Workforce Partnerships

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance clearly understands that workforce development is a substantial piece of overall economic development. So much so that the Alliance and WorkForce One have created a formal partnership resulting in numerous benefits for the local economy and businesses looking to expand in or relocate to Broward County.

WorkForce One is a Broward County organization funded by state and federal dollars to assist local businesses with various human resources needs and to help local citizens find employment or training opportunities. WorkForce One provides the Alliance with an onsite workforce development professional who serves as the Alliance's workforce and staffing expert. This specialist provides new and/or expanding businesses all the information needed about the local labor market and creates customized recruiting solutions for those companies with demands for large or specialized needs.

One example of the success of this partnership is the services provided to Aetna when they decided to build a large mail-order pharmacy in Pompano Beach, Florida. Through the company's various conversations with the Alliance, they discovered WorkForce One could help them best meet their local recruiting and staffing needs.

"WorkForce One diligently assisted the Pompano Beach facility from its inception with our recruiting, pre-screening, and scheduling of interviews," said Tricia Stewart, Human Resources Business Partner with Aetna. "They have been very flexible and accommodating and have assigned help accordingly to meet our hiring goals. WorkForce One provided this service to us free of cost which undoubtedly cut expenses tremendously. The Pompano facility benefited greatly from the efforts of WorkForce One and this is apparent from the skilled workforce currently on staff."

Because WorkForce One is funded through state and federal dollars, services to businesses and individuals bear no additional costs. Local businesses should take advantage of these services as they've already paid for them with tax dollars.

WorkForce One can provide any Broward County business with varying levels of service. Recruiting assistance comes in the form of free advertising, pre-screening applicants for positions paying over $10 per hour, onsite recruiting in the WorkForce One Centers or assistance with hiring many people at one time. Training dollars are available to companies needing new hires (On-the-Job Training) or to those companies looking to upgrade the skills of their existing workforce (Employed Worker Training). Each Center has job developers to assist with recruiting and training needs, as well as recruiting specialists who work with employers from the time a job order is placed through the day of an actual recruiting event. Businesses can also get specialized tools and information like wage and salary data, workforce demographics and custom job descriptions. Check out the website at www.wf1broward.com or call 954-677-JOBS (5627).