Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center

A core part of our mission is helping small and medium-sized manufacturers compete and grow. Most of these efforts are through our business and operational services. We have product or service offerings in all areas of your business. We specialize in taking World Class and Fortune 500 business practices and re-modeling them into programs and services better tailored, and more affordable for businesses your size. Even if you don't see exactly what you're looking for in our listings, we will customize, or find the right service and provider for your specific needs. There's never an obligation to work with us. We're an economic development organization here to find ways to help you. Even if you don't need something now, get to know the DVIRC and what we offer. We can do a lot for your business.

Listed below are our Human Resources Programs. For more programs and services, see the menu at left.

Human Resources: Employee Relations

Anyone who runs a business knows that employees are the heart and soul of any company. But for many small and medium-sized manufacturers, top executives wear more than one hat, and it's hard to find the time and resources to develop and maintain all the different aspects of good employee relations programs.

That's where we come in. We can help at any stage of program development, from setting performance goals to writing effective job descriptions. Employee relations programs can encompass any or all of these areas:

Human Resources: Labor Relations

If you need assistance in improving or negotiating labor relations -- whether union or non-union- we offer programs specific to addressing labor issues. By assessing and planning, we can help you become proactive in managing your labor needs, rather than allowing reactive factors to direct your policies.

With the right information, we can propose the needed changes and assist in implementation. We can also help develop contingency plans, business strategies that relate to labor, as well as tools to measure progress. If you need help preparing for labor negotiations, or even support at the table, we can assist there as well.

Human Resources: Safety Management & Training

We offer assistance for manufacturers in all areas of safety management and training. We help ensure compliance with standards and regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and develop proactive safety programs designed to reduce costs, lost-time accidents and incident rates by training employees to meet compliance regulations and promote safety awareness.

To help you assess your compliance, we offer an in-depth audit which gives you all the information you need to assess your situation.

Human Resources: Administration

For most of the small and medium-sized manufacturers we work with, HR administration is handled by one or several employees who also have various other responsibilities. And with the dynamics of our market, from the economy to laws to insurance issues, managing and administrating HR is both difficult and time consuming.

The DVIRC can support your HR needs in many different ways. We provide support and guidance for employees with HR responsibilities; we can act as, or supplement your HR department, or even handle everything. Here's just some of what we can do for you:

Human Resources: Roundtable Forum for HR Managers

Those responsible for Human Resources in the manufacturing industry face a multitude of issues unique to their profession. And because of the nature of manufacturing in our region, the person responsible for HR often wears many other hats. Not only is it difficult for them to stay up to date on all the laws, trends and issues, they also find themselves in a situation with no one to talk to about sensitive and confidential issues inherent to the job.

The DVIRC has formed a special forum that meets about 6 times per year, 2 hours per session. Members determine the topics, enabling them to share the experience of others, how they've handled delicate issues, what trends they see, cost saving ideas, etc. The forum is hosted by David Riccio, the DVIRC's Senior HR Advisor. David will help lead discussions, and provide information regarding changes in laws, insurance issues, workforce development and professional advice on other topics determined by the members. He will also arrange for guest speaker experts on topics selected by members.