Growing Area Talent Through High School Youth

by Greater Mankato Growth, posted in Business Development, Talent Development

Mankato Area Public Schools (MAPS) is increasing career pathway exploration by encouraging students to participate in Work-Based Learning opportunities. All high school youth are eligible to participate in activities to explore and refine skills through this unique form of learning outside the classroom. We are excited that so many local businesses have opened their doors to help youth discover and explore their futures! Our options in work-based learning provide “layered learning” for students who need additional experiences to help shape their decisions. Some of these options are listed below; additionally, employers can choose from an array of 12 partnership opportunities by completing this survey:

Employer Participation Opportunities

Individualized Career Exploration Experiences

MAPS students are encouraged to participate in exploration opportunities before extended work-based learning. Below are some of the unique ways that employers can showcase their careers and companies:

Job Shadows

A traditional 1:1 shadowing experience exploring a specific career. Students provide their own transportation.

Career Interviews

A virtual shadowing experience for 1-3 students in a career field.

Career Forums

Employers visit the high school site to share information with a small group of students (2-10) who have identified a specific career pathway of interest.

Lunch & Learns

Targeted group of students who visit multiple industries and post-secondary instiutions throughout the year to learn about career fields and programming.

Mini Site Tours

Small groups of students (2-7) who have identified an area of interest tour a company to learn more.

Note: Other exploration opportunities for students include Classroom Speakers and Classroom Field Trips

Work Experience

MAPS believes that work empowers students to build career skills (soft skills) and knowledge to be quality employees and citizens. Students earn credits for their employment. Students are required to take a Career Planning course prior or in conjunction with their work. This is available for any student in grades 9-12.

Career Internship

A Career Internship is a paid or unpaid experience taking a deeper dive into a student’s area of interest. Students earn high school credits through this model by taking career pathway coursework and then applying that skill and knowledge at a worksite helping them gain skills and experiences. An example of a career internship is our partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System. Mayo Clinic Health System Explorers are students who take a full semester to learn about a wide variety of healthcare careers by working in several departments in the Mankato Mayo Clinic Health System facility. From nursing to pharmacy, lab tech to information technology, students are seeing how their talents and interests can be applied almost anywhere. Students attend weekly seminars at the school to build their resumes and portfolios.

YOUTH APPRENTICESHIPS

These full-year or multi-year opportunities are for students who are highly motivated to work in a field. Currently, our youth apprenticeship programs are in Advanced Manufacturing. An example is our YEAP partnership (Youth Employment Acceleration Program). Students work for up to 2 years at a company, learning the various roles and responsibilities within the organization. MTU Onsite Energy, EI Microcircuits, Kato Cable, and Lindsay Window and Door are YEAP partners providing opportunities for students to take a direct hands-on approach to learning about the field of advanced manufacturing.

Last year–even with COVID–approximately 250 students participated in a work-based learning experience in the district. This number will likely grow as students move toward taking their learning in new directions and businesses continue to look for talent and consider why training the youngest of employees can benefit their organization. Through these experiences, students are developing a network of support that can help them long after they graduate. Students taking advantage of any of the work-based learning options are building their personal toolkit to be career, college, and life ready. 

Thank you for your interest in learning more about partnership opportunities at MAPS, and again, if you are interested in partnering with MAPS, please complete the survey below.

Employer Participation Opportunities

New COVID-19 Guidelines for Keeping Employees Safe

by Member Guest Author, posted in Member Guest Blog

FAQ on New COVID-19 Guidelines:

Here are our answers to the most frequent questions on the new COVID-19 guidelines and keeping your workers safe. Our goal is to keep your employees out of the clinic and hospital if it’s not necessary.

Q: When employees have COVID-19 symptoms, what should they do?
A: They should get tested at a local testing site. Here are some testing options. While waiting for results and after testing positive, they should stay home and isolate from their families as best they can. Treat mild symptoms at home with over-the-counter medication. Stay hydrated. If they have shortness of breath or worsening symptoms that cannot be managed at home, seek medical care by calling your clinic.

Q: Do employers need to require a doctor’s note from employees in order to return to work?
A: No. Please do not require employees to get a doctor’s note to return to work due to the volume of patients being seen at the clinic. A medical visit and note are not necessary to return to work and providers and staff are working to care for those who are very ill.

Q: When employees test positive on an at-home test, is it really positive or do they need to be tested again at the clinic?
A: If someone tests positive on a home COVID test, they do not need to get retested in a medical facility.  A positive home test means they have COVID.

Q: If you have a COVID-positive employee who is feeling better after 5 days, can the employee return to work on day 6?
A: Yes, if symptoms are resolving and they remain fever-free without medication for 24 hours. If they feel better, they can return beginning on day 6 and any day after. Remember, the day symptoms begin is day zero. If symptoms persist after 5 days, your employee should stay home until symptoms resolve, or at least 10 days, whichever is shorter. For example, if symptoms resolve on day 7, they can return on on day 8. When your employee returns to work they should be masked (level 2 if possible) until day 10. If their symptoms are not resolving, they may be out for the full 10 days and no doctor note is needed.

CDC Guidance
Click here for CDC recommendations on quarantine and isolation. The chart is easy-to-read and answers many questions on when to test, what’s a close contact, and how to calculate quarantine and isolation periods.


OSHA Issues Emergency Temporary Standard

by Greater Mankato Growth, posted in Public Affairs

This morning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) filed a hotly-anticipated Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) related to COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and face coverings in the workplace. This follows an announcement by President Biden on September 9, 2021, directing OSHA to develop a rule to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Details are posted on the OSHA website, but here are some of the key highlights:

  • ETS is effective immediately, as of 11/5/2021.
  • Employers must comply with all requirements, except testing, within 30 days. Testing compliance within 60 days.
  • ETS applies to employers with 100 or more employees. In Minnesota, along with other states with an OSHA approved State Plan, the ETS applies to public sector workers employed by state and local governments, including educators and school staff.
  • Employers must determine the vaccination status of each employee, obtain proof of vaccination status, and maintain records.
  • Require employees to notify the employer of a positive COVID test or diagnosis. Employers must then remove the employee from the workplace.
  • Employees who are not fully vaccinated must be tested at least weekly if the employee is in the workplace at least one day a week.
  • Employees who are not fully vaccinated must wear a face covering when indoors or in a vehicle with another person for work purposes.
  • ETS does not require employers to pay for testing or face coverings. Employers may assume costs if they so choose.
  • ETS does not apply to 100% remote employees or employees who work exclusively outdoors.
  • Requires employers to provide up to four hours of paid time to receive each vaccination dose, and reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from side effects experiencing following each dose.

Greater Mankato Growth staff is continuing to monitor this announcement. We will provide additional details and resources as they become available.

Podcast: Heartless Hackers Demanding GIft cards

by Member Guest Author, posted in Business Development

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the importance of cybersecurity has quickly become a quintessential part of today’s business strategy. More than 50% of businesses have been the victim of a cyberattack, and as many as 60% of those hacked businesses end up going out of business.

Continue reading “Podcast: Heartless Hackers Demanding GIft cards” →

The Five Stages of Cybersecurity Prevention 

by Member Guest Author, posted in Business Insights & Inspirations, Member Guest Blog

Cyberattacks can cost organizations millions of dollars and 2021 has seen the highest average data breach cost in the last 17 years. While it’s almost inevitable that you’ll someday deal with a cyberattack on some level, organizations who formed incident response teams and tested their incident response plans were able to reduce the cost of a breach by almost 40%.

With the broad nature of cybersecurity and a lot of ground to cover, many companies don’t even know where to begin. Luckily, a comprehensive, in-depth cybersecurity action plan can be broken down into five stages: Foundational Security, Policies and Awareness, Key Processes, Incident Preparedness and Security Monitoring. While each has their own unique benefits, a true culture of security relies on each stage working together for peak efficiency and protection.

Continue reading “The Five Stages of Cybersecurity Prevention “ →

Email, Phone, or Text – Which Is Best for Communicating with Customers?

by Member Guest Author, posted in Business Development, Member Guest Blog

Customer Texting is in Demand

According to one study, 63% of respondents said they would switch to a company that offered text messaging to communicate. That’s not surprising when 92% say they expect to wait on hold five minutes or more before speaking to a human being.

Continue reading “Email, Phone, or Text – Which Is Best for Communicating with Customers?” →

MN Main Street Grants Program: Applications Begin September 20

by Greater Mankato Growth, posted in Business Development

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has announced that the Minnesota Main Street COVID Relief Grants Program applications will be accepted as of Monday, September 20, 2021. This program, approved by the Minnesota State Legislature and signed by Governor Tim Walz on June 30, will offer $64,200,000 in grants for Minnesotan-owned and operated businesses that can demonstrate a financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continue reading “MN Main Street Grants Program: Applications Begin September 20” →

Employee Retention Credit: 7k Quarterly Wage Subsidy per Employee for 2021

by Member Guest Author, posted in Business Development

The COVID recession isn’t over for everyone. For businesses still struggling to return to 2019 revenue levels, the tax law has a lifeline: a refundable tax credit of up to $7,000 per-employee, per-quarter.

It’s easy to see how $7,000 per quarter, per employee, can add up. For a qualifying company with 50 employees, for example, it could mean as much as $1,400,000 in benefits for 2021.

The Employer Retention Credit was first enacted early in 2020 as a tax credit of up to $5,000 per employee for 2020. It applies to taxpayers who have either:

  1. Had a full or partial suspension of business due to a government order, or
  2. Had a significant decline in gross receipts.
Continue reading “Employee Retention Credit: 7k Quarterly Wage Subsidy per Employee for 2021” →

2021 (Special) Legislative Session Recap

by Greater Mankato Growth, posted in Public Affairs

Minnesota’s 92nd legislative session ended their 2021 regular session on May 17th without a budget. The Governor and Legislative leaders instead released a budget framework with a target of $52 billion for the next biennium. Lawmakers worked for four weeks on final details largely outside of the public eye until they convened a special session on June 14th. All spending bills were passed and signed into law by June 31st.

The need for a special session was largely due to a late infusion of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. Roughly $8.5 billion was allocated in the bill to the State of Minnesota for various programs.

Budget

A final budget of $52 billion was signed into law on June 31, 2021. This biennial budget is an increase of approximately $1.3 billion over the previous budget – much of that one-time funding from ARPA. Included in the bill are direct tax cuts of $644 million to people who lost jobs and employers who kept people working during the pandemic.

Paycheck Protection Program

The final tax bill included full conformity to federal tax law with regards to the Paycheck Protection Program at a cost of roughly $375 million in fiscal year 2022. Businesses and organizations that received PPP loans will not be subject to either federal or state income tax on the amount of the loan received.

Continue reading “2021 (Special) Legislative Session Recap” →

Recovering from Financial Data Loss: What to Know About Forensic Data Reconstruction

by Member Guest Author, posted in Business Development

When financial data has been lost or destroyed, it’s imperative that organizations have their data reconstructed quickly and efficiently in order to move forward. Forensic data reconstruction allows organizations to recreate their accounting systems.

Here’s what you need to know about financial data loss and how forensic data reconstruction can help.

Continue reading “Recovering from Financial Data Loss: What to Know About Forensic Data Reconstruction” →