Recruiting, retention and training in construction

Samantha Barnett, a student at Hardaway High School in Columbus, Georgia, was eager to learn the trades, even before she was old enough.

“I snuck into my school’s construction program my freshman year, which you’re not supposed to do,” Barnett told Construction Dive. “And I’ve loved construction work ever since.”

Now 18, Barnett will attend Columbus State University in the fall, seeking a degree in business and entrepreneurship. Her passion for carpentry has led her to take on a number of projects, such as wood carvings, decorations, photo booths and sets for school plays.

Earlier this month, Barnett competed in cabinetmaking competition at the CareerExpo event in Atlanta, run by Construction Ready, a nonprofit organization that helps train people for entry-level construction jobs. 

This year, over 7,000 students of all ages attended the expo, the largest youth workforce development event for construction in the state. 

Industry professionals from over 300 Georgia companies participated to talk about their organization’s work and career paths in the trades, while dozens of colleges and universities advertised careers in architecture, construction, government administration, public safety, transportation and more.

The expo’s competitions, like the one in which Barnett competed, were run by SkillsUSA, a career and technical student organization that enrolls members from middle, high school and trade colleges. SkillsUSA hosts contests for multiple trades, such as carpentry, welding, plumbing and masonry. At CareerExpo, visitors could see those contests on display at the Georgia World Congress Center March 9 and 10.

Barnett competed for about three and a half hours on the second day of the event against 20 other students to build the best cabinet. Barnett won her contest. As a result, she earned a box of prizes and the chance to compete at SkillsUSA’s National Championship in June.

Showing off the trades

The partnership between Construction Ready and SkillsUSA began two decades ago, Scott Shelar, Construction Ready’s president and CEO, told Construction Dive.

Back then, the contests like those at the CareerExpo were hosted in a Home Depot parking lot — the only place they could book with enough space, a far cry from the bustling conference center this month.

Since the pandemic, there hasn’t been an in-person CareerExpo, and Shelar said he was concerned people may not remember the event, nor turn out in numbers like in the past. Nonetheless, he said, the 9,300 who attended set a record for the event.

Shelar said this year’s expo included other fun learning experiences, like a CAT excavator simulator and a demonstration on running a basic electrical circuit.

From the expo floor to the jobsite

Shelar said several of the students who compete quickly find employment; this year 469 competitors entered 24 different contests. Barnett interviewed with a local cabinetmaker last week. Nonetheless, the expo is just one major step Construction Ready uses to raise awareness of the career path the trades offer.

“Remember that there’s no one thing that will convince a young person that ‘Oh this is what I need to do,’” Shelar told Construction Dive. 

As a result, he advised local contractors to get in touch with local career technical instructors, likening contractors to a college football coach.

“The best college football coaches in the country build relationships with high school football coaches. When they have a good relationship, the high school coach will call and say, ‘Hey we got a good student here,’” Shelar said. “Same goes for CTE. The only way that’s going to happen is if they know you’re out there and you build a relationship with those teachers.”

After spending four years studying at Hardaway, Barnett is now dual-enrolled; she spends her afternoons at Columbus Technical College. At the same time, her teacher Paul Grantham says she’s been more of a helper than a student, taking part in constructing any projects he has to take on for the school.

Barnett hopes her business degree will enable her to own and operate a custom furniture and woodworking business. She speaks with an eagerness and passion for her work, but knows construction and other blue collar trades are not a path that’s obvious to everyone.

“I’ve known a lot of people in this school who wanted to be in this construction program or a program like it and had never even heard about it,” she said.

Of CareerExpo, she said “it just opens doors for people,” and suggested contractors find similar events to open a booth and find passionate young people like her.

Angie Hicks has a unique perspective on construction.

As chief customer officer of Angi — formerly Angie’s List, which Hicks co-founded — she has decades of experience working with entrepreneurs in the trades and consumers. That gives her unique insight into how the construction industry is perceived.

A recent survey from Angi, the Skilled Trades in America report, found that contractors and employers struggle mightily to find and hire skilled workers, and 77% say it’s getting worse. At the same time, tradespeople are largely satisfied with their work. Women who work in the skilled trades flourish, reporting high satisfaction as well.

Construction Dive spoke with Hicks about the state of construction labor — both commercial and residential — and what needs to change about the industry’s image and recruiting performance.

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: In your opinion, what is the current state of employment in the trades? How did we get here? What can be done to improve the situation? 

ANGIE HICKS: I think there's two sides of the story. So one, I think it's really important to point out that people that have gone into the trades are having great careers, very successful careers. And in fact, in our most recent survey, over 80% of those surveyed say they really enjoy what they do. So when I think about what drives us to be successful and what makes us happy, if you enjoy your job, you're doing great. On the flip side, people in the trades are struggling with finding more quality talent. About 70% of folks surveyed that are in the trades have said hiring and finding people to join the trades is a challenge. 

And it's been like that for some time. It used to be that the trades were something people joined right out of high school. That 16-to-22-year age period was the most popular time for people to join. But now it's becoming later. The average age of people in the trades is in the mid-40s. And we've got a lot of people that are getting ready to retire. 

What can be done to get the industry back to that 16 to 22 age bracket?

I think we also need to think about making sure that we have a lot of the trades opportunities and classes available in high school. A lot of the trades people that we've talked to have commented on the fact that shop had been erased from a lot of high schools, which really hurt the number of people going into the trades because they weren't getting exposed to it. 

I think we are at an interesting time right now, and we need to take advantage of it. I think a lot of younger people are rethinking their investment in education as far as what they're getting as reward. You know, one of the things that was challenging about the pandemic is that some younger folks that were high school age just became a little more disengaged with school because they were learning remotely. And that is opening them up to thinking about other opportunities. But we have to step in and make sure the trades are front and center as viable, so that we make sure that we win if the tides shifted at all. 

You don't need a tidal wave shift to start to fill in these jobs. You need to be prepared and be nimble to go and take advantage of that market. 

Is it time for a cultural change?

I think so. And I think a lot of times you're not seeing people talk about it, how young people are saying, "Hey, I want a much more technical job." A lot of the trades are becoming much more technical. If you're going to be an HVAC technician, there's more computer hardware in a furnace today than a lot of the mechanical hardware of the past. I think that’s going to make a change, because of the skillset that's going to be required by the products that are powering our homes and buildings.

I would be remiss to not say this: The trades are still a male-dominated industry. How do we create more diversity in the trades? I was talking to a woman in Brooklyn the other day who started her remodeling business probably a decade ago. She's passionate about trying to get more women to go into the trades. And it's like, how do we do that? How do we break down that barrier? Because I think there's a lot of interesting opportunities. And I think we just recruit to what we know. We need to broaden that.

It's the same issue that the first woman in the boardroom was like, "Okay, I'm in a room with a bunch of men." It's like the first woman at the plumbing company. How are we creating an environment that gives them role models and opportunities to see a path to success for themselves? I think the companies have to think about how they are creating a culture that's open to a more diverse workforce. 

What would you say to someone who pushes back on that? Who says it's a woman’s job — or any workers’ job — to find their place in the company culture, not the other way around?

Well, I think that that could be the challenge which causes us to not have enough labor. Like these same companies can't grow and are turning down jobs because they can't find enough talented folks to do the work. So, I think if you choose to stay small, that's fine. But if you want to grow and take advantage of the opportunity, I think you need to think about how you are going to best position yourself to attract the talent that you need.

Dive Brief:

• The Labor Department is looking to help diversify construction’s workforce as funding for federal infrastructure jobs rolls in. The new practice seeks to provide contractors with a more varied pool of qualified workers, according to an announcement last week. 
• Via the Mega Construction Project Program, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will offer “free, continuous, on-the-ground assistance” to project owners to staff jobsites with local workers. OFCCP said it will engage with worker advocates and local recruiters to remove barriers, while conducting compliance reviews to evaluate contractors’ anti-discrimination and equal opportunity practices.
• The program applies to federal megaprojects, which the OFCCP defines as large construction projects valued at $35 million or more — some part of which must be federal funding — and that last more than one year.

Dive Insight:

The announcement follows steps taken by the Department of Commerce to expand opportunities for women in semiconductor manufacturing and construction by improving aid for child care needs. Under that initiative, companies seeking more than $150 million in direct funding from the CHIPS Incentives Program must submit a plan to provide childcare for their workers in the communities where they plan projects. 

In the future, OFCCP will designate more megaprojects, the announcement said, which could include those funded by the Commerce Department through the CHIPS Act and IIJA projects funded by the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

“The newly launched Mega Construction Project Program will focus on some of the nation’s most important infrastructure projects to provide equal opportunity to all workers by removing barriers that have historically prevented our construction trades from tapping the full talent that exists in communities that have been underrepresented,” said Jenny Yang, OFCCP director.

Recruiting local talent has become a priority for some government agencies looking to diversify the construction workforce and supply good-paying jobs to communities surrounding major projects. In February, Los Angeles County approved a project labor agreement requiring local hiring on major projects built by the county.

President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget proposal recommended that OFCCP receive a $40 million — or 36% — funding boost, which could result in 125 new full-time positions.

To draw more women workers into the construction industry, contractors must provide an inclusive, welcoming environment with well-established diversity, inclusion and career advancement programs: That was the message from panelists on a webinar this week focused on strategies to recruit and retain women hosted by CPWR, the Center for Construction Research and Training.

Here are some of the top ways that firms can make themselves more attractive to women workers:

Programs are the key to long-term success

Training women and people of color hasn’t been enough, the industry needs policies and programs to promote their success, said Mary Vogel, executive director of Building Pathways, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to the recruitment of underrepresented workers to the building trades.

The methods to do that, Vogel said, are many. Outreach, applicant assessment, occupational skills training, apprenticeship placement and partnership with industry stakeholders help ensure women don’t just set foot on the jobsite, but find their place there, Vogel said.

Still, programs can only do so much — they must give women the tools to succeed.

“We do say we’re a GPS, not Uber,” Vogel said. “We’re not gonna hold their hand to apply to an apprenticeship program, but we’ll let them know what that process is and expose them to the various trades.”

Childcare support

Multiple speakers touched on the need for affordable quality childcare, something that women deal with more often than men.

TradesFutures, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, has recently established programs in New York City and Milwaukee to provide applicants with vouchers to help them pay for their childcare needs. 

Nicole Schwartz, executive director for TradesFutures, outlined the process: In New York City, 10 families will receive $1,000 a month for support for childcare, while in Milwaukee, vouchers can pay for up to half of childcare costs for the full year.

The programs are still in their pilot phase. 

Deliberate recruiting and culture change

Kathleen Dobson, safety director for St. Louis-based Alberici Constructors, said outreach for the future of the workforce doesn’t start early or often enough. Even career days for middle school are often too late, as students have begun to make plans for their high school path, which could steer them away from the trades.

Kids who don’t have parents in engineering or construction often don’t know about opportunities in these sectors.

But while recruiting needs to start earlier, it isn’t sufficient on its own. Dobson said the workplace also needs to be built to feel safe and equitable for women. 

Women often don’t report microaggressions or harassment, and can feel as if they don’t have a voice in a work culture where such behavior is tolerated, Dobson said. Eventually, they often leave the industry.

“As people retire in the industry, we need to fill many, many, many positions, so why would we be excluding women and those other underrepresented work groups?” Dobson said.

With trillions of dollars in new work coming online this year, contractors — already struggling to retain craft workers during a historic shortage — now face the challenge of competing with big projects that come to town with a lot to offer workers. 

This year, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, which allocates $39 billion to build and expand semiconductor manufacturing plants, will create thousands of new construction jobs — on top of what Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America, called “an unusually large concentration of really large projects right now.”

“A remarkable number of multibillion-dollar projects are showing up in many states,” Simonson said. “In many cases, the owners of these projects, while not insensitive to cost, may have more flexibility and willingness to pay and offer a range of benefits that smaller companies can’t.” 

When projects compete for the top available labor, “it gets messy,” said Portland, Oregon-based Eric Grasberger, construction and design group chair of national law firm Stoel Rives. 

“In order to compete, the contractors on those jobs have to go to the owners and say, ‘We can’t get the labor, and we’re not going to get the labor unless you authorize an increase in the hourly wages, the per diem or both — or perhaps other incentives,’” Grasberger said.

To attract and retain workers, many local companies are finding more compelling benefits well beyond money. They’re offering everything from hot meals and heated bathrooms on jobsites to paid volunteer and educational opportunities that may even extend to workers’ families.

“They’ve got to sell something bigger than just a project, because typically those industrial projects pay a lot more per hour than your average contractor might pay,” said Greg Sizemore, vice president of workforce development, safety, health and environmental for Associated Builders and Contractors. “In middle-class America, it’s about selling the value, which is beyond just the dollar.”

Free lunch, wellness centers

In central Ohio, megaprojects are becoming the norm rather than the exception — a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant for Intel, a $4.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant for Honda, data centers for Google and Amazon, and a biomanufacturing plant for Amgen are just a few. 

The flurry of building activity means construction workers have the potential to make as much as $135,000 per year, said Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council.

Throwing more money at workers to keep up with megaproject salaries is not an option for many local contractors, but Dorsey said it’s probably not the most effective tactic anyway. In their efforts to hang onto workers, central Ohio construction firms are offering amenities such as free breakfast and lunch, onsite wellness centers, heated restrooms and changing areas and convenient paved parking, he said. 

Sizemore said tradesworkers used to ask just three questions when considering a job: how much it paid per hour, how many hours they would work and what the per diem was. 

“Now, the whole world’s changed,” he said. “We’ve got new people coming into the industry who are looking for opportunities to go to work for contractors that have a long-term value proposition that meets their needs — things like paid time off, maternity and paternity leave.”

Younger generations of workers are asking more questions about company culture, what types of projects they would be working on and even safety protocols, said Keyan Zandy, CEO of Skiles Group, a mid-size general contractor in Dallas. 

In his market, Zandy is facing competition from a host of massive industrial, infrastructure and residential projects such as a $3 billion 112-acre mixed-use development that recently broke ground near Dallas. The Mix — which will include 375,000 square feet of retail, a 200-room boutique hotel and a 400-room business hotel — will be under construction through 2026. 

Skiles Group makes a concerted effort to align workers with the firm’s core values and include them in all of the company’s activities, whether volunteer programs or company picnics, Zandy said.

“It’s about not treating your labor like they’re a secondary component of what you do,” he said. “That’s really the main thing—we should be doing everything we can to empower these people because if it weren’t for them, nothing would ever get built.”

While smaller firms might not be able to compete when it comes to salaries, they have the advantage of being able to offer workers more personal relationships with owners and senior management and possibly even meaningful ownership shares, Sizemore said. 

“It really is about making people feel like they’re a part of something as opposed to just working for Amazon,” he added.

A trade school facility in Kansas City, Missouri, is looking to expand its footprint, improve its location and better serve its students.

The Northland Career Center, first founded in 1980, was designed to offer a trade school route to about 3,500 high school students across Platte and Clay counties. But the number of students has since ballooned to over 18,000, said Brian Noller, director of community, school and business partnerships for Platte County’s school district.

As a result, the career center, which offers courses in construction tech, HVAC, welding and other specializations, had to turn students away, Noller said. 

That presented an opportunity, however, to construct a new, state-of-the-art facility in a location closer to more students.

“We saw the need to do something centralized," Noller said. Platte and Clay counties make up the northern part of Kansas City. A new campus and facility would make it easier on students to commute to the school, and increase the number of available spots from about 460 to over 900.

“Ultimately what we’re trying to do is help our area of the Kansas City metro here build a workforce,” NCC director Jeff Green told Construction Dive.

Plans for the new facility include a 250- to 300-seat auditorium for guest speakers and a large expo space for students to collaborate on a build or to host a building competition. The larger structures could allow NCC to expand its construction offerings to include more trades, like electrical and plumbing, Noller said. 

Supporting the big price tag

A new trade school isn’t cheap, however. With a total price tag of $60 million, NCC got a major boost from the government: Gov. Mike Parson earmarked $30 million of the state budget to aid in funding the project. 

That means half the cost must come from donations or grants. 

On Jan. 4, NCC announced its first major private contribution: Kansas City-based real estate developer Hunt Midwest pledged 10 cents for each square foot of a seprate project; the KCI Logistics Park project. That amounts to another to $2 million, which means a total of $32 million is now allocated toward the job.

“The huge number of industries relocating or expanding in Kansas City today already puts a strain on the number of skilled workers here,” said Mike Bell, senior vice president at Hunt Midwest, in an interview with Construction Dive. “It’s imperative that all of us … invest now in workforce development so that our young people are in a position to succeed tomorrow in the stable, high-paying careers these industries will bring.”

The timeline is set for the students to step foot on the new campus in 2026. Green said he was “optimistic” the school would meet its goal on time.

Green said the best thing contractors can do when they feel the pinch of the labor shortage is partner with schools like NCC to directly develop the emerging workforce. At a minimum, Green said, offer time to come to the school for events to advise students. 

That said, the high demand for labor has really shown Green how dire a situation it is right now. Employers are reaching out to him much more frequently, looking to hire people.

“In my time in education, that’s a first,” he said.

 

As inflationary pressures and a continuing labor shortage push construction wages to record levels, contractors are looking beyond monetary reimbursement to attract and keep talent.

Contractors are reviewing their budgets to find creative ways and additional financial incentives to retain workers in today’s inflationary environment, said Misha Nikulin, managing director at Deloitte’s engineering and construction practice.

Average hourly earnings for construction workers climbed 6.1% from December 2021 to December 2022, exceeding the 5% rise in average pay for all private sector production workers, according to Associated General Contractors of America’s 2023 Construction Hiring & Business Outlook.

Even though 72% of contractors increased base pay rates and about a third boosted bonuses and benefits in 2022, 80% reported having a hard time filling positions, the report found. The survey gathered data from more than 1,000 construction firms.

But workers care about more than just a good salary.

“Employees are expecting a competitive and well-rounded employee value proposition that supports them at every stage of their career,” said Alison Tripp, national recruiting leader for Redwood, California-based commercial general contractor DPR.

The problem: Labor shortage inflates wages

The construction industry’s long and well-documented struggle to find workers shows no signs of slowing down and is widely believed to have become endemic. Workforce shortages, which make projects take longer and cost more, will likely intensify, according to AGC, with 69% of contractors expecting to need more workers in 2023.  

“Construction was dealing with a labor shortage before the pandemic caused widespread labor shortages that have impacted all industries,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Economist Zachary Fritz. “Now there’s more demand for workers, and that made the construction industry’s shortage even worse.”

On average, 4.8% of construction jobs were unfilled through the first 11 months of 2022 — the highest on record, Fritz said. In March 2022, 3.3% of construction workers quit their jobs — again, the highest number ever. And people aren’t staying in the same sector when they leave their jobs.

“Contractors are now competing not only with other contractors, but also with Amazon and the distribution segment and potentially jobs that offer remote work,” Fritz said. “So, that’s pushed wages up, and they’ve particularly accelerated over the past year. Construction wages have increased faster than overall wages in 10 of the past 12 months and increased at a faster rate than overall monthly inflation in each of the past six months.”

Construction companies have always had to pay a premium to attract workers who are willing to work outdoors in the elements and have limited flexibility to come and go from jobsites, said Ken Simonson, chief economist for AGC. That premium averaged 21.5% from 2000 to 2019, but this year — despite wage increases — it has dropped to 18%.

“Construction firms are going to have to raise pay even more steeply relative to other businesses in order to get back to that historic premium or go above it,” Simonson said. 

Additionally, contractors will have to find ways to reduce the number of workers on site, or the skill level of their workers, and they will have to pay more overtime for existing workers to stick to timelines.

Potential solutions: Culture, benefits and owner negotiations

Unable to compete on salary alone, contractors are proactively working to make construction more attractive and competitive with other industries.

After surveying and conversing with craft employees to determine their needs, DPR addressed employment issues with a new suite of benefits focused on developing long-term career paths for craft workers. That included utilizing dedicated employee coaches and Culture Con events in which employees have direct dialogue with leadership. DPR also restructured its paid time off to offer every administrative employee four weeks of PTO.

“Our benefits program helps employees prioritize health and wellbeing and provides resources to plan for the future,” Tripp said.

Firms are also focusing on workers’ mental health, work-life balance and opportunities to engage in meaningful work, said Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. More and more construction companies are moving toward creating employee-owned organizations.

Contractors may need to promise full-time employment rather than contract work and offer higher per-diems for workers who travel to jobsites, said Portland, Oregon-based Eric Grasberger, construction and design group chair for national law firm Stoel Rives. They also need to consider schedule and contract revisions with owners.

Owners’ single focus on completing projects on time gives contractors leverage in asking for incentives to pay for rising labor costs, Grasberger said. Contractors are increasingly asking for contingency funds they can tap or price-adjustment clauses to cover higher labor costs.

“Fixed bids are expected to be impacted the most by increased wages and inflation,” said Deloitte’s Nikulin. “Therefore, the contracting models and financing arrangements are being actively revised to reduce the negative impacts.”