How Eastern Oregon Workforce Board helped a Harney County saddle maker hire and train a new employee.

For small businesses, hiring a new employee is an investment. In specialized trades, that investment often includes weeks or months of hands-on training before a new team member can work independently.

Rob Frank, owner of Weeping Heart Custom Saddles in Harney County, knows this challenge firsthand.

Through an employee training program offered by Eastern Oregon Workforce Board, Rob was able to hire a new employee with a portion of her wages subsidized to help offset the costs of training.

The support allowed Rob to bring someone onto his team and begin teaching the specialized skills involved in saddle making.

In his video, Rob holds up a set of six billet straps, an essential component of a saddle, that his new employee produced during training. It’s a small but tangible example of how the investment was already helping his business move production forward.

“I would say that working with Eastern Oregon Workforce Board was a simple process, and they were great to work with and very responsive,” Rob says.

While Rob noted that the funding ended before his employee had completed her training, he emphasized the value of having financial support during the hiring and training process.

For businesses like Weeping Heart Custom Saddles, workforce training programs can help make it more feasible to bring on new employees, develop specialized skills, and grow local businesses.

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