As Columbia faces a growing talent gap, employers are working to ensure the city remains a competitive place to live and work.
“Brain drain” has been a phenomenon since the first human left one village for a location that offered better hunting. Today, the term still refers to people leaving where they are to pursue more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. That could be another country, state, city, employer, school, industry, or retirement from the workforce.
The reasons for migration are abundant. Among them are safety and security concerns, higher pay and benefits, more affordable housing and living expenses, space for upward mobility and promotion, better quality of life – the list goes on and on.
In Columbia every year, thousands of graduates from local high schools, post-secondary institutions, professional schools, internships, medical residencies, and more leave for what they perceive as greener pastures. What happens when they do? And what are some Columbia entities doing to stem the flow? Here are a few things you should know.
Moving Is So Boomer
Brain drain certainly isn’t generational. The void created is the same whether the person leaving is Gen X, a Baby Boomer, or anything in between. In every case, talent exits Columbia and takes it down the road.
But that doesn’t mean the concept of brain drain hasn’t changed dramatically since Boomers entered the workforce. Back then, people packed up and moved to wherever a better opportunity took them. However, even before the pandemic pushed remote work to its peak, a physical move for employment was beginning to be passe.
Telecommuting got its legs in the 1970s when oil and gas prices made driving gas guzzlers to and from work daily cost prohibitive. Although it has changed considerably since then, technology has always been the driver behind the ability to work remotely. First, there were phones with conferencing features and fax machines. In the 1990s, mobile phones, home computers, and the internet became ubiquitous. That was followed by such advents as cloud computing and collaborative software in the early 2000s.
Remote work is still brain drain if the employee signs on for a job with an employer that isn’t local when a Columbia company could have used their talent, skills, and experience. Ironically though, work from home offers the opposite at the same time, something we’ll refer to as “brain gain.”
Brain Gain
Of course, companies that manage to lure employees from Columbia celebrate brain gain. But remote work may result in only a partial drain when people choose to remain in Columbia even when they’re on the payroll of a far-flung employer. That’s important.
While moving out of town for a position that offers better pay, greater professional challenges, and other enticements, that relocation can come with some strong negatives. For example, the salary offered by a Silicon Valley tech company may dwarf one from a local employer. But beware of the cost-of-living sticker shock. According to Redfin, the December 2024 median price for a home in Columbia was $300,000. In Palo Alto, it’s $2.8 million.
Some people aren’t willing to trade the Columbia vibe, schools, parks, activities, events, and other qualities. Remote work makes it possible for them to get the best of both worlds – the job they want and the lifestyle they love. And that arrangement means those employees still shop, pay taxes, and contribute to the health of the local economy and population, so it’s not a total loss.
Shortages Happen
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Columbia in December 2024 was only 2.4 percent. That means most people in the labor market have jobs which leave few bodies to fill openings as they arise. And in some industries, there are a lot of unfilled positions.
“Almost every single industry that is high growth, high demand has a talent shortage,” said Lisa Buchanan, vice president of workforce development for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. “We work to educate our current and future workforce of the benefits of having a career in Columbia. Particularly, we are hurting in the healthcare industry. This industry has the most positions open in our local area. In general, though, industries including construction, manufacturing, IT, and finance are struggling also.”
Currently, there are more than 500 open positions in the areas of nursing, allied health, pharmacy, IT, facilities, management, and administrative roles at University Health Care. Among them are 220 unfilled nursing positions. While there’s a nationwide nursing shortage, it’s hard to imagine that there are so many openings in a city where programs ranging from vocational through graduate nursing education are offered. But the fact that there are more graduates from these programs than positions doesn’t ensure that shortage-driven incentives offered elsewhere won’t lure this talent away. It does, even when there are strong local incentives, like hefty sign-on bonuses.
Then, there are the last of the Boomers now over age 60. Their spot in the labor force is quickly diminishing, taking their experience, skills, talent, and arguably, their strong work ethic with them. Buchanan cited that the workforce retirement rate is 18 percent, which increases the number of openings at a time when unemployment is so low.
“We have to start recruiting from outside our area and bring the talent needed to the area,” Buchanan said. “This will give us a good pipeline of workers for the jobs. We have 6,000 job openings and only 3,000 that are in the employment participation population to fill those jobs.”
Those numbers look more optimistic than they are. After all, you need 3,000 jobseekers with the right skills, education, training, and experience. So, bringing new people into the area is critical for Columbia employers, even if that’s causing brains to drain from other communities.
Employers Step Up
Making a job in Columbia as attractive as one elsewhere is critical to hold onto talent, and employers are stepping up their efforts to create them.
Boone County government averages about 500 employees, including full-time, part-time, and temporary positions. According to Angela Wehmeyer, director of human resources and risk management, the county is focused on recruiting and retaining employees by making sure they understand they’re considered to be “our biggest asset.”
“We’ve done a lot of work to reward our employees for recommending candidates to us, as we’ve found that those referrals bring us some great employees,” Wehmeyer said. “We’ve also offered a retention incentive to employees who have stayed with us the past few years. I also think it helps that the county has strong, caring leaders who value their employees and work to make sure they’re happy in their careers with us.”
Some accommodations include allowing hybrid work schedules for certain positions, competitive pay and benefits packages, and the future operation of the Public Safety Childcare Center for public safety employees. Wehmeyer said openings in road and bridge maintenance, jail staff, and the 911 emergency center are the most difficult to fill. She attributes that to requirements like background checks and commercial driver’s licenses. Those aren’t jobs students learn how to do in schools, but the county will provide the necessary training for new hires to grow their own talent.
“Over the years, we’ve partnered and built relationships with a few colleges and universities like Columbia College, MACC, the university, and organizations like Job Point and Love Columbia to offer classes, internships, job fairs, and other work experiences,” Wehmeyer said. “We are currently partnering with the University of Missouri with the Law Enforcement Training Institute in conjunction with our construction of our regional Law Enforcement Training Center. We’ve also recently partnered with Job Point on internships.”
Share and Share Alike
Naturally, there’s stiff competition between Columbia employers to hire the best talent. Wehmeyer said the University of Missouri, city of Columbia, state of Missouri, and large private employers like Veterans United, Shelter Insurance, and EquipmentShare seem to have many of the same type of openings.
“But we have also had quite a few employees from those places to come to work with us as well,” she added.
Employers that share the same problems filling positions also share a desire to keep local brainpower in the community. That’s good for everyone involved.
Plugging the Drain
There are many efforts by multiple organizations to work together to plug the brain drain. The Columbia Chamber spearheads a few to do just that.
The chamber’s Boomerang marketing campaign targets young and working-age adults who have a connection to Columbia. Maybe they were born, went to school, or lived here at some time but left. The program’s message to them is that there are a lot of opportunities here to work and build a great life. It’s worth coming back for.
Talent Pipeline Management will help employers in the same industry build a workforce that meets current demands. They’ll develop strategies for upskilling and reskilling current workers and shaping career pathways for students and workers that should help retain top talent.
Starting the process when students are young may also help stem the flow later. According to Buchanan, the Chamber facilitates two programs designed to “recruit, retain, and education our current youth and citizens about our industries.”
Show-Me Careers teaches school administrators, teachers, and counselors about local careers. It provides hands-on learning experiences, so they understand what skills and talent students need to take advantage of career opportunities down the road. The program should help them as they provide education and career advice to their students.
But students themselves aren’t left out. That’s where the World of Work program comes in.
“This program brings in over 3,000 students, middle school and upward, that provides them hands-on experience with employers in the local area and local industries,” Buchanan said. “They can see what the work is like in different industries and ask the employers questions in regard to what education they need to get into these careers.”
