How the state is growing its workforce as CEO’s move companies to Middle Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — “Growing Nashville” is FOX17’s way of staying on top of the bumps and bruises that come with a booming region, bringing your concerns to decision makers so the pains don’t have to be so problematic.

We are following the businesses moving to Middle Tennessee in our latest segment, tracking how leaders are building up the workforce to accommodate.

Big names like Oracle, Meta, and In-N-Out Burgers are just a few companies set to call the area home. But why here?

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says Nashville is a great place to raise a family.

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter thinks the state is ready for the boom of not just businesses, but people, too.

“There’s gonna be challenges, like with anything with growth. Nashville’s really in a good position right now and we’re excited about the future of Middle Tennessee,” the commissioner tells FOX17 News’ Johnny Maffei.

Before the jobs even open up, employers need to know those jobs can be filled by the right people. “Most companies, before we start having the conversation, they’ve already done their due diligence on the state, McWhorter adds.

These moves are why the state constantly adapts and adjusts programs to train for the future at places like the Tennessee College of Applied Technologies, or TCAT. Which is “super important because the industry wants to know. They think about where they want to invest their dollars and if they’re going to want to build a plant or build a building then there’s gonna be whether it’s 50 employees or 200 employees, they want to know where they’re going to get access to that workforce and are they skilled and ultimately how do we retain that workforce,” according to McWhorter.

TCAT has campuses across the state. We took a visit to the Portland campus where you can find students training on a variety of different machines used in the real world. We’re talking about industry-level technology that companies will need them to operate.

Computer science instructor Joe Redemske showed us how his students are working with computer servers to build up their job skills, boost their “hire-ability,” if you will.

FOX17 News’ Johnny Maffei: “Do you adapt? do you adjust? do you shift? or is it all already in there?”

Redemske: “Absolutely adjust to what’s needed. the curriculum has a certain amount of adjustment built in”

Redemske knows he needs those adjustments in the curriculum to keep the TCAT pipeline strong. He wants his students to get into the workforce and get a job where they’re paid well and respected, and companies want those respected employees.

“It’s funny how you mentioned oracle coming in. Oracle actually stopped by our Nashville campus. They’ll actually come in and they’ll talk to the students. What I love is I just get out of the way. I love having the employer come in here and just talk to the students and we look at what we have and we adapt to it,” Redemske says.

Tennessee ranks fifth in population growth according to a study by "U-Haul" and Nashville is regularly named a top 10 place to move to, so the demand right now is really to keep adapting the workforce.

Governor Bill Lee’s recently approved budget has $45M allocated for TCAT’s Portland campus to expand.

We want to hear from you! Let us know your questions and concerns about growth problems and we’ll take them right to elected leaders and officials. It doesn’t just have to be traffic. We’re talking to law enforcement, school officials, people with infrastructure concerns, anything that comes with more people moving to town. We also want to explore the part of the region's growth that is making the city better for all of us. Reach out to Johnny Maffei at jcmaffei@sbgtv.com

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