With business leaders and small business owners gathered for the latest session of the Hampton Roads Chamber-Strome College of Business series of informational seminars on May 30, Chris Pilkerton, a former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, turned a well-known anecdote on its head. “Everybody remembers Ronald Reagan said the nine scariest words in the English language were, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help,’” Pilkerton said to laughter from the audience. “The reality is the government should be there to help. The pandemic really highlighted this.”
That kicked off a spirited discussion of how government policy can be shaped to help entrepreneurs and small businesses survive and thrive in a still-challenging, post-pandemic economy. Pilkerton was joined on the panel by Virginia’s Secretary of Labor, Bryan Slater, entrepreneur Steve Waddell, and Jolie Spiers, executive director of the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center. Jennifer Vaziralli, a professor in Strome’s department of management acted as moderator.
G. Bryan Slater, Bryan K. Stephens and Dr. Kenneth Kahn
The consensus among panelists was that the government should strive to make it easier for businesses to comply with regulations, help them discover help that is already available, and provide incentives to those who offer internships and apprenticeships.
A big area of concern is workforce development. Though Slater said Virginia has among the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 2.8 percent, there are still 250,000 unfilled jobs. “Five jobs for every two (unemployed) people,” Slater said. “That is really stifling economic development when businesses can’t find workers.”
To address the problems, Slater said his administration is streamlining 72 distinct state workforce programs under a single umbrella. Those programs will drive training based on what businesses actually need. He also wants to reach down as early as sixth grade in terms of curriculum development, including what he called “soft skills.”
“We have to focus on basic skills,” Slater said. “As my dad used to say, ‘When you show up for a job you shave, wear a clean shirt, and be on time. (Students) are not learning that at home. We need to teach that.”
There also needs to be a de-emphasis on four-year degrees. “For 40 years we told kids they had to go to college,” Slater said. “College is one pathway but not the only one. You can go into the military or pursue vocational training. You’ll get a job and you’re not going to have $200,000 in debt.”
The state is also making it easier for people who move here to get jobs quickly, adopting universal licensing recognition to lower the hurdles to hiring. “We have 89 different professions that need licensing in order to work here,” Slater said. “We’ve made it so 85 out of 89, if you have an out-of-state license, we’ll accept it and you can go to work almost right away.”
Waddell, founder of the Nasoni, manufacturer of fountain faucets with smart technology, wished for even more universal hiring rules. “States have so many different requirements for freelancers. Sometimes you have to make a freelancer an employee if you want to hire them,” he said. “States like California are making it too hard to bring people on.”
Steve Waddell and Jennifer Vaserelli
Looming on the horizon, Spiers pointed out, is an increase in the minimum wage, a “huge issue” for small businesses. “If it’s going up 30 percent over two years, what is that going to look like?” She also said new regulations on corporate transparency aimed at preventing money laundering have many small businesses worried. “There is not going to be a waiver when this goes into effect in 2025. That is a heavy lift coming your way because there will be no exemption and a $ 100-a-day fine,” for those who fail to come into compliance.
Vaziralli asked each panelist for an example of why policies failed to achieve the outcomes they promised. Slater said sometimes the idea is bigger than the money committed to it. “Sometimes there’s insufficient funding or not enough for the program to have an impact,” he said.
Both Spiers and Pilkerton said one of the biggest problems is awareness. “The problem is and always has been marketing,” Pilkerton said. “We’re still not getting through to the small businesses who need the program you think is perfect for them,” Spiers said.
There’s also the problem of asking business owners to add more tasks to their workload. “When there are too many hoops to jump through, when it’s burdensome, some business owners are going to decide it’s not worth going through the process,” she said.
That hit home for Pilkerton, the SBA chief, whose wife owns a small bakery. “I came home from work one night and she’s looking at bank statements asking, ‘Why do they do this to small businesses? Who can stop this?’” he said.
One ace only Hampton Roads holds at the moment, however, is political leadership. “You have two of the most powerful forces in the legislature from this area,” Slater said, referring to Senate Finance Committee Chair L. Louise Lucas and House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, both of Portsmouth. “Every other area in the state is green with envy. That is an asset that you should not waste. Use it to your advantage because it will not last forever.”
