Dec. 22, 2022

With only a few days to go before a program designed to draw newcomers to South Dakota concludes its first year, the sponsoring organization is calling it a success.

In its first 11 months, the South Dakota Retailers Association’s Workforce Incentive Program has awarded the first half of a $1,000 payment to 63 individuals. By December’s end, that will increase to 70 individuals, said SDRA executive director Nathan Sanderson.

As of November, the program helped bring out-of-state workers who moved to South Dakota to 45 employers in 23 communities across the state.

Recipients have included hospitality and food service workers, auto repair technicians, bakers, customer service specialists, and grocery and retail clerks. The program has involved workers from New York, Hawaii, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Washington, North Dakota and Iowa.

Two things about the Workforce Incentive Program have surprised Sanderson, he said. One is that the workers who benefit came from farther away than the states abutting South Dakota. The other was how many SDRA members embraced it.

“I’ve been surprised at the depth and breadth of communities that have taken advantage of it,” he said, citing De Smet and Madison as examples, along with Sioux Falls.

The Dairy Queen in Madison has been in DeLon Mork’s family for 58 years. In his decades of operation, Mork has never experienced the level of difficulty in hiring employers as he has in recent months.

“We have to fight tooth and nail for every employee,” he said. “I don’t ever remember the labor situation being as tight as it is now. At this period of time, you have to do anything you can to hire and retain employees. With the help of the Retailers program, that thousand dollars is a big deal.”

The $1,000 Workforce Incentive provides a cash payment to an employee hired from out of state to work in a Retailers Association member-business. To be eligible, an employee must work at least 30 hours a week for 90 days at a physical location in South Dakota. After that, they receive the first half of the payment. The second $500 is paid after 180 days of employment.

“The workforce incentive has been very beneficial for us,” R.F. Buche, president of Buche Foods and Gus Stop Convenience Stores, based in Gregory, said in a statement released in November. That’s when the SDRA marked its 50th check to a worker who came to South Dakota from out of state. “It’s one more recruiting tool to attract new team members to our great state!”

Mork, who in recent years has found it particularly difficult to hire college students, told a college-age employee about the program. Her family had moved to Madison from New York state. While she recently left to attend college, before that she was working 32 to 36 hours a week at the Dairy Queen. The Workforce Incentive Program helped him retain the worker.

“She was absolutely thrilled to get that, and it kept her here,” Mork said. In addition, because her family knew and trusted him, they were willing to let two younger daughters also accept employment at the Dairy Queen, helping ease his search for employees.

The SDRA plans to continue the program next year and will make any further extensions after it determines the program’s effectiveness. It also later will monitor the length of employment for the workers who have benefited.

The SDRA is paying for the fund internally, Sanderson said. Its membership has a broad diversity, from tourism-based businesses that need workers primarily in the summer travel months to auto dealerships, for example, who need employees year-round.

Most of the people who benefit from the Workforce Incentive Program are working adults ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s, Sanderson said.

The program will have a ripple effect on communities and school districts where the new residents choose to live, Sanderson said.

“Anytime we can bring new individuals to the state, that’s a benefit to the state,” he said. “Right now, the No. 1 limiting factor is the workforce. If we can alleviate it a little bit, the state definitely benefits.”