By MIKE REILLY

A cutting-edge project of the United Way of Chittenden County (UWCC) is putting the learning gained from a dynamic anti-poverty training into practice. Beth Kuhn, project director at UWCC, said the initiative, known as Working Bridges, benefits both modest-income workers and employers who have economically diverse workforces.

Working Bridges gained national recognition in November when it received a prestigious Pinnacle Award for Innovative Human Resources Practices from the National Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Kuhn traveled to Washington, D.C. with David Twitchell, director of the Vermont Council of SHRM and director of human resources at Rutland Regional Medical Center, to accept the award, which included $1,000 in funds for the project.

In designing Working Bridges, UWCC built on the “Bridges Out of Poverty” curriculum, and forged partnerships with a number of local companies that employ economically diverse workforces. “Bridges Out of Poverty” offers new ways to think about poverty, particularly intergenerational poverty and economic diversity.

Kuhn noted that while trainings for diversity in race, gender, orientation and others have become mainstream, before the Bridges training there was little on economic diversity, a key issue for Vermont.

In 2007, the United Way of Chittenden County invested $10,000 in the launch, through the Champlain Initiative, of an employer workgroup organized around the training with the goal of extending the concepts to the workplace.

“The thought was we needed to increase focus on the workplace,” said Kuhn. “We can work with clients and agencies, but if people don’t have jobs, we’re just spinning our wheels.”

The Bridges training suggests that some of the management practices, policies and even benefits packages of most employers reflect a class-based perspective. Managers gain insights into how low-income or intergenerational poverty in their workers’ home and family lives affects workplace performance, retention and satisfaction.

This motivates employers to create management strategies that better meet the needs of an economically diverse workforce, while reducing such costly negatives as high turnover rates, excessive absenteeism and low employee morale for the company.

Kuhn emphasized this is not a campaign to coax employers to “do the right thing.” In fact, while lower-wage workers benefit greatly from many of the initiatives being introduced, Kuhn said employers who have economically diverse workforces will discover ways to better manage that workforce, increase employee retention and become more profitable as a result.

“If that’s not your workforce, then this program is not for you,” she said.

According to Kuhn, employers in the health care, manufacturing and hospitality sectors — and, to a lesser extent, retail — are among those best suited to the training. Local employers participating in the Working Bridges steering team and several innovative pilot projects include Rhino Foods, Engelberth Construction, Fletcher Allen Health Care and ReCycle North, among others.

Rhino Foods got involved at the outset, about 18 months ago, according to General Manager Justin Worthley, who serves on the steering team for Working Bridges.

“As a manufacturing business, with the bulk of production workers in the $10- to $15-per-hour range, this was highly relevant for Rhino,” Worthley said. “The economic realities fit well for us.”

The Bridges Out of Poverty training had a powerful impact on Worthley. “I felt like I’d been let in on a little secret,” he said. “It’s on a short list of things that have really changed the way I think.”

Gina Catanzarita, director of human resources at Engelberth Construction, spoke of the Bridges training in similar terms, calling her first session “an eye-opening experience.”

She said the training gives managers a better understanding of the employees they are working with and how their life situations may impact their work performance.

“We now require all foremen and supervisors to attend the Bridges training,” Catanzarita said. “It’s considered a piece of their leadership training.”

Kuhn said exposing managers and human-resource professionals to the Bridges training “is the learning piece of this. Workplace practice is the doing piece.”

Two practices emerging from Working Bridges are pilot projects involving income advance loans and a shared on-site resource coordinator.

Rhino foods initiated an income advance loans program for its employees in partnership with NorthCountry Federal Credit Union (NCFCU). “As HR director at the time, I knew the employer is often the option of last resort in a financial crisis,” he said.

He noted that Rhino would often work out wage advances with workers who had poor or no credit and negative experiences with the banking world, but it was not systematic.

Rhino now pays a fee to NCFCU to administer a loan fund that enables employees in good standing and with least one year of service to borrow up to $1,000 and pay it off through payroll deduction. Worthley said over the 14 months of the program Rhino employees have borrowed more than $30,000 without a default.

“It’s been a fantastic solution,” he said.

Engelberth started a similar program, also with NCFCU, shortly after Rhino. Catanzarita said 17 loans have enabled workers to pay off bills, medical expenses, make car repairs or purchases, and establish credit.

A second pilot involves a shared on-site resource coordinator, embedded in the workplace and offering assistance to employees who might otherwise have to leave work to seek necessary services, or possibly forego resources needed to meet basic needs.

The coordinator is shared among Engelberth, Rhino and Fletcher Allen Health Center, and offers confidential one-on-one meetings that may involve assistance with financial planning, maximizing state benefits or problem-solving on issues including childcare or transportation. Worthley said at Rhino the coordinator, Lisa Jensen, is setting up a financial literacy program for workers.

Kuhn said employers can be creative while managing for retention, “and need not be expensive.”

“Our most successful programs are the ones we can bring to the site,” Catanzarita said. “We have monthly visits from a physical therapist as a way to proactively look for strains before they become disabling.”

The company also recently launched a program with a nutritionist who provides monthly on-site visits for wellness education and one-on-one coaching.

The United Way of Chittenden County’s initial investment, plus support from SHRM and participating employers, leveraged additional project funding from Jane’s Trust and VocRehab Vermont, as well as a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG). Ultimately, Kuhn said she sees UWCC’s role as an incubator for the project.

“We need to figure out what a long-term, sustainable model looks like,” Kuhn said. “The project likely won’t be coordinated by United Way for the long-term, but because of its connections and many relationships across sectors United Way is well-positioned to do it in the short-term.”

The new relationships being built within local workplaces are a keystone to sustainability. At Engelberth, Catanzarita said employees provide consistent positive feedback on efforts the company is making through Working Bridges. She believes her company is benefiting as well.

“One of my favorite quotes from the Bridges training is, ‘No significant learning happens without a significant relationship,’” Catanzarita said. “We are continually building relationships with our employees. This has been a key factor in our employee retention, employee satisfaction, and company success.”