NATCHEZ — Workforce issues can leave a business owner or manager feeling at a loss or confused, but there are local resources to help.

Natchez Inc. is partnering with Copiah-Lincoln Community College and the WIN Job Centers to offer business owners an opportunity to know what resources are available to them locally. The partnered organizations will host a workforce development seminar at the Natchez Convention center from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday that is free and open to anyone who wants to attend.

Natchez Inc. Project Manager Chris Hinton said the plans for the seminar came about after meetings with local business owners exposed a need.

“A lot of companies have workforce concerns, and the best way to address that is to contact Co-Lin and the Win Job Center,” Hinton said.

“Those are a major resource in themselves that some companies are not familiar with. A lot of companies don’t utilize their services because they aren’t aware they are there.”

Topics at the seminar will include how to customize training for a company’s specific needs, how to manage unemployment insurance, on the job training, financial reimbursements for in-house training and how companies can be assisted in recruiting new workers.

One of the topics presented by a representative from Co-Lin will be on the use of the WorkKeys system, which can be used to rate employee abilities on a scale of one through five, Hinton said.

“Using that grading system, it lets employers know what areas an employee needs improvement or in what areas is he lacking in skills,” Hinton said.

Though the primary audience for the seminar is business owners, Hinton said anyone may attend.

“It can be an entrepreneuer who wants to start their own business, because I am sure that just about everybody can get something out of what (Co-Lin and Win Job Centers) are going to share,” Hinton said.

“We are looking forward to hosting these two groups and working with them to promote a better workforce for the community.”