Becoming a Certified Work Ready Facility

Companies in Georgia can also go one step further and become a Certified Work Ready facility. Since each business in Georgia is unique, there is not a standard set of guidelines established to earn this prestigious designation. Rather, the facility will develop its own plan to be approved by the Governor's Office of Workforce Development. Once the company successfully implements its plan, it can become a Certified Work Ready facility.

The criteria for a company to become a Certified Work Ready facility includes:

• Develop plan to use Work Ready Certificates and Work Ready job profiles to develop existing workforce and in hiring new workers
• Plan includes calculation of return on investment of implementing Work Ready
• Plan is reviewed and approved by the Governor's Office of Workforce Development
• Plan is implemented and return on investment calculations made
• If the plan results in promotions and increases in hourly wages, this should be included in the results
• Company presents results to the Governor's Office of Workforce Development for certification
• Work Ready becomes a normal business practice

First Quality (formerly Covidien) in Macon, Ga., is the state's first Certified Work Ready facility. The company's 350 hourly employees earned Work Ready Certificates and worked with Central Georgia Technical College to profile and identify the specific skills needed to successfully perform jobs in the plant. The company used those profiles to develop improved training programs and to make more informed decisions regarding promotions. Since implementing Work Ready, First Quality has seen a positive impact on its operations, including:

• 200 percent improvement in training entry-level employees
• 67 percent reduction in cost and time to hire qualified candidates
• 35 percent improvement in production efficiency
• 58 percent reduction in waste