Center for Research on Employment and the Workforce
The Center for Research on Employment and the Workforce (C.R.E.W.) is operated by the Career Center
at Cal State Fullerton in order to collect, analyze and disseminate information about issues and
trends that are reshaping the professional opportunities of our graduates and the behavior of our
employing organizations. These issues and trends include diversity, globalization, generational issues,
knowledge transfer, and the impact of emerging technology. They are quickly impacting hiring requirements,
organizational expectations, and business opportunities at a rapidly accelerating pace.
This is particularly true in the Greater Los Angeles and Orange County area, and throughout California,
where old assumptions about the workforce are quickly eroding, presenting new opportunities
and challenges.
The Center collaborates with various partners both on and off campus in this process. Off campus partners include
Spectrum Knowledge, a leading training, research and consulting firm that has considerable experience working with corporations on workforce issues. Other partners will be drawn from those corporations and public-sector organizations that share our concerns about these workforce issues and can invest in underwriting and/or become actively involved in the research to be conducted by the Center.
The Center has three current projects:
Diversity Works
Diversity Works is an online professional community of diversity champions, managers, recruiters, employee resource group/affinity group leaders and members, concerned senior managers, educators, and other diversity advocates, which will launch July 1, 2008. Diversity Works creates a strategic advantage for its members by tapping into the power and opportunities which result from diversity and the return on their organizations’ investment in diversity, including enhanced connection with customers; innovation; employee recruitment and retention; and global competitiveness. Membership is open to all who share our commitment to a diverse workplace.
A distinctive attribute of Diversity Works is that members come from varied job functions, industries, and roles within their organizations, complementing the work of professional associations that focus on diversity from a specific functional perspective.
Diversity Works will:
- Function as a clearinghouse on trends, best practices, case studies, and emerging issues related to building and sustaining a diverse workforce.
- Collect and share non-proprietary information related to these topics using secure and confidential research methods such as our web-based polling system.
- Publish a quarterly electronic newsletter to report on these topics, distributed free-of-charge, to members.
- Support ongoing discussion, sharing, and reflection on these issues through the creation of an online community for blogs, forums, podcasts, and publications.
- Organize seminars and other educational programs and events to disseminate this information and provide further opportunities for dialogue and discussion.
Sign up for Diversity Works.Young Emerging Professionals (YEP) Initiative
Organizations face major challenges with recruitment, retention, development and management of their Young Emerging Professionals, while navigating four generations in the workplace. These organizations often express the need for cross organizational
collaborations and knowledge sharing, while creating a common forum to facilitate this process and prepare these Young Emerging Professionals to advance through the workforce pipeline. The Young Emerging Professionals (YEP) Initiative addresses these challenges, as it focuses on generational workplace issues from the perspective of young professionals. Topics covered by the YEP Initiative include talent management, retention, as well as employee and leadership pipeline development. The Initiative also provides immense value by distributing its sponsored studies to a broad range of companies and their employees, as well as to a nationwide network of university career centers, college students and alumni associations. Currently, YEP is engaged in the following:
- Gen Y Perceptions Study
This study will capture the self perceptions of young professionals and analyzes the gap between their perceptions and that of older generations of managers regarding young employees. Phase One of the study will examine these issues from a quantitatively perspective, and Phase Two of the study will measure qualitatively, via focus groups and interviews, the survey results from Phase One. The YEP Initiative will release Phase One of the study in the fall of 2008 and Phase Two in early 2009.
- Young Emerging Professionals Council
The Young Emerging Professionals Council will consist of representatives from 20 companies selected for their willingness to invest in young professionals, to participate in surveys, to share best practices for professional development of young employees and to promote intergenerational discussions. These council members are leaders in their organizations who show high potential and have the support of their company executives. We will form an Advisory Board comprised of executives from multiple organizations.
- The Guide to Developing Young Professionals
The Council will participate in focus groups which will inform the development of an annual
publication, “The Guide to Developing Young Professionals.” The annual guide will assist companies and recruiters with approaching, retaining and developing young employees,
- Young Employee Savvy and Success (YESS) Program
Concurrent with the study, our partner, Spectrum Knowledge, will launch the Young Employee Savvy and
Success (YESS) program. Geared towards preparing this emerging generation of employees for advancement in the workplace, the YESS program will address both employee and organizational needs.
For more information on the YEP Initiative please contact Vu Pham, Principal, Spectrum Knowledge at
vupham@spectrumknowledge.com.
Publications
C.R.E.W. also publishes various research reports and guides. Our first publication,
Where Have they Gone: Survey of 2006 Graduates is now available.
More Information
For more information on the Center for Research on Employment and the Workforce please contact:
Jim Case
Director, Career Center
Cal State Fullerton
P.O. Box 6830
Fullerton, CA 92834
714-278-2499
jcase@fullerton.edu