Governor Perdue Announces Certified Work Ready Facilities

ATLANTA, December 2, 2009 – Governor Sonny Perdue today awarded $1.4 million in federal stimulus funds to 29 Georgia manufacturing companies to become Certified Work Ready facilities. The joint project between the Governor's Office of Workforce Development and the Georgia Department of Economic Development is designed to help companies in Georgia improve their productivity and strengthen the state's workforce through customized training. 'In challenging economic times, it is important to focus on building the long-term sustainability of Georgia's workforce,' said Governor Perdue. 'By implementing Work Ready and making an investment in their employees, these companies are gaining a competitive advantage today and in the years to come. The 29 new Certified Work Ready facilities-in-progress include:

The Certified Work Ready facilities-in-progress, many of which are already using elements of Georgia Work Ready, are using both Work Ready job profiles and Work Ready assessments as an integral part of their hiring and employee training practices. The companies will use the Work Ready profiling system to analyze and fill key positions; Work Ready assessments will be used to hire new employees and to train existing employees. Funding for the project is provided by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and will be used to reimburse training costs associated with: Expenses for implementing the Georgia Work Ready training plan (earning work ready certificates, participating in a job profile, skills gap training) Approved customized, job-specific training of the company's choice 'The new Certified Work Ready facilities initiative will help more than 7,000 Georgians improve their skills through assessments and customized training,' said Ken Stewart, commissioner, Georgia Department of Economic Development. 'As a result, the companies participating have the opportunity to reduce turnover and training costs, improve hiring procedures and increase productivity and profitability.' As part of Georgia Work Ready, 140 counties throughout the state have made a commitment to earn Certified Work Ready Community status, a designation showing they have the talented workforce that business demands and the means to drive economic growth and prosperity. Building on the Certified Work Ready Communities, Work Ready Regions bring together their assets and leaders to create regional talent pools targeting existing strategic industries and to increase economic development opportunities. The Certified Work Ready facilities project helps communities achieve certification goals by driving current workers to earn Work Ready Certificates. In addition, many of the companies are located in a Work Ready Regions and by implementing customized training, can prepare the existing workforce for advancement and meet the common training needs across regional industry clusters.

About Georgia Work Ready Georgia's Work Ready initiative is based upon a skills assessment and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses. By identifying both the needs of business and the available skills of Georgia's workforce, the state can more effectively generate the right talent for the right jobs.For more information on the Work Ready initiative please visit the Web site at www.gaworkready.org.