MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority has surveyed for the region’s business needs. It along with Chambers of Commerce and the Joint Development Authority across four other counties will be assessing answers in the coming weeks.

Its regional employer assessment survey responses were due on Aug. 4 after a two-month long jaunt that started on June 1. The survey is still open for stragglers, however.

This survey was planned to be executed regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, but according to MCCDA President Barbara Grogan, they’re expecting a slight change in answers because of it.

The pandemic made the survey more pertinent.

“We asked questions related to what you were before the pandemic and after because some businesses have had to change models,” Grogan said.

Of course, that’s not the only objective of the survey. That prime objective — which is the same for the MCCDA — was looking at how you want your community to grow and if it’s moving in the right direction.

“Do they have the right workforce? Can they get it?” Grogan said is what they asked in the survey. “Do we have what they need to grow? Can they stay here and be successful as a business? Are we matching up what they need?”

It’s a look at how middle schools, high schools and technical colleges are building up a workforce and if it’s not up to standards, then what’s needed? Technological innovations? Better programs?

With a steadily evolving world, you need a steadily evolving program, Grogan said. It’s also a look toward growth now and what’s needed for growth in the future.

“If all of your industry is looking for a type of skilled labor, do you want it to be a higher skill? Do you want some businesses that require higher skills and in turn pay higher wages?” Grogan said. 

That’s what the survey and its data answers. From there, Grogan said, you’re looking at what your community offers already and look to see what’s needed.

This isn’t a question of what businesses residents want to see come to the Moultrie-Colquitt County area. That’s the objective of a second survey — the MCCDA’s Strategic Plan survey — which went live on its website, www.selectmoultrie.com, after the employer needs survey completed.

The regional employer assessment survey is purely for the workforce.The first thing Grogan said they’re expecting to look at is what skills are needed and how many.

“That’ll be the first quick thing we look at and say are we producing enough,” Grogan said. “And if we’re not, do we need to do more exposure to adults and students to say, ‘Hey, here’s the industry here. Let them learn about it, so they may have an interest working in it.’”

Grogan said it’s hard to predict what data they’ll find given that she’s only been with the MCCDA for a little over a year now, but she has an inkling.

National Beef and Sanderson Farms are responsible for a fair share of Colquitt County’s workforce and therefore are the strongest industries in the area.

“I think we’re going to say it’s showing we need more workers in food processing and manufacturing,” she said. “I think it’s going to say we need workers in the timber industry because you think of IFCO [too]. They plant the seedlings, plant the trees — all of that. ”

Top that with Canfor Southern Pine who processes the lumber, and Universal Forest Products and Southern Wood Components that build things out of lumber to support the housing industry.

“I think it’s going to show that in a lot of our areas that we need more workers and we need to show our citizenry the values of those industries where they might find interest in working in them themselves,” Grogan said.

But until she sees the survey data, this is only hypothetical.

Grogan isn’t expecting this survey to be an annual process though. It’ll be done every five to seven years, which will give time for change and for workforce programs to pan out.

“If you start a student in ninth grade learning a new skill, they have to come through high school, so that’s a few years,” she said. “If you’re a program at a technical college, how fast can you turn out graduates? It’s usually about a two-year process.”

It’s a constant cycle of trial, error and observation.

“Things evolve and you have to be able to flow with that evolution because if you can’t, the company couldn’t be successful,” Grogan said. “They’ve got to compete in their industry, so to do it, they’ve got to have top notch, currently-skilled workforce too.”

Grogan said the data will be released to the public once it’s been analyzed. 

She expects the results to come out between early and mid-September as officials explore the data points and interview employers who may have skipped parts of the survey.