Close to 30 employers participated Monday in the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s first Workforce and Talent Council meeting at the Chamber offices.

The Workforce and Talent Council, which will meet twice a year and next on Nov. 19, joins three other Chamber economic development councils: Manufacturers’ (which started in 2012), Aerospace (2020) and Technology (2023).

Sponsored by Webco Industries, Monday’s gathering convened HR professionals from sectors that included business, nonprofits, philanthropy, county government, health care, and public and higher education.

Rue Ramsey, the Chamber’s vice president of workforce and talent strategies, gave an overview of her division and then moderated an open dialogue on workforce issues facing employers.

Angela Bellville, a senior manager at HoganTaylor, was among several attendees who said one of the necessary hard skills for an employee is being able to use artificial intelligence.

“At HoganTaylor, we talk heavily about and encourage AI usage, not to do our work, but to enhance our work, find ways to do it quicker, get new perspectives,” she said. “Being able to navigate AI effectively, using the right prompts, using it responsibly, is very important.”

Kandi Wilson, director of learning and development at Williams, said today’s increasingly digital work environment demands basic computer literacy.

“As we are sourcing talent to come in, it can’t just be the person who can turn a wrench,” she said. “That person also needs to be able to navigate a laptop. And we have more than 50 mobile forms that they are having to navigate via their cellphones or their iPads on site. So, it is across-the-board digital essential.”

As for soft skills, some in the group said the isolation caused by COVID has produced students lacking in social cues and the ability to converse in-person.

“Our students, these 18- to 26-year-olds, they will send a text; they will shoot an email,” said Dan Mabery, vice president of university relations for Northeastern State University. “They will do the thing on technology. But that face-to-face interaction and getting them to look up from their phone, those are the challenges that we’re seeing.”

Typically, that self-awareness is taught in the home. But Kenneth Moore, executive director of secondary education at Union Public Schools, said that burden could be shared.

“What I hear from a lot of my teachers is that it’s not my job to teach these kids this,” he said. “My comeback is, ‘Well, whose job is it then?’ If we want to have a better generation of people coming behind us, it’s incumbent upon us to take on more…”

To learn more about the Workforce and Talent Council, please contact Rue Ramsey at 918-560-0294.