As FCA US LLC extends offers to more than a thousand Detroiters, employment agency Detroit at Work's job pipeline model is getting put to the test.
The automaker committed to consider Detroit residents first for many of the nearly 5,000 jobs it plans to add at two east-side plants as part of its mandated community benefits agreement for $2.5 billion in investment.
As of the second week in September, 1,600 Detroiters had accepted job offers and 1,000 have started training in other plants in Southeast Michigan, FCA Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart told Crain's. Interviews are expected to continue through October.
The operation funneling pre-qualified Detroit candidates for Fiat Chrysler's consideration has largely been handled by Detroit at Work. The agency created by Mayor Mike Duggan's administration has said it plans to continue offering a similar service to push Detroiters' job applications in front of other big incoming employers, like Amazon.com Inc. This means the FCA project is something of a proving ground for the strategy that's targeted at at least eight other employers so far. It has also drawn criticism for not mandating employers hire a certain number or percentage of Detroiters, instead merely putting them first for consideration.
Detroit at Work got $5.8 million from the state and federal government to support its work helping recruit, screen and train job candidates. Approximately 16,500 Detroiters got pre-qualified through Detroit at Work readiness events — a step required before they were able to apply. Of that total, 8,600 applied.
On July 13, FCA began interviewing 2,900 Detroiters for jobs at its new Jeep plant, Stewart said. That's about 34 percent of applicants.
"We've only had one (job offer) decline," he said, and 1,600 offers accepted so far. "So that's not too bad of a (hiring) rate so far."
FCA must fill 4,950 jobs total for its converted its Mack Avenue engine plants and retooled and modernized Jefferson North Assembly plant at Jefferson Avenue and Connor Street.
Hiring for 3,850 jobs at Mack, where FCA is building a new assembly plant for Jeep SUVs, comes first because that plant will start production first. Detroiters have gotten priority to apply after laid-off or temporary UAW employees. FCA could not estimate how many UAW employees there would be, Jodi Tinson, manufacturing and labor communications for the automaker, said in an email.
The Mack facility will operate under the umbrella name of Detroit Assembly Complex along with the Jefferson North plant.
"There really wasn't a specific agreement made about jobs for Detroiters," said Linda Campbell, a member of the Equitable Detroit Coalition that fought for the Community Benefits Ordinance under which FCA must look at Detroiter applications first. "What Detroiters got, essentially, was the promise of a process."
Campbell said she wants to see more assurances for residents when the city negotiates economic development deals, in which tax abatements can tend to funnel public money to large corporations without nearby communities seeing substantial benefits.
"We want to see more teeth in these agreements between the city and these private developers, particularly when there's public investment made," she said. "We're not benefiting from these huge tax abatements. There may be some lucky residents who get jobs, but that's what it turns out to be. It's like the luck of the draw."
Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield also this summer expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of having employers that enter into agreements with the city consider Detroiters first for jobs, as opposed to mandating they hire a certain number. She spoke out when the Duggan administration suggested using that strategy for demolition contractors under its $250 million blight bond proposal.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman, Detroit's executive director of workforce development, said she understands the concerns, but she believes it will work.
"I feel so strongly about Detroiters as an asset, as a ready and willing workforce, that I am not at all bothered by employers who come to ask for our help in filling their openings, but don't guarantee a certain number of Detroiters," she said.
Now Detroit at Work has built out a platform to get employers lists of candidates pre-qualified through partaking in city work readiness events. And it's being replicated beyond FCA, though it's likely the experience could differ from project to project because it depends on employers voluntarily making the decision to hire the pre-qualified Detroiters who apply.
"We don't have plans to deliver the extent of support that we delivered for FCA right now because ... that's an expensive proposition," Sherard-Freeman said. "But what we are able to do is leverage the infrastructure that we built to support FCA ... You spend the money to build a bridge initially, and then everybody who follows can walk across that bridge."
However, Sherard-Freeman said, with more funding from the state or an individual company, it could replicate the more expensive portions of its deal with FCA, like providing dedicated staff resources including interviewers. Detroit at Work has amassed a job candidate database of 50,000, beyond the 37,000 who initially expressed interest in FCA jobs, the organization estimates.
Duggan's workforce chief said companies ask for access to Detroit at Work's candidate pool, based on their specific criteria. That means Detroit at Work would need to narrow down interested workers based on — for example — whether the employer requires high school diplomas, or whether applicants will be interested, based on if work is in manufacturing or another sector.
"(The FCA project) is absolutely a proof point for what's possible with other employers," she said. "It's why (companies) are calling, and it's what we're able to deliver against."
Other companies with which Detroit at Work is either working or plans to work are Detroit Manufacturing Systems, Flex-N-Gate, Dakkota Integrated Systems, car insurance company Clearcover Inc., New Center Stamping, Universal Logistics and — if the project is approved — Amazon's site at the former Michigan State Fairgrounds.
— Crain's Senior Editor Chad Livengood contributed to this report.
September 20, 2020 at 11:05AM
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FCA hiring a 'proof point' for Detroit at Work's residents-first job application strategy - Crain's Detroit Business
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