Business Services
Let us contribute to your success
Hire, Train, and Retain
LWIA 23 Business Services is your source for help to hire, train, and retain a strong workforce. In today’s labor market, workplace training and employee retention are critical components to achieving economic success. We offer a range of customized training solutions to meet your business’ needs.
Incumbent Worker Training
Our Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) program may be just what you need to help train your existing employees, to increase productivity, and to boost your company's competitiveness.
- Boost Productivity
- Avert Layoffs
- Reduce Skills Gaps in Your Existing Workforce
How Incumbent Worker Training Works for You
To be eligible for an IWT training grant, your company must need to train existing workers in order to avert potential layoffs, or to increase your workers’ skill levels.
- Grant of up to $10,000 per company/per year paid out as a reimbursement
- Training must be job-specific occupational skills development, i.e. no “soft skills” training or general worker orientation
- Matching contribution at least 10% of training cost required, which may include employee wages paid while in training.
- Workers receiving training must have at least six months of full-time employment history at your company.
- If your company has recently relocated and any employee lost their job, IWT services cannot be provided for 120 days following the relocation.
On-The-Job Training
The On-the-Job Training (OJT) program has been designed as a way of helping businesses manage the cost of training new employees who are not 100% qualified for a particular job. Through OJT, an employer may be reimbursed for up to 75% of a new hire's wages while they are trained on the job.
- Address Skills Gap in New Employees
- Boost Productivity
- Increase Your Competitiveness
How On-The-Job Training Works for You
To be eligible for an OJT training grant, your new employee must be eligible for participation. We will work with you to identify a job candidate who is eligible for the program.
- The candidate may come through our service provider, CEFS, or you can refer a candidate of your own.
- Training must be job-specific occupational skills development, i.e. no “soft skills” training or general worker orientation
- Grant of up to $25,000 per company/per year paid out on a reimbursement basis.
- Reimbursements up to 75% of wages while employee is in training.
- The training period can last up to six months.
- Work with us to create a training plan to mitigate the candidate’s skill gap and provide progress reports.
Work Experience
The Youth Work Experience program is a workforce development initiative that seeks to guide young adults in our region onto good career paths and provide a pipeline of fresh talent for our local employers.
- Zero Cost
- Early Access to Future Talent Pool
- Cultivate Soft Skills in Young Adults
How the work experience program Works for You
Get access to no-cost interns and provide an opportunity for youth to acquire hands-on experience through the Youth Work Experience program.
- We do all the recruiting and candidate preparation.
- Zero cost to you.
- Commit to mentoring and guiding young adults 16-24 in preparing for the workforce.
- Interns may work up to 29 hours per week.
- Get the opportunity to train and develop a potential future full-time employee.
Apprenticeship
Work with us to develop an apprenticeship program. We will guide you through the process of building and formally registering an apprenticeship program with the US Department of Labor. In addition to the national recognition, you will receive a variety of other benefits including financial support.
- Recruit and develop a highly skilled workforce
- Boost Productivity
- Increase Your Competitiveness
- Tax credits and Financial Incentives
- Reduce Turnover Costs
How Apprenticeships Work For You
From health care to IT, companies in industries across the economy are reaping the employer benefits of the work-based training strategy. In fact, there are over 550,000 apprenticeships across the country in more than 1,000 occupations, including jobs in health care, information technology, transportation, and manufacturing. Businesses willing to think long-term are getting a return on their investment: developing a highly-skilled and motivated workforce with increased productivity, higher morale, and lower turnover.
- Flexible training strategy that can be customized to fit the needs of your business.
- Can be integrated into current strategies.
- Apprentices may be new hires or current employees.
- Employer-sponsored earn-and-learn models that include mentored, on-the-job learning resulting in an industry-recognized credential.
- Apprentice’s pay is a portion of a fully-trained employee’s salary.
- Salary increases are tied to increases in skill levels
LWIA 23 Business Services
To get more information on any of the Business Services listed above, contact Jamie Corda Hadjaoui at jcorda12886@lakelandcollege.edu or at 217.238.8286
People Who Work With Us
“Working with our local workforce office has helped make implementing the OJT program an easy part of our everyday hiring process. It’s something that our managers have embraced and is truly a wonderful program… Not only because of the benefits we as a company receive – that’s just a small part of it; but primarily because of the extra support and incentives our new hires have to guide them through their transition back into the workforce.
It benefits everyone involved and has been a smooth process for us.”
-Leah Bolander, HUB Recruiter
Patterson Technology Center