WorkSource Oregon’s three local offices win awards

The award-winning offices for the three counties that comprise the Oregon Employment Department’s Region 13 are in Baker City,  La Grande and Enterprise.

“We work together as a region, so if one office needs help, the others pitch in,” said Debbie Gargalis, manager over all three WorkSource Oregon offices in Region 13.

Gargalis said her staff works hard and goes above and beyond to provide exceptional customer service in all three offices that won the the Nick Guarriello Small Office Section of the Year Award May 13 at the IAWP awards program at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Portland.

She said the IAWP award recognized the Region 13 staff and “allowed us to step back and realize how much we accomplished, and how many people we helped over the past year.”

For her efforts as the Region 13 manager and member of the Regional Workforce Board, Gargalis was also honored with the IAWP’s James Mahoney Managerial Award.

The award in part recognized her role in launching financial fitness courses at WorkSource Oregon offices that helped job seekers and their families get through the recession.

“When the recession hit, we noticed people looking for work, but the basics of their lives were in financial crisis,” Gargalis said. “We saw people in tears daily.”

“If you are worried about losing your home or keeping your heat and lights on, you can’t focus on your job,” Gargalis said, and that’s why she proposed the Regional Workforce Board add financial fitness courses to training available at area WorkSource Oregon offices.

“It was really about being realistic about your new life situation and finances,” Gargalis said.

The financial fitness classes are designed to help people pull their bills together, make a budget consistent with the reduced income from unemployment, and identify ways to save money on food, clothes and other living expenses, and helped them get signed up for help, such as housing assistance, heating assistance and other services available through agencies such as Community Connection. In some cases, Gargalis said WorkSource Oregon staff also helped clients in the financial fitness classes arrange loan extensions, sign up for food stamps or directed them to places where they could get secondhand clothes or suits for job interviews.

While job orders are picking up and there are some other signs the recession has hit bottom and the economy is improving, Gargalis said financial fitness courses are still being offered. 

“A manager can only be as successful as their staff. They are exemplary. They work together,” Gargalis said. “Everybody has diverse skills. One person’s strength is somebody else’s weakness.”

Gargalis said she and her staff at the three Region 13 WorkSource Oregon offices are dedicated to helping job seekers come out of a period of unemployment with better job skills, better interviewing skills, better resumes and the potential or landing a better job or new career.

“When you see somebody go from no hope to landing that perfect job in their occupation of choice, that is an amazing thing,” Gargalis said.

In other awards, Richard (Scott) Craig, lead worker for Region 13, received the IAWP Professional Employee Award, for exemplary customer service.

“Scott is a business employment specialist and my lead worker. He helps individuals find jobs and careers. He connects the job seekers with businesses,” Gargalis said.

She said Scott is someone who listens to people when they come into the WorkSource Oregon office and always goes the extra mile to help them find a job or career that matches their skills and interests.

“If somebody comes in and is looking for something, he asks additional questions and identifies what may be their barriers to employment, and helps get them set up for additional training, resume writing classes or whatever they need to improve their employment opportunities,” Gargalis said.

“He spends time with the job seekers and listens,” Gargalis said. “He provides exceptional customer service.”

The Oregon Chapter of IAWP is a non-profit professional training organization. It is part of a worldwide organization of professionals employed in public and non-profit programs that provide Employment Services, Unemployment Insurance, Labor Market Information, Job Training and a variety of services related to the workforce needs of citizens, businesses and organizations.

Founded in 1913, IAWP predates much of the United States legislation that created and consolidated many of the programs that now comprise the national workforce development system. It is the oldest and one of the most widely recognized organization for professionals working in employment programs, providing a myriad of services, benefits, educational programs and legislative awareness activities, in addition to the annual awards program.