WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Business leaders from six Central Wisconsin communities have teamed up to organize the Central to Success Workforce Solutions Summit to be held in Wausau this summer.
The event will bring business leaders together from throughout the region to learn how to better market themselves to outside workers while also improving their workplace culture to better retain talent. Mike Witte of the Portage County Business Council says local leaders can’t remain stagnant on the issue much longer. “This is where people will come to listen and to be involved in the process to make your business more attractive.”
Witte calls the event a “solutions summit,” saying we already know what the problem is, and now it’s time to get creative to solve it.
Greater Wausau Chamber CEO Dave Eckman says the region is at a potential tipping point when it comes to workforce development and retention, and the solution will require a collaborative effort. “We are under a threat, and it’s a long-range threat. We are on an island where we simply do not have enough talent to support the economic growth happening in all our communities.”
Others said that the situation in Central Wisconsin may be more critical than in other areas given the region’s high labor involvement rate, meaning if jobs are going to be filled the candidates will have to come from outside the region.
Others involved in Monday’s announcement were the leaders of the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber (Wisconsin Rapids) and Merrill, Mosinee, and Marshfield Chambers.
Registration for the Central to Success Workforce Solutions Summit is $99 through May 18th. The price will go up after that.
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