YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Changes caused by technological advances, societal shifts and public policy modifications continue to shape the workplace.
Artificial intelligence is just one of several tech breakthroughs leaving a mark on industries.
And a greater focus on work-life balance in the post-Covid era is a new priority of workers.
The Business Journal discussed these and other changes with representatives of five regional businesses: Aim Transportation Solutions, Jet Creative, Livi Steel Inc., Paige & Byrnes Insurance and QuickMed Urgent Care.
Technology Trends
“Technology doesn’t replace a lot in health care. Technology augments health care,” Lena Esmail, CEO of QuickMed Urgent Care in Youngstown, says. “The human that knows how to use technology will replace the human that doesn’t.”
Careers in the trades, including those at Aim Transportation Solutions in Girard, are more resistant to factors such as AI that are taking over jobs in other fields, according to Carli Kuntze, senior vice president of human resources.
She notes that the company has “a very robust” management information system and IT department and was recognized by Commercial Carrier Journal as Innovator of the Year in 2024.
“In the workplace, it’s being able to manage different technology paths that work for different customers,” Shelley Taylor, president of Paige & Byrnes Insurance in Howland, says. “What we like to talk about around here is there’s not one right solution to work with our customers. There’s the way that works for the customer best.”
Taylor anticipates a “two-pronged approach” to dealing with customers. Locally owned agencies will utilize technology but “enhance the experience with a personal touch and allow people to ask questions because I don’t think you can automate all the questions out of what we do,” she says.
Other customers will use “electronic means” to secure insurance, she continues. That might be the preferred method for them, there could be gaps in information that could complicate responses to billing questions, or claims that might not be covered because of the incomplete data, such as failing to add a person to an automobile
policy.
“Those kind of mistakes or questions can be answered by a local agent, but you might not have that opportunity when you’re just dealing with a website,” she says.
The manufacturing workplace of the future will likely be shaped by technological advancements, shifting workforce demographics, and evolving industry needs, according to Ashley Morrow, human resources and office manager at Livi Steel Inc., Warren. Workplace changes have been accompanied by a growing emphasis on area workforce development and training programs.
“These initiatives are helping to equip students and workers with the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly complex and automated industry,” Morrow says. “As we look ahead, we envision a workplace that prioritizes innovation, collaboration and employee development. Organizations like the Ohio Manufacturers Association are already providing valuable resources and support to help manufacturers stay ahead of the curve.”
There also has been discussion of autonomous vehicle technology at Aim, but Kuntze predicts it could be a decade or more before it’s implemented in trucking – if it ever is. She similarly is skeptical about electric vehicle technology being introduced to commercial transportation on a large scale.
“We’re really not integrating those into our fleet at the moment,” she says.
Esmail praises telemedicine, though she acknowledges it has its limits. She expresses concern about legislation to eliminate telemedicine coverage for Medicare recipients, “which means that those that live in areas that don’t have physical access to care will now have even more limited access to care,” she says.
“Typically, commercial payers follow suit of Medicare, and we expect to see the domino effect over the next couple years if this ends up being something that’s permanent,” further limiting access to care for patients, she adds.
One ubiquitous transportation technology, the Global Positioning System, can be good or bad, Kuntze acknowledges. GPS technology often doesn’t recognize a road that can’t accommodate trucks beyond a certain weight, so drivers potentially could find themselves stuck. “We have a smartphone app that has a road-rescue functionality, so our drivers can easily connect with our road rescue department here at our corporate center,” she says.
Livi’s Morrow says her company foresees significant advancements in technology – including but not limited to AI – as well as the adoption of new equipment such as rotors and laser tables and processes that will drive efficiency, effectiveness and
productivity.
Artificial Intelligence
Marketing firms and marketing directors will have to continue to evolve, “but they’ve always had to do that and find ways to integrate new technologies and new changes,” Sarra Mohn, president and owner of Youngstown-based Jet Creative, says.
Many marketing firms will incorporate AI as a tool to help them increase their capacity, supporting their business as other technologies have, while some will overuse AI tools as they become abundant, Mohn predicts.
“They might lose the ability to capture the voice of the clients or companies. Once you lose that, it’s hard to get it back, but that’s always been the case in marketing,” she warns. She has seen marketing firms come and go over the years, jumping on trends over the years and spending money to push forward new technology that ended up not being as effective, or just being temporarily effective.
“I guess it’s not that much different than all of the evolution of technology,” she says.
“We’re really taking AI and viewing it as more of a supplement to our skilled workers, rather than a replacement,” Kuntze remarks. “We’re trying to incorporate that where we need to, where it can help people, but bottom line we’re still going to have the diesel techs and our CDL drivers – you know, boots on the ground, hands in the trucks.”
The effect of AI is a frequent topic of discussion, Taylor says.
“What we’ve learned is it’s not quite there yet. It’s not a magic solution to anything. It’s impacting us slightly, but I wouldn’t say greatly, she says. “With the workplace, it’s being able to meet customers where they are. What that means to us is we still have customers who don’t have an email address, but we have customers who never want to talk to us, but still work with us because they like the local experience or we serve them well.”
Workplace Culture
Societal culture is shifting, and especially post-Covid, work-life balance supersedes money in the bank, Esmail says. Because of it, members of Generation X and millennials “don’t believe in work, work, work until it’s time to retire,” she says.
“People don’t want to work evenings anymore. They don’t want to work weekends anymore,” she says. Incentives to get people to work evenings and weekends don’t exist because the reimbursements from payers don’t cover them.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed how many people worked, Kuntze acknowledges. Aim tries to be as flexible as possible on issues such as remote work, but the majority of the company’s roles require employees to be onsite.
“Our mechanics have to be here. They have to be fixing the trucks,” she says. “Our drivers have to be on the trucks making deliveries.”
She adds, “We try to blend our traditional family values while staying innovative, but we do maintain that culture that we want people to be here working next to each other.”
While there has been increased integration of remote work into companies, Paige & Byrnes has “chosen to be in-office,” an approach Taylor says has worked for the agency because it’s attracted people who want that approach.
“In our industry, it’s complex. It’s a lot more complex than people may think,” she says. “In order to learn what we need to do, to know, in order to serve our customers, we value that in-person touch with being able to work together.”
Aim also is experiencing a major shift in the demographics of its workforce, a “hot” discussion topic, Kuntze acknowledges. Currently the firm’s workforce is made up of several generations working side by side, but in about five years it predominantly will be composed of millennials and Gen Z employees.
“It’s super-important to us that our employees understand the shift,” she says. To accommodate that shift, Aim is taking a proactive approach to incorporate the different learning and communication styles of the generations. Additionally, the company frequently surveys employees to identify needed steps to address work-life balance issues that have become increasingly important to the emerging workforce.
Morrow foresees “a continued focus on workplace culture and employee engagement, as manufacturers recognize the importance of attracting and retaining top talent.” Organizations like the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition MAGNET and Team NEO play “a key role in promoting collaboration and innovation,” she says. In addition, there is a growing emphasis on partnerships and collaborations between local businesses, recruiting agencies and other organizations.
Decreased reimbursements for commercial payers and the overall decreased accessibility to insurance based on the current political climate right now puts health care providers at risk for lower patient volume, Esmail says. Because of that, providers from smaller entities to larger hospital systems are being cognizant of staffing.
“We’re running on staffing models that are safe enough for patient care, but that run essentially very close to bare bones, and that means wait times might be longer in the future,” she says.
Some clinics and some hospital systems in the future likely will decrease outpatient care accessibility hours in evenings and on weekends. Specialty services that aren’t busy will reduce access to those as well.
“When reimbursements are down and patient access to insurance is down, ultimately the business of medicine struggles,” she says. “At the end of the day, sustainability becomes key across the landscape of health care.”
Esmail also points out the exodus of nurses from the profession in the post-Covid years, as well as a nationwide shortage in X-ray technicians and primary care providers. All of these factors make accessibility to care more difficult.
Mohn also sees a larger cultural change taking place across industries, not just marketing, in part because of swift changes in government policy affecting organizations ranging from small businesses and nonprofits. Stability already was fragile because of pension removals, cutbacks in medical coverage and other
factors.
“Before it would almost hit an industry at a time,” she continues. “The instability just seems to get really, really big, really fast, and this obviously impacts people’s personal lives, and that can be overwhelming.”
That has resulted in having more personal and honest conversations about how to get creative, “not just with marketing, but with how we’re consulting our clients on how to approach their demographic,” she adds.
“We’re not just throwing up a social media campaign or throwing up a website. We’re actually getting into their operations and talking about how do we clean up some of these other areas to make your team less stressed so they can handle these big changes as they come,” she says.
Jet largely has shifted to mostly remote work, one of the advantages of modern technology. In some cases, Jet advises clients to open flexibility for employees where they can.
“Certain industries are set up that it is much better to be in the office, not just for the employer’s benefit, but the employee can really do better at their job, and they feel more satisfied when they can meet their goals,” Mohn says. “So, in our consulting side, we’re recommending both. It just depends.”
Esmail doesn’t foresee a “dim outlook” for what technology or the desire for improved work-life balance will bring to health care.
“Whenever there are issues in health care, there are solutions that come after them,” Esmail says. “We have to be solution-based as it pertains to health care. We can’t just be problem facing or problem based.”