Adding to your toolbox

Attracting, retaining and training employees are difficult tasks for many industries, including those that read this magazine.

While immigration enforcement is among the factors causing construction workforce shortages that result in project delays, according to a survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, the labor issue is broader than that, with some 92 percent of construction firms saying they are having a difficult time finding workers and 45 percent of survey respondents saying the circumstance has caused project delays.

In addition to immigration policy, federal officials have failed to properly invest in construction workforce training and education, the AGC says.

Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, says 57 percent of firms surveyed responded that available candidates are not qualified to work in the industry because they lack essential skills or do not have an appropriate license.

He adds that the construction industry is taking steps to address workforce shortages, with nearly 88 percent of companies raising base pay for workers and 42 percent initiating or increasing spending on training and professional development in the past year.

Investing in training is necessary in the demolition industry, too, and the National Demolition Association (NDA) has launched its Demolition Workforce Development Toolbox to help by providing a structured framework for “lifelong career growth” for entry-level positions to leadership roles.

The toolbox, which can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/3JJHAmK, addresses what the NDA says are critical needs in the demolition industry by offering a suite of tools for recruitment, membership, self-development, education and certification, providing members with resources to build a more skilled and safer workforce.

“The Workforce Development Toolbox is a game-changer,” says NDA President Ben Hayden of Hayden Wrecking in East Saint Louis, Illinois. “It gives our members the resources to define clear career paths, invest in their employees and, ultimately, elevate the entire demolition profession.”

How is your company tapping into resources to attract, train and retain employees? Email me at dtoto@gie.net to share what you’re doing.