Wisconsin is graying. If you are not feeling the effects yet, you likely will soon. Consider the state's population trends.

• Baby Boomers currently make up 31% of the state's population, exceeding the national average of 26% for this group.
By 2030, well over a quarter of the state's population will be over 60 years of age.
• Younger workers make up a considerably smaller percentage of the population - currently 12% are 15 to 34 years of age.

So, do Wisconsin's employers face a worker shortage in coming years? It's likely. However, many Baby Boomers plan to work into their retirement years and that should help to ease the shortage. To prepare for your future workforce needs, there are several strategies to consider:

1. Focus on retaining your best and brightest workers.
2. Develop retraining programs to ensure older workers have the latest skills needed to help you compete.
3. Promote diversity, training your staff to value generational differences to ensure strong team collaboration.

Source: Department of Administration

Addressing safety and health issues in the workplace saves an employer money and adds value to their business. Recent estimates show that $170 billion is spent to cover costs associated with occupational injuries. Implementing an accident prevention program is the first step in decreasing this cost to your business.

Safety in the workforce adds up to the following cost savings for your business:

The OSHA Small Business Handbook assists small business employers in meeting the legal requirements imposed by the OSHA Act of 1970 to create and maintain effective safety and health management systems.

"As we looked at why we were in business, what our greatest assets were, and what we could do to differentiate ourselves from our competition, it was very apparent that we needed a comprehensive training program," said Mike Vander Zanden, Vice President of Operations at Amerequip in Kiel, WI. Vander Zanden further explained that the need to strengthen, improve and raise the bar of our current employees was imperative to Amerequip's ability to achieve superior performance.

Moraine Park worked with the leadership team at Amerequip to develop a comprehensive training program. Reflecting on the experience, Vander Zanden commented, "The efforts of Moraine Park in this process were exceptional. They went above and beyond in all areas to ensure Amerequip's training program was and continues to be a success. We struggled for years to put a training program in place and, it was not until we started working with Moraine Park, that it all came together and was successful."

A Moraine Park Technical College tool design engineering technology instructor has earned the right to place the title "Certified SolidWorks Professional" (CSWP) after his name.

For Kim Alan Olson of Sussex, Wis., who teaches at Moraine Park's West Bend campus, it's a step up from his previous Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) designation. To achieve CSWP status, Olson passed an advanced skills examination from SolidWorks Corp. that proved his ability to design and analyze parametric parts and assemblies using complex SolidWorks features. SolidWorks is a three- dimensional mechanical computer-assisted design (CAD) program used by mechanical engineers and designers in manufacturing.