Offshore Wind Energy Workforce Development Best Practices Resource

The need to limit employment barriers was a common theme among discussion groups. Various types of workers will need individualized support for entry into the offshore wind industry. Identification and reduction of employment barriers—especially for those who identify as a returning citizen, an early-to-mid career professional, or a part of another historically underrepresented group in the labor force—was noted as an important step to adequately develop a workforce that can meet offshore wind deployment goals.

Best Practices/Solutions

Stakeholder groups could develop innovative workforce programs aimed at increasing employment opportunities for all workers. This could ensure offshore wind does not repeat historical inequities. Some of the best practices actions are listed below.

• Provide wrap-around services, such as childcare and transportation, to workers who would benefit the most from these services.
• Build upon models that reduce the time from training to employment, such as Washington’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program (I-BEST), which provides hands-on job training alongside basic skills training.
• Demystify labor unions' structures and policies with developers and subcontractors to encourage more engagement.
• Consider historical inequities when evaluating workers who have criminal justice involvement.
• Use direct funding from the state and federal governments to support developing training facilities, training programs, and train-the-trainer models.

Discussion groups recognized that developing effective workforce pathways will require collaboration between various stakeholder groups. Early and ongoing partnership between all levels of government, academia, labor unions, and industry was noted as a necessary measure to ensure that key information about the offshore wind industry is disseminated to the appropriate decision makers. Incentivizing coordinated venues for collaboration could develop workforce training programs that productively prepares the workforce to meet the demands of industry, and ultimately lead to the successful deployment of offshore wind.

Best Practices/Solutions

Key actions, such as the ones listed below, could be taken to help promote collaboration between industry members and advance essential offshore wind employment pathways.

• Foster communication between industry voices, labor unions, education institutions, and community-based organizations through common platforms coordinated by federal, state, and local governments.
• Convene stakeholder groups at a regional level to connect local community colleges and union programs with industry members who are developing projects. Local community college and union programs represent diverse communities and are often more closely aligned with the communities they educate and train.
• Motivate training providers, community-based organizations, and employers—through state and federal incentives—to develop workforce pathways that effectively reduce barriers that hinder entry into the offshore wind industry.
• Incentivize coordination rather than competition between states by setting unified expectations and developing transparent workforce requirements at the regional level.
• Partner with key stakeholders—including community-based organizations, labor, manufacturers, and states—to leverage resources and hire from underrepresented talent pools to effectively engage and connect with target workforce audiences.
• Foster more partnerships with Tier II and III suppliers to facilitate collaboration and receive ongoing information concerning job training providers within specific regions.

Improving transparency among all stakeholder groups emerged as an important theme, especially as it relates to collaboration and standardizing actions. One way to improve transparency is to track employment, diversity metrics, and training pathways to show the benefits that the offshore wind energy industry is building in states and communities over time. Industry and training providers are two groups that can improve the tracking of outcomes from commitments. However, states and communities have a responsibility to ensure that transparent requirements are built upon collaborations rather than competition.

Best Practices/ Solutions

• Develop a national data collection system to track employment and apprenticeship pipelines.
• Standardize industry reporting requirements to show how initiatives are meeting commitments to employ a domestic and diverse workforce.
• Track workforce development programs (e.g., training programs, grant opportunities, and state and regional initiatives) to allow stakeholders groups to reduce redundancy and improve coordination.
• Increase communication lines with developers to make their needs clearer and more transparent.

The need to standardize offshore wind job roles and credentials has been a common theme in offshore wind workforce development. Various offshore wind occupational maps use different language to describe similar roles, ultimately leading to confusion around clear pathways into the offshore wind industry. Additionally, many groups seek to understand what qualifications are required so they can effectively train workers. This standardization would involve understanding the skillset, education, certification, and qualification requirements that are needed to better align training programs with industry requirements.

Best Practices/Solutions

Standardization requires consensus building through an independent coordinating group. Some potential best practices to keep in mind across different areas for standardization include:

• Reach consensus on a list that conveys all of the recommended or required education, experience, soft skills, hard skills, certifications, and qualifications for all levels and types of workers.
• Develop an understanding of the certifications and credentials needed for tradespeople to support offshore wind installation, manufacturing, and operations. Then share those credentials with labor unions across states to unify training requirements for apprenticeship programs and within high school and pre-apprenticeship curriculums.
• Utilize stackable credentials, a system where individuals can earn and accumulate multiple certifications over time, to build up a qualified workforce gradually.
• Create standardized curricula across the K-12 education space that spans renewables, energy, the blue economy, skill-based manufacturing, and project-based learning.
• Formulate a standard list of missing areas across data sets, including employment of the industry, demographics, and capacity of training programs.
• Collect and analyze diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) metrics on the existing workforce to assess the equity and inclusivity of existing programs.
• Incorporate DEI practices into organizational systems through predefined processes for contracting, hiring, recruiting, and collaborating, which promotes DEI and the continued DEI education of employees.