This is our last special section for Nevada Top Workplaces. The deadline is a firm Jan. 24. Research company Energage will conduct employee surveys Feb. 14. Winners are expected to be announced this summer. We are planning a big party and a special section that will feature the winning companies.
For our “Business Leaders Speak Out” feature, The Las Vegas Business Press reached out to our local experts to get their opinions on what would be the greatest factors affecting Nevada’s workforce in 2020.
— Annette Logan-Parker, CEO and president of Cure 4 The Kids Foundation
The biggest challenge for our organization — and most every other entity in the medical field — is the ability to find qualified employees with the required experience or specialty training to fill our open positions. This is an issue that affects us at almost every level from medical assistants to registered nurses to our physicians. With Southern Nevada’s projected growth in the coming years, combined with a population in need of medical services, this will be a challenge for all medical practices.
— Sue Bhatia, founder and chairwoman of Rose International
The biggest factor that will impact workforce trends in Las Vegas in 2020 will be related to growth created by large employers making their home here in the valley. Nevada has continued to see job growth in 2019 and will continue to do so in 2020. Over the past year, Las Vegas gained 13,100 jobs. With large and medium-sized corporations developing a foothold in the city, workers from other areas of the country in industries outside of hospitality and entertainment will begin to relocate here.
Las Vegas is very attractive and in a good position to build up in other industries, especially in the business and technology sectors, as it has many things it can offer such as affordable housing, a sense of community, good weather most of the year, the development of local sports teams, a world-class airport, and good infrastructure. The housing sector continues to boom as well, which provides jobs and attracts growth and new talent to the region. There is currently an estimated $23 billion worth of construction jobs in the region.
The hospitality and entertainment industry is quite stable here due to its longevity and world-renowned status. I foresee an expansion in the health care industry now that UNLV’s medical school has firmly established itself and has created a pipeline for the region. With the addition of the Raiders establishing themselves in the city, numerous jobs will come with them as well. Additionally, Vegas is growing in the arts industry as well with the arrival of Santa Fe’s interactive art group Meow Wolf and a potential art museum, too.
But technical and professional talent need enough employer choices and the latest technology in order to decide to leave areas such as Los Angeles and Silicon Valley to move here for work. This will be the biggest challenge as Las Vegas continues to grow from a medium-sized city into a large one.
— John Cannito, president of The PENTA Building Group
At PENTA, the greatest factor that will affect our workplaces in 2020 will be an even stronger focus on creating an enjoyable work environment. Simply put, people are just happier and more productive when they enjoy where they work. PENTA has 12 core values at the heart of our company: accountability, honesty and integrity, strong work ethic, culture of excellence, fairness, caring, teamwork, positive and proactive, confident humility, flexibility, enjoyable work environment, and relentless client focus. While every one of our core values is important; we consider enjoyable work environment as fundamental because it creates the atmosphere for the other values to flourish. Core values like strong work ethic, culture of excellence, fairness and teamwork are all enhanced by an enjoyable work environment. So for 2020, the single greatest factor to affect PENTA workplaces will be our commitment to enhancing an already excellent work environment!
— Saville Kellner, CEO, Revenue Media Group
As a modern marketing company, the biggest workplace challenges for our Nevada company in 2020 will be both listening and being heard. Navigating the noise to effectively market during an election year, coupled with more businesses moving to town and the Raiders’ inaugural season, is going to be a challenge. There will be increased media costs, hijacked news cycles, and impacted consumer behavior to overcome. Listening, both to clients and our employees, is a strength of ours, but one we’ll need to continue practicing and perfecting in order to craft messages that can be heard clearly as the noise becomes louder.
— Rebecca Fountain, CEO/owner KOR Building Group
Workforce. Diversity. Our cities (Las Vegas, Henderson, Clark County and North Las Vegas) have several large-scale projects that have either broken ground or are slated to break ground in 2020. In addition, we have our existing projects that will continue through next year. With the scope of these projects, diversity goals are challenging to meet. We are limited in skilled tradespeople and administrative personnel. The doors of opportunity are wide open but we have limited resources to “run the ship.” We require diverse talent to meet our continued growth.
