"""Part of the Employee Retention Package: Company Fringe Benefits and Does Your Company Measure Up?"""

Council Bluffs, IOWA – Businesses across Iowa face concerns regarding workforce issues, competitiveness in the marketplace, and escalating business costs. A company’s fringe benefit package is a large part of staying competitive and retaining valuable employees.

Employers, human resource staff and economic developers are invited to attend the Southwest Iowa Employers’ Council (ECI) meeting to learn the results of a recent statewide company benefit survey on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 from 11:30 am to 1:15 pm at Barley’s Restaurant in Council Bluffs. Due to the increasing demand for information on benefits being offered, Iowa Workforce Development and various state partners completed a statewide employee benefit survey in 2007. The results of this survey will be shared at this meeting. This information will provide focal points to address rising costs to both employers and employees, provide guidance to forecast future benefit needs, and retention/recruitment issues. As an added bonus, the results of the recently released Statewide Workforce Needs Assessment (Job Vacancy Survey) will be discussed.

Pre-registration is requested by Friday, April 4 to Carol Morgan, (712) 242-2131 or

. There is a minimal registration fee to attend which includes handouts, lunch and meeting expenses. Barley’s Restaurant is located at 114 West Broadway in Council Bluffs.

Heidi Wicks, IWD Program Manager for the Strategic Workforce Initiative Unit will be explaining the results of the fringe benefits survey on a state-wide basis. Iowa Workforce Development strives to be a customer-driven organization actively responding to the needs of our customers with products and services. Businesses and economic development professionals alike struggle to gain a clear picture of the various types of benefits offered by employers, hampering their ability to recruit potential candidates to a company and businesses to a community. IWD worked in partnership with the Employers’ Council of Iowa (ECI) to contact a random sample of local employers across all industrial classifications and employment ranges to provide information on the benefit packages offered by businesses in the State of Iowa.

The information gathered provides a detailed analysis of employer-provided benefits and compiled a statewide, comprehensive analysis that can also be analyzed by industry, employment size or defined regions. This information will assist businesses, community leaders and workers to make better informed decisions on expansion initiatives, community development projects and job offerings.

The Southwest IA Employers’ Council is a local employer group supported by Iowa Workforce Development Region 13 including Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Mills, Cass, Freemont and Page counties, and is part of the statewide Employers’ Council of Iowa system. This employer’s group addresses workforce issues, and provides both educational and networking opportunities for employers and human resource professionals.