Bridging the Skills Gap

This year is poised to be a year of growth, with the Federal Reserve recently increasing its forecast of the nation’s gross domestic product to 6.5%. With that, the construction industry will likely face challenges around hiring cycles, evolving protocols and a widening skills gap.

Baby boomers in leadership roles, such as superintendent and foreman, are retiring, and the available talent pool for niche skilled trades, such as masonry detailing and woodworking, is both shrinking and aging. In addition, trade schools are facing declining enrollments for new apprentices that can help to pick up the slack.

Any way you look at it, construction firms are dealing with a skills gap for subcontractor talent that will only widen in the coming years. So, how can employers in the construction industry get ahead of the curve and set themselves up for success? Consider the following five recommendations to help bridge the gap.

1. Take a Systematic Approach to Training

As with any widespread issue affecting an industry, it’s often helpful to look at what the largest and most well-resourced firms are doing to tackle the problem. In terms of the niche skilled trades talent gap, national construction firms have begun offering apprenticeships and robust, on-the-job training that’s commensurate with a technical school’s certification process.

The most successful companies find motivated people among their current workforce and train them for needed roles.

One particularly effective approach to maintaining contact with high-demand workers is to require a multiyear commitment for program completion — much like a degree — with reimbursement and certification available at the end.

2. Emphasize Outreach & Education

In addition to a shrinking labor pool, skilled trades also face difficulty at the onset of the talent pipeline. Many early-career candidates come from 4-year college programs in construction management, rather than skilled trade apprenticeship programs, and don’t always understand the growing value of specialized skills.

What can the average construction firm do to address this issue, and become a favorable destination for the next generation of skilled laborers? Go after candidates at the beginning of their career journey, where people are most interested in learning how to build a house or a building, and emphasize how important skilled trades are.

Employers can do outreach through job fairs, seek referrals from existing employees and become more intentional about marketing to the candidate pool rather than potential customers only. People need to know that skilled trades can be just as lucrative and rewarding as more generalized project management work.

3. Focus on Retention

Retention may be the most efficient place to focus your efforts. As the competition for skilled trade talent heats up, construction firms have been introducing more extreme measures to keep their workers happy. It’s increasingly common to see skilled-trade wages paid to keep top talent even during downtime in production schedules. Higher wages, more flexibility and additional perks for workers with the scarcest skill sets are all regarded as requirements for firms to remain competitive.

Make your core crew happy, and skilled trades talent will come to you. Earning a reputation as a teacher, mentor and nurturer will keep key people in your firm, and make them want to grow on the job.

4. Find Creative Ways to Broaden the Talent Pool

The talent gap may widen to the point at which construction firms of all sizes will need to look at expanding the talent pool to include international laborers.

Larger firms have already shored up their processes for filing visa requests through the state department. Also underway is a gradual reduction of threshold requirements for skilled laborers. In some roles where such clearances are not required by regulations, background checks and drug testing are going away.

5. Build Relationships With Contingent Labor Providers

As the skills gap widens for certain niche skill sets, the job market is likely to evolve a new mindset for employing skilled tradespeople who are already trained and ready to get to work. Contingent labor subcontracting is likely to emerge in the coming years as a way to fill the employment needs more quickly and efficiently. Staffing companies that are moving in the direction of managed services are a great resource to lean on as that trend continues.

While it’s not ideal to wait around for new staffing options, implementing the above-listed strategies can leave you in a better spot once they begin to arrive. In the meantime, construction business owners should stay true to their original purpose, adhere to their company values and aim for excellence and clarity throughout the hiring process.