Employee retention focus of FMWF Chamber Pulse event

FARGO — Business and community leaders meet to talk about the challenges of employee retention at a Chamber event called “Pulse of Talent Retention”.

Keeping people in the community was the theme of the event put on by the Fargo-Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce.

Breakfast was served as a discussion panel talked about how partnerships and local initiatives are helping businesses and communities retain employees.

The panel consisted of the deputy director of the chamber alongside representatives from Bobcat and Folkways.

An audience poll taken at the event showed that childcare and housing are the biggest concerns for businesses keeping their employees.

“Through the regional workforce impact program, we previously were in the child care game and we learned a lot more about child care than we ever thought—that we ever imagined,” said Katie Ralston Howe, deputy commissioner for the North Dakota Department of Commerce. “But, through that program, we supported the creation of more than 25 hundred new child care slots across the state.”

The Regional Workforce Impact Program is a funding mechanism meant to encourage collaboration between regional partners and employers foster solutions to workforce challenges.