There is nothing like being on the ground floor and creating plans for the future. For those involved with the talent side of the auto industry, the major changes the industry has gone through have put an even greater emphasis on the retention and attraction of talent, particularly as the industry enters the next generation of automotive development and production.

“Large numbers of workers left the industry, both voluntarily and not, during the most recent downturn,” says Kristin Dziczek, the director of the labor and industry group for the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Quite frankly, there is a lot of work to be done. The auto industry has many years just cut the ranks, so it will take real work to rebuild the image that this is an industry people want to go to.”

Dziczek, who is also the director of the center's Program for Automotive Labor and Education (PALE) initiative, discusses two studies that are being conducted with companies to ascertain the state of the workforce today and the skills needed for tomorrow, as well as what the green revolution will mean to the industry's workforce requirements.

Global Corporate Xpansion: What is the biggest issue in the auto industry in regard to talent?

Kristin Dziczek: There are two: retention and attraction. We want cars to be at the forefront of the green revolution. We need to solve how to place batteries into cars so that they are safe and affordable. The entire battery challenge brings in new groups of people we didn't have in the industry before.

And, the workforce also needs to attract degreed employees, such as MBAs and engineers. There is a much higher perceived risk in the auto industry than even five years ago. So we need to answer: How do companies make themselves attractive to top talent? Or how do they work without the talent?

GCX: How is CAR helping?

Dziczek: Through PALE's research endeavors. We are on two parallel tracks right now.

One study characterizes what the green jobs in auto will look like. What are the skill needs? What are the additive skills for the incumbent workforce? What are the new skills that will need to come into those companies? And how are we going to get there?

The industry needs a handle on what is required and what is needed so we can work with the education system and training providers to assist in supplying the workforce.

We are just starting the interview phase. It is a roll up to a much larger study that is being done by a consortium, which will come out in spring 2011.

The second study, set to be released by the end of the year, deals with basics. This study focuses more on the entire workforce spectrum, from production to skill trades to engineering and technical.

We want to determine: So, after shedding the hourly and salary workforce in large numbers in the last couple of years, are there now holes that need to be filled and how will they be filled.

For example, what people are left? How did you replace them? What does the attrition rate look like? What do the demographics of the workforce look like? Also, what jobs are becoming more important, where you need more staff and where you are having a difficult time finding those people? And what jobs are becoming obsolete, where you are winding people down?

Another consideration is that many of the domestic companies have a second-tier wage agreement in place, so we are looking into how that plays out. Does it bring work in to the companies and does that change the dynamic with suppliers so the automakers themselves are doing more of what suppliers once did because they can essentially do it at the same labor costs?

GCX: In regard to suppliers, what are you learning about their workforces?

Dziczek: The suppliers are part of both studies and we want to learn if they are now in direct competition for the same workforce. They face many of the same workforce needs but they also don't have the labor power might of a strong automaker in a market.

And no matter which companies you are talking about, domestics or internationals, if you are working at a supplier and you get the chance to work at the automaker, it usually means you get more money or more responsibility. Suppliers have been the farm team for the industry. We have seen some reversal in the salary side, where engineers go back to a supplier because they get broader authority or more responsibility.

GCX: So, what does “green” mean to the future of the auto industry's workforce?

Dziczek: It is interesting because there are jobs that have always been there, in which workers are doing the same thing, and now they are [considered] green jobs.

I don't think as a country we have a clear definition of what a green job is. There are all the classification systems for what comprises industries and occupations but there is nothing that says ‘this a green job in a green industry.'

In auto, if you are assembling a hybrid or hybrid battery electric vehicle, there will be some jobs that are very different; however, for the person who puts tires or seats in, they are likely not that different.

So we are looking at where things are different. What is the delta … that gap of skills, people and programs to train and produce people who can do this work? This has an interest from both a policy standpoint and from an employer standpoint.

GCX: What would you tell a company in regard to filling workforce needs in the industry's new reality?

Dziczek: Several of the things that came out in our first study [“Beyond the Big Leave: The Future of U.S. Automotive Human Resources”] are still very applicable. One way to get the type of workers you want is to offer cooperating internship experiences, and working with the local educational institutions. This way you are getting people who understand your business, and who might take classes to shape their educational career to match more closely what your needs are, as opposed to getting involved with someone once they graduate.

And in the history of the industry we have had partnerships with the education systems, such as community colleges and universities, and even with high schoolers who were paired up with suppliers or auto manufacturers to learn what the industry needs in regard to talent.

I think the workforce will be a critical differentiator going forward, and those companies that form strong educational partnerships will be at an advantage.

Interview conducted by Rachel Duran.

For more details about the PALE initiative and the Center for Automotive Research, visit www.cargroup.org.