The main event of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s State of the County program on May 21 was a panel discussion concerning needs of local workforce in the Lebanon Valley.
Other presentations during the 90-minute program focused on various services and programs across Lebanon County.
Karen Groh, chamber president, served as panel moderator and prefaced a Q&A session by commenting on the critical need for workforce development for local businesses.
“In today’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, perhaps no issue is more universally pressing for Lebanon County businesses than workforce development. Regardless of industry, access to skilled talent has become a critical factor determining an organization’s ability to grow, innovate, and remain competitive,” Groh told a crowd assembled in the auditorium of Lebanon Valley College’s Blair Music Center.
Groh also noted that workforce development is at a pivotal time in history.
“We find ourselves at a pivotal moment where demographic shifts, changing worker expectations, and technological advancements are reshaping the employment marketplace. Many employers report persistent difficulties in filling specialized positions, despite offering competitive wages,” she said. “Meanwhile, workers seek not just compensation, but meaningful careers with advancement potential and work-life balance. The strength of our local economy depends directly on our ability to develop, attract, and retain skilled professionals who can drive our businesses forward.”
Groh noted the “distinguished panel represents diverse perspectives from across Lebanon County’s employment spectrum,” and said the focus of the discussion was on talent acquisition strategies, workforce retention approaches, and innovative solutions that they’ve implemented.
On the panel were Terri Emler, vice president of human resources for MBC Companies; Kay Litman, executive director of WEPA Empowerment Center/Tec Centro, Lebanon; Kurt Johnson, human resources director for SCHOTT Pharma; and Dave Riebe, president of Kountry Kraft Kitchens.
Groh asked Johnson for the greatest strengths of his company’s workforce.
“When we think about being competitive, we’re talking about how we’re going to help outperform our competition, right? What are we going to do with our employee base to stay one step ahead?” Johnson said. “So on a foundational level, what we do is we promote our core values very much. All good companies have core values. SCHOTT Pharma is no different, right? So our core values are to respect others, act responsibly, create value, and drive innovation.”
Groh asked Litman how companies can upskill their workforces to enable greater career growth and income potential.
“My perspective here that I’m bringing is from the job seeker and the job trainer perspective as we are running a bilingual workforce training center. And when we’re thinking about upskilling, to your point, it’s not just about technical training. It really is about empowering an individual,” Litman said. “And we’re looking at what tools, how can we develop confidence, and what kind of support can we provide as we’re training individuals because it’s not just about the skill set, it’s really about the whole person.”
Litman added that the center, which recently graduated its first class of adult learners with healthcare certifications, offered those students additional micro training in services like CPR so that they could have a certification in those areas, too.
Groh questioned Emler about the biggest obstacles her employer faces in filling open positions. Emler noted that there are two, including one that has constantly needed filling for the past 11 years.
“While we don’t have issues finding our individuals to come and work our production facilities, the key individuals that we have problems finding are our mechanics. Those skilled workforces who can work the basics of mechanical engineering, and then also those individuals who can help us with our automation. It’s a key skill set,” Emler said. “Automation takes people to be able to run those machines. It takes people to learn how to even run machines and kind of fix the machines when they go down.”
Unfortunately, students graduating from the local career and technology school are not applying for those jobs, according to Emler.
“So we find that recruiting those individuals is difficult. Individuals who are graduating from our local CT, our local community schools are leaving this community and they’re not staying around,” Emler added.
Johnson added that employee recruitment is always ongoing.
“You gotta get your mind around that, right? It just never ends, it’s always something that is gonna go on, especially in Lebanon County,” said Johnson. “It’s a very low unemployment rate, right? Which is good, it’s good for employees, it’s good for employers. I think what we’ve learned too is we have to be fast with the process as employers, we need to be very fast with the process. People are not waiting around anymore. It’s not a long, drawn out process. It has to be quick in order to get people in the door.”
Groh asked Riebe the innovative practices his company uses to attract and retain a skilled workforce.
He said attraction and retention are “two ends of the whole entire process,” adding there are a lot in between those spots.
“When I think about attracting, that tends to be more of a passive process. It’s about greater advertising, as we all know about, you know, newspapers, job boards, social media and the like. You’re not doing that stuff, that’s kind of ground zero,” Riebe said. “The next thing would be, what we’ve been trying to work on, is utilizing other tools we have for our brand image.”
Riebe stated that there’s a focus on the company website and search engine optimizations to encourage customer visits.
“But I can tell you all the candidates go there as well. When they land on our web page, they want to get a feel for who we are. And if it’s 20 years old, that’s probably a little less attractive than something that’s fresh and updated. We allow people to apply online and go back to what was said about keeping things fast,” Riebe said.
Riebe agreed with Johnson’s statement about workforce recruitment needing to be a quick process given the competitive nature in certain professions in 2025.
“We will lose candidates today if we don’t move fast enough typically. And so having things online is really helpful,” said Riebe, adding that community involvement through the chamber and schools, including middle schools, is important.
Other presentations during the program highlighted county tourism, community health and wellbeing, education, emergency services in the Lebanon Valley, and a county overview.
Mike Kuhn, chairman of the Lebanon County Commissioners, gave opening remarks, providing a positive review of the current state of the Lebanon Valley. Kuhn noted he was presenting his remarks on behalf of his colleagues, Jo Ellen Litz and Robert Phillips, both of whom were in attendance at the event attended by several hundred people.
“We can assure you that the overall state of Lebanon County is very good. It’s a great place to live, to work, and to raise a family. So I guess that’s all you really need to know and we can wrap it up,” said Kuhn, to much laughter from the audience. “Seriously, I think you’ll leave here this morning with a better understanding of some of the key issues that we face, but more importantly, with a sense of confidence in the quality and caliber of some of the people in key leadership positions and the important work that they are doing.”
Kuhn gave an example of that work, citing the accuracy of integrity of elections in Lebanon County. A campaign observer at last fall’s presidential election noted that elections would be a lot better off if they were conducted just like Lebanon County’s.
“I think that says a lot also for our integrity,” Kuhn told the audience.
The event kicked off with a light breakfast and beverages and an opportunity for chamber members, guests and county leaders to network prior to the start of the various presentations.