DVR_BEST
Thu, 7/14 3:52PM • 16:35
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
employer, services, employees, job, hiring, person, business, carpal tunnel, businesses, helps, assistive technology, training, warehouse, hire, work, alaska, job seekers, provide, positions, talked
SPEAKERS
Jason Caputo, Gina Bastian

Jason Caputo  00:01
Hello, and welcome. You're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast series, where you'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. I'm Jason Caputo, and my guest, today is Gina Bastian, regional manager for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, also known as DVR. Gina, welcome to the program.

Gina Bastian  00:26
Thank you so much for having me, Jason.

Jason Caputo  00:28
I'm very excited to have you on the show. We have been talking to a bunch of different people from DVR. But now we really want to focus on the services that we provide to businesses. And I know you're not only a regional manager, but you're also the lead for DVRs. BEST team, can you talk about what BEST stands for and what the team does?

Gina Bastian  00:54
Absolutely, I'm happy to do that. I get actually rather excited about talking about that. But the BEST team is the Business Engagement Services team. And so we have one, at least one person in every region. And we have five regions across the state. So we serve the entire state of Alaska. And our job is to provide services specifically to businesses. So our job is helping businesses figure out figuring out the business needs and how to address them. And they are our customers, specifically the businesses.

Jason Caputo  01:30
Right. So I know this is a new initiative, really, in the last few years to really focus on helping those businesses and even before the pandemic. This was a focus. But then, of course, with the pandemic, in the end, the difficult hiring situation for employers is even more important. So lately, yeah, so So I know you work with tons of employers across the state, big and small, to help them help them figure out how to thrive. What are the services that you're offering to these businesses, maybe let's just take the top service, we'll go through one at a time, what's the top service that you offer that are really valuable to those businesses?

Gina Bastian  02:12
Yeah, that's really I'm like how you ask that, because we do a variety of services, but our primary job is to really understand a business, what their needs are, and even more importantly, what their culture is. So a small business owner, or a box store, or a corporation, especially at this time is really having some significant hiring needs. And we as the business engagement team, the BEST team, we can meet with that business, we find out what their needs are, we find out what the skill set is that they're looking for. And then most importantly, we find out the culture, and what what that culture of that business is like, and it's our job to to pair up the right person with that employer at no cost to the business or the employee. But to make a good job match, so that that person enters that job and stays for a long time. So we're looking at career jobs. Or if they're getting their foot in the door, and they're starting their career ladder, that we're getting them in with the business where they can, they can build over time, because they have a specific goal. And we know that their personality and their skills and abilities will match that employer. And it's a win win for everyone. And in that it reduces the business's time that they need to put towards recruitment, interviewing all of the onboarding. And we know that's very costly to all businesses, bringing on a new employees. So the work that we do helps to minimize that, and decreases their time and effort and having a good employee come on board.

Jason Caputo  04:03
Right. Okay. So that's how it kind of is a bit different than some of the other services that the Department of Labor offers. And some of the other ones maybe they are quicker hires, I know, like the job service might offer. And when I say quicker hires, I mean that they might just look and fill fill a position immediately. And that's the end of the service.

Gina Bastian  04:29
What makes us different from the job service. I'm really glad that you brought that up Jason, is the job service has immediate openings, and they're dealing with people walking in the door, and they're supplying them with jobs that are currently open. And they're helping them complete applications or resumes. We're really looking at the long term picture, and we're helping people get into careers. Some of it is immediate need jobs, but when somebody's come to us, we've probably spent at least Two to five months really getting to know that person evaluating their skills and abilities and really understanding that person. So it's our job job to make sure that we're connecting them with the right employer. And the other piece that we're doing is the business piece so that we're really making a good match there. So the job service has positions open right now. And then they also do employer fairs where the employer gets to talk to people that are walking through the door, what you get from us is somebody that we've vetted, we know they can do that job. And we're there to support the business to ensure that it goes well,

Jason Caputo  05:40
gotcha, gotcha. So it's a complement to the other services that at the Department of Labor, but really, it's it's this, like you said, it's, you're working with these people for at least two to three months, you really know them inside and out the job seekers, so that you you're focused on this really long term match, so that employers don't have to continue to hire if they're not hiring the right person the first time, we're making sure that that first hire is a good hire a long hire. Gotcha, gotcha, that's wonderful. We,

Gina Bastian  06:11
we want to make sure. So when that person decides that they're going into a job, that they want to be there that is going to feed who they are, and it's going to feed the business, not just say, Here's positions, you should apply, and hope that that person's invested in, in that employment, there's a difference there, and employers pick up on that. So our job is to really help that employer really understand. Or it's our job to really understand what that employer needs. So they know they have that aha moment of this is our person.

Jason Caputo  06:48
So we're spending your your staff spending a lot of time with job seekers upfront to really get to know them. How much time does an employer need to spend when you're working with that employer with with our our best team member to? To get that help?

Gina Bastian  07:05
Excellent question. That can be anywhere from a couple of hours, to more depending upon how complex the position is, how often they're hiring, how many positions they want to fill, what are those positions, but initially, it's, it's really an interview of an hour or two. And it's how much the employer wants to share. Sometimes they're going to take us through their entire business and give us tours and introduce us to people. Other times they're going to know, they know exactly what they're looking for. And so they're very clear, we understand what they're looking for. And we can help with that.

Jason Caputo  07:47
Gotcha. So So if an employer really knows what they want, maybe they don't have a lot of time, as well, that first meeting can be very short, it's really customized the employer, but if the employer really wants to take us through and have this deeper connection, and really explain maybe multiple positions, if they're a large employer, then we can take more time where they're around their need, and that that meeting can be longer is it sometimes several meetings, if it's a if it's a longer, where's it usually just that that initial up,

Gina Bastian  08:18
I'm going to say it's usually one to three meetings, depending upon who they're looking for, and how many candidates that we have. And the other thing that our services provides, in addition to that, we do provide some other services. So we might identify additional needs or resources or ideas that this business hasn't considered that will help them with their efficiencies. And that's just because most businesses are strapped right now they're working, probably two or three jobs, you know, some of the employees just to keep things going, especially through the pandemic. So sometimes when you have that second set of eyes, and we're trained to handle employers and look at their needs, we might have some ideas that helps the business overall.

Jason Caputo  09:08
Oh, fantastic. So it's really a consultant in a way, looking, you know, giving them recommendations on some free services. So So let's, that's a great transition into I know that. So we talked about one of the key services that help with making good long term hires, what's another important service that we provide that the best team provides, that they might be able to recommend to an employer when they're there that that interview?

Gina Bastian  09:37
Well, sometimes it's it would be training or accommodations, possibly assistive technology, so minimizing impact of the job on the employees, or if we have an employee that has some sort of assistive technology need, training the employer on the benefits of that or why the person needs it. Sometimes we've been asked to come in and train, for example, all US GCI their warehouse hired somebody who happened to be deaf. They contacted us, because they didn't know how to interact with someone who is deaf. And they wanted some tools on how to do that and make that person feel welcome. So we came in and provided some real basic sign language training to their warehouse employees. And what ended up happening is, the person learning those signs helped them to communicate, communicate, excuse me communicate across the warehouse without having to yell, sign language, which created the efficiency and effectiveness for all the employees. So they were just tickled. So we ended up providing more levels of sign language than it initially intended, but it ended up benefiting the entire warehouse.

Jason Caputo  11:02
Wow. That's amazing. And that was that training is free.

Gina Bastian  11:05
It was a free training. Oh, no, no cost to anyone. Right? Oh,

Jason Caputo  11:10
that's incredible. And you mentioned assistive technology. Can you talk about what is assistive technology, just for folks who

Gina Bastian  11:16
don't know, Assistive Technology is anything that helps somebody to be able to do their job. So sometimes it might be a special chair. Sometimes it's something connected with their computer where they speak into a microphone and it types for them. Maybe someone's been clerical person for many years and has carpal tunnel, but they still have all the skills and abilities to use the computer, well we can put in Dragon is one of the at the names of the voice activation, that they can direct all that work without causing additional harm to their arms with the carpal tunnel and still do the job. Yeah, that's all set. And you're maintaining, so we don't always, one of the things that we do is the hiring, helping people find people to employ. The other thing we do is retention. So if you've had somebody that's worked for you for 20 years, and they acquire something such as the carpal tunnel, because they've been doing typing and computer work for so many years, the dragon would be a great accommodation. And oftentimes, we found that businesses will buy that for other employees, because it's so good for all of them. But they've never, they didn't know that it existed. And so it helps people maintain in jobs, you know, and help with ergonomic setups to help minimize any type of carpal tunnel so that that carpal tunnel really isn't an option down the road. But these are things that employers are learning over time and have become universal. So by Universal Design, it's used with all employees, because it helps people maintain in their jobs longer.

Jason Caputo  13:13
So that's fantastic. Because especially you know, if you can keep an employee, and let's say, especially a long term employee, that maybe you've got an employee who you've invested a lot of training in, they know the company, they are operating so effectively, but then they get carpal tunnel, now they can't take, you might lose this, this employee, oh, my gosh, in this hiring situation right now, you you're not only losing a valuable employee, but now you've got to hire in a very difficult hiring situation instead. So DVRs, business specialists, your specialist who come in, identify that situation, figure out what technology the person might lead, could use to stay in the job. I actually use that that dragon voice to text myself, and it's fantastic. And I actually don't need it as much anymore. Because my my but I still use it because it is so efficient. So that's, that's fantastic. You can train to offer free trainings on this kind of thing. So absolutely. So we've talked about and I know you you offer other services as well, but we've, we've hit the three the three big ones. I think, if if a business owner is interested in this help with hiring, help with keeping talented employees, different types of trainings, and really wants the best consultant to come in and tell them, here's how we can help you. What's the next step? What do they do, who do they call,

Gina Bastian  14:48
they would just need to go to our website. And we have a business engagement page and it lists all of our people across the state. And so the one that's closest to where they're located There's no place that we don't service in Alaska, even if we're not the one. We are networked with all the different agencies in Alaska. And so if we don't have that answer, we know who would. And so we're here to help with information and referral, as well. Regarding a variety of business needs.

Jason Caputo  15:22
That's, I mean, that's an incredible service. It's a free service, you got a central. So in short, you've got DVRs BEST team. These are business consultants, you can call them, if you have any kind of issues with hiring and needing training supporting employees. I talked about fatigue counseling for folks. And again, this is a consultant who can come in and even if DVR doesn't provide the service, they can get to the right service. So it's probably worth the call if you've got some issues you're dealing with, give them a call and a quick conversation and you can be getting to some free services for your business. Thank you, Gina, so much for joining us today. This has been the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast. We've talked about all these great services for Alaska businesses today. Thank you, listeners for joining us. We hope you found the show informative, and that you'll join us for our next podcast. You can find this episode and other episodes at our website at www.labor.alaska.gov/podcasts/