innovative hiring practices pay off for CVG
It seems like CVG (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport) is always in the news – and rightly so. CVG has a $9.3 billion annual impact on our economy and has spurred billions of dollars of development in and around the airport. Accomplishments include:
CVG is the largest passenger airport in Kentucky, is one of the largest serving Ohio and Indiana, and is the sixth busiest cargo airport in North America.
CVG offers non-stop passenger service to more than 55 destinations in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. The airport serves about 9 million passengers per year.
Just the other week, CVG announced another new flight, offering nonstop service to Melbourne, FL, on Allegiant Air. The flight will commence on November 15.
The airport is the only dual-cargo hub airport in North America, serving as the second-largest location in the world for DHL Express, its global superhub for the Americas, and the largest single-site operation for Amazon, home to its primary hub for Amazon Air.
The airport is the largest station in Atlas Air’s global network and serves many other cargo-focused carriers, including ABX Air, Kalitta Air, and others. CVG is the 12th largest cargo airport in the world, based on cargo tonnage.
For NKY Works, CVG is about jobs – good jobs serving a wide array of skill levels. In fact, CVG is responsible for 49,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region with more than 70 employers on their campus. But like all employers, CVG faces workforce challenges, including a lack of workers with needed skill sets, higher turnover in certain positions, and difficulty filling certain shift openings, such as weekends and third shifts. The airport is, after all, a 24/7/365 operation. CVG has been intentional and innovative in addressing these challenges.
Here are some examples.
Recruitment and hiring: CVG is working with the Life Learning Center in hopes to hire transitional workers who have graduated from LLC's program. They also are partnering with Kentucky Refugee Ministries to hire folks from newly arrived communities and to welcome them into the CVG community. Working with both of these groups has allowed CVG to update and improve their onboarding process to make hiring easier for unique populations.
Benefits: CVG recently began offering childcare support to its direct employees, taking advantage of Kentucky’s ECCAP grant. In an effort to be more inclusive, CVG extended an offer of assistance not only to employees residing in Kentucky, but also for employees commuting from Ohio and Indiana..
Inclusive workforce: An example of CVG's commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce is evident in the way they are welcoming New Americans into their workforce. A recent initiative provided an opportunity to make their onboarding more language-accessible through partnerships with interpreters, document translation, and new technology solutions.
Skill and Career Advancement: CVG is blazing trails by providing work-based learning opportunities to school-aged prospective workers. They are working with high schools and colleges/universities to provide co-ops, internships, pre-apprenticeships, and onsite classes and tours. They are also encouraging the 70+ employers across the airport campus to participate in such upskilling and training opportunities.
New Providers: Even though the airport itself doesn’t hire aircraft mechanics (that’s the role of the airlines or other third-party companies), they knew their partners were growing jobs in this area and have a need to ensure a pipeline of aviation mechanics to be successful. CVG has worked with its partners, especially FEAM Aero, to recruit Epic Flight Academy, for instance, to build an aircraft mechanic school right on the airport campus. That school opened in early 2024 and has the capacity to accommodate 250 students.
“Implementing new initiatives can sometimes be challenging,” Vice President of Human Resources Gina Stough said. “To prepare for our most recent experiences, we took the time and effort to reach out to local subject matter experts, like Kentucky Refugee Ministries, to educate ourselves on best practices. With their help, we provided resources to our frontline supervisors and managers to help ease any potential hesitation with welcoming new populations with English learning needs into our workforce. Through our experience, we learned that onboarding global communities with different levels of English proficiency and cultural backgrounds is not as challenging as many thought it would be. We gave ourselves permission to try something new, recognizing we might make some mistakes, and to learn from this. We are grateful for the opportunity to welcome new communities and are really pleased with the results so far.”
CVG is obviously a larger employer, but many of the innovations they have implemented are appropriate for small to mid-size companies, too. If your company is stymied by workforce challenges, reach out to NKY Works. We can connect you to resources and partners who can address your unique needs. Call us at 859.657.WRKS or email us at NKYWorks@nkadd.org.