Eli Ginzberg - Does Job Training Work?: The Clients Speak Out

Does Job Training Work?

Conservation of Human Resources Studies in the New Economy

Does Job Training Work? The Clients Speak Out, Eli Ginzberg, Terry Williams, and Anna Dutka

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The Clients Speak Out

Eli Ginzberg
Terry Williams
and Anna Dutka
with a Foreword by David Lacey

First published 1989 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright 1989 by Conservation of Human Resources, Columbia University

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ginzberg, Eli, 1911
Does job training work?
(Conservation of Human Resources studies in the
new economy)
1. Occupational trainingPennsylvaniaPhiladelphia
Metropolitan Area. I. Williams, Terry M. II. Dutka,
Anna B. III. Title. IV. Series.
HD5715.4.P5G56 1989 331.25'92'0974811 88-36277

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-00346-3 (hbk)

When the senior author of this book, Eli Ginzberg, asked me to write a foreword, I accepted with enthusiasm and a firm sense of purpose. My conviction about the importance of this work stems from the fact that, despite more than $100 billion spent on employment and training from 1962 to 1982, no one has ever talked to the customerspotential and actualabout their views of its effectiveness and relevance to their lives.

In my first year as President and CEO of the Philadelphia Private Industry Council (PIC), I defined our customersboth trainees and employersas critical constituents for our work. Later in this foreword, I will describe what we learned about our customers in 1985, and what we did in response to their views of publicly financed employment and training work.

The seed for this book was planted in the Spring of 1987. At that time, the Philadelphia PIC ranked number one on four of the seven performance standards mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We at the PIC were doing very well, but I wanted to learn more about the trainees' decisions to participate in our programs. That decision, when positive, led to effective job placements and helped each person get on a path toward self-sufficiency. When negative, another person stood outside the local employment and training system and was still dependent on the direct and indirect income from welfare. In this context, I asked Eli Ginzberg and his colleaguesTerry Williams and Anna Dutkato construct a research design which would answer the question, Why does a person participate in a program? Also, what factors positive or negativeinfluenced this decision?

This book reports the findings of a 1987 survey of our customers. Paying attention to our customers is not a new phenomenon. In fact, this interest led, in the Spring of 1985, to a survey which has had lasting effects on our operational practices. I have summarized in the following paragraphs the key findings from PIC's 1985 customer survey.

In 1985, the Philadelphia PIC defined itself as a "training-based bridge" which connects motivated, interested people with employers who want to hire productive, effective employees. As a training-based bridge, PIC has two key customersthe trainees and the employers. Both customers count, but each has its own particular needs. The PIC pays attention to our trainees' needs by developing and implementing programs and services which respond to them. Our employment and training business is set up to deliver productive, effective people to our employer-customers. Although most successful private sector businesses endeavor to be customer-sensitive, most, if not all, employment and training organizations rarely think along these lines. Even when they do, their interest is focused primarily on the trainee. At the Philadelphia PIC, we focus on both customers. We need the trainee and the employer to have a successful, well-functioning employment and training system and business. Exclusive focus on one alone does not lead to an effective delivery system.

If we need both the trainee and the employer, then we must ask, "What do our customers want from the PIC?" When we asked our trainees, they said:

From our trainees' perspective, these four "wants" represented "make or break" factors for their participation in a PIC-sponsored program.

In a similar manner, we asked our employers the same question. Their responses were:

For employers and trainees alike, it is important to ask, "What do you want?" In the asking of the question, we have learned much about our customers. This learning has caused us to refine and fine tune our operations, and to work differently. Of equal importance is PIC's responsethe delivery of programs and services. Having asked the question of our customers, what did PIC intend to do about their respective and well-defined needs?

Listening to our customers has led the Philadelphia PIC to take new and different approaches to employment and training work. Some of our new initiativesresponsive to our trainees' needsinclude: