Guest column: Setting state's newcomers on fast track to jobs
Recent news stories reporting that 400 of the migrants and refugees to Massachusetts who have received work permits are currently employed is surprising and, at the same time, not surprising at all.
Our organization, Thrive Support & Advocacy, is a small but growing nonprofit provider of services to individuals with developmental disabilities, including residential and day-support programs, in Middlesex and Worcester counties.
We now employ 14 people who have been living at a temporary family shelter nearby, with 10 more referred and awaiting onboarding. In total, they will comprise about one-third of our direct support staff. If we had the capacity — in terms of both interpreters and resources — we would absolutely hire more, because their dedication far outweighs the onboarding challenges that result from their speaking a different language.
Businesses across the commonwealth have been lamenting workforce shortages for years. Our human-services sector in particular has been grappling with an ongoing workforce crisis that was further exacerbated by the pandemic.
A recent member workforce survey from the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers, in which we participated, puts the overall statewide job vacancy rate among community-based providers of intellectual and developmental disabilities services at 24%.
This is why it is surprising that only 400 or so of these work-ready newcomers have found jobs.
The people we have hired were among the first group of new arrivals to gain work permits, back in December. It took us eight weeks to onboard our first cohort of six women from Haiti due to language barriers and slow background checks.
Using lessons learned, patience and creativity, our second cohort of new employees was onboarded in four weeks, including background checks and completion of required trainings. This is approaching the average onboarding time for typical workers in our industry.
There’s no question that Massachusetts needs more workers, and these newcomers want jobs. Here are some tips on how to make it work:
Be creative: Language is the primary barrier to employment for many of the refugees coming into Massachusetts. We utilized current staff who speak Haitian Creole and contracted with a third person as a translator, and our new employees started on the overnight shift, during which there would be a lessened need for communication.
Be resourceful: Human services in Massachusetts is highly regulated, and people providing direct care to individuals with complex needs are required to pass a series of background checks and training certifications to work in our industry. The certification tests, such CPR and first aid, are only available in English and require real-time interpretation, demonstration and translation for participating individuals.
Be collaborative: The resettlement agencies and providers working with the people living in the shelters are invaluable for navigating the state system. Our partners at the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance help with paperwork, translation, transportation, English classes and so much more. We also see opportunities for working with other human services providers to reduce the overall costs of onboarding new staff.
Be persistent: When onboarding our first cohort of new hires, getting timely results for background checks was challenging. With persistence and support from our state partners, including Sen. Robyn Kennedy and Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Assistant Secretary Ken Brown, we are working to remove these barriers and obtain faster results.
Our new employees are eager and hardworking people who show up on time for every shift. They are knowledgeable and kind — and grateful for the opportunity.
We hope that other employers — especially in our sector, which has been struggling with a double-digit job vacancy rate for more than a decade — will see the tremendous upside of working with these people seeking a new start in America. In so doing, they will solve a piece of the workforce puzzle while these new workers build a better life for their families.
Sean Rose is president and CEO and Stacey Forrest is the COO at Thrive Support & Advocacy in Marlborough and Worcester.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Sean Rose on getting Mass. migrants into workforce
