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Business Q&A -- Doug West As one of the leaders in the Rogue Valley's work force development and training programs, how does Rogue Community College prioritize the programs it puts in place? One of the areas that we do that is in emerging industries, (businesses) that are coming into the valley. We do that as part of a team with our economic development partners, like SOREDI (Southern Oregon Economic Development Inc.), the Job Council, Oregon Employment Department, economic development officers from both Medford and Grants Pass and from (Jackson and Josephine) counties, and Southern Oregon University. They're all part of our Business Resource Team. When a company like Sprint is looking at sites, we gather together the team, meet with the company and determine what the key components are they're going to need. One of the things that we've really seen in the last few years is an increased emphasis not so much on (site) infrastructure, as on work force. How do RCC's work force development programs differ from others? Instead of spending so much time on theory and how it applies, RCC's classes would be a shorter class with more hands-on vocational training. We want to give people the application skills for technology. What trends have you observed in terms of telecommuting? Probably, if we looked for an Internet or a technology-driven change, I would say one I have seen more emphasis in, especially in terms of telecommunications, is a movement back to the written and away from the verbal processing. Companies that have an established Web presence, such as Harry and David, are now starting to focus more on writing and grammar skills, because a lot of the (customer service) work that will be done is not just done on the phone anymore. It's done in chat-type environment over the Internet. That offers opportunities for increased telecommuting, but I haven't seen a lot of that applied yet in the valley. Then you also have the typical issues employers always express, wanting to be able to manage their data, to control the security of their data. And when you're outside of their internal network, those risks increase. Does RCC provide telecommuting opportunities for the college's employees? Yes, we actually have a telecommuting policy. We receive some (financial) support from the college, but the majority of our internal funding comes from the activities we partake in with businesses. I closely monitor my costs. One of the reasons I enjoy some telecommuting is that I can give some people assignments that don't stress my facilities. RCC is always short on space. We don't have enough classrooms. We don't have nearly enough office space and yet we are continually needing to expand our services. We jokingly refer to it as "jammies" work. You don't have to get dressed up to come into a professional office environment. If you want to be sitting in your pajamas with your cup of coffee, you can work at home, in that comfort. But you have to have workers that are disciplined and self-motivated to be effective at (working from home). To suggest a subject for this column, please contact reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.