community colleges, a training initiative ensued, and at the end of the project the company found that their total cost savings was $27, 300 per employee.  The return on investment for the training initiative was 875 percent. An additional benefit of partnering with an educational provider is the increased retention rate, as incumbent workers are trained for the needs of the employers. However, the impact is not only positive internally, but externally as these workforce development strategies allow Richards Industries to remain competitive with other industry leaders and boost the economy within their affiliate regions.