Despite an abundance of construction work, it’s no secret that filling construction jobs has gotten more difficult in the past few years. As seasoned employees retire, recruiting the younger workforce into the trades has to be a priority moving forward. However, the key is to not only attract new workers but also to retain them.
The Gen Z Opportunity
Recent postsecondary enrollment numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reveal double-digit growth (+13.6%) for public two-year institutions with high vocational program focus. According to the report, these institutions “now encompass 19.5% of public two-year enrollment, up from 15.3% in 2019.”
Further data from ADP Research published in Today at Work found blue-collar jobs made up 18.6% of employment for workers aged 20 to 24 in January 2024 — 2.3 percentage points larger than that of the same age group in January 2019, and 2.5 percentage points larger than that of workers 25 to 39.
Continuing to recruit Generation Z (Gen Z) into the construction trades is just half the opportunity. Retaining these younger workers will not only help maintain sufficient staffing levels, but it will also help build company culture and create a level of institutional knowledge within your construction business that can be costly to replace.
In addition to staying competitive on pay and benefits with the help of benchmarking data, employers should
try to provide clear career growth road maps to help young workers see their future within the company. Whether advancing from an entry-level role to project management, specializing in electrical or plumbing, shifting to environmental and infrastructure projects, or training on exciting new technologies for the jobsite, construction offers diverse skills development opportunities that may help keep your most valuable asset: your people.
Skills Development = Retention & Productivity
As part of its People at Work 2025 series, ADP Research surveyed nearly 38,000 global workers in 34 markets across six continents. The survey found that 25% of workers in construction and related trades are confident they have the skills needed to advance to the next job level in the next three years.
Moreover, 18% of these workers feel their employer is investing in the skills they need to advance their career in the future.
There’s room to improve for construction employers, who could benefit from skills development in a few ways according to the ADP Research analysis — enhanced reputation, increased productivity and lower turnover.
According to the People at Work 2025 story on skills development, workers who feel strongly that their employer is providing the training they need are nearly six times more likely than others to recommend their company as a great place to work, and 3.3 times more likely to consider themselves highly productive. And when survey respondents were asked to provide the top reasons why they would stay with their employer, the opportunity for career advancement was second only to flexibility in scheduling.
A Strategic Approach to Construction Skills Development
Construction organizations should consider developing a strategic approach to skills development that in turn could bring major benefits to your business.
1. Identify & Address Skills Gaps
To help future-proof your workforce, start by identifying the skills most critical for the construction industry’s evolving landscape. Consider both the technical skills your business needs and the skills your employees want to develop. Finding areas where these align can help prioritize training initiatives that benefit both the company and its workforce.
Leveraging workforce management technology can potentially help streamline this process. Conduct a skills inventory to assess employees’ current competencies and gather feedback on what they’re eager to learn. Digital tools and workforce analytics can help highlight gaps, allowing you to design targeted training programs that can bridge those deficiencies while fostering employee growth. Investing in continuous skill development better ensures your team remains competitive and adaptable to industry changes.
2. Develop a Strategic Skills Growth Plan
Implementing a skills development program requires careful planning as businesses must balance training initiatives with ongoing project demands. Construction firms often face the challenge of allocating time and resources for workforce development while ensuring productivity and profitability remain on track.
To navigate this, organizations need a structured, long-term approach that integrates skills training into their operational strategy. Collaboration between business leaders and employees is essential to identify training priorities, schedule learning opportunities and align workforce growth with business objectives.
Workforce management technology once again can play a crucial role in this process by potentially helping businesses track employee progress, manage schedules and forecast staffing needs. By budgeting time for skills development alongside project timelines, organizations can better build a more capable workforce without disrupting bottom-line success.
3. Tactical Approach to Developing Construction Skills
After your construction organization has established a skills development plan, it’s time to zero in on a tactical approach to building the skills needed for the future. Below are a few possible ideas:
Introduce & Train on Emerging Tech
Educate and train employees on crucial advancements ushering in the future of construction operations, such as drone operation, 3D imaging, artificial intelligence (AI) software and data analytics.
If your company isn’t using these technologies just yet, investing in training courses so employees can learn them and help you integrate them into day-to-day activities could be a place to start.
Expand Project & Workforce Management Skills
When possible, giving employees stretch opportunities related to project and workforce management could go a long way toward teaching them new skills crucial for long-term career growth. This could include providing them with hands-on experience with back-office operations like certified payroll reporting and union requirements.
Train them on workforce technology software that can help streamline administrative tasks.
Leverage Apprenticeship Programs & Trade Schools
Identify opportunities for employees to enroll in apprenticeship programs when there are gaps in scheduling to help them to develop valuable skills that they can then bring to the jobsite.
Consider partnerships with trade schools to enhance expertise.
Identify & Align With High-Potential Talent
Have frequent career discussions so these individuals are identified as employees who want to climb the career ladder, which is not something everyone wants to do.
Map out and align on a clear career path with these employees.
Create Formal Mentoring Programs
Mentorship will often happen informally no matter what you do. The goal, however, is to ensure your high-potential employees get the structured mentorship they need to progress and feel valued at your organization.
Connect younger employees with more seasoned team members to not only build camaraderie but help facilitate knowledge transfer before retirement.
Offer Online Learning Opportunities
Offer online courses, webinars and certification programs that employees can access anytime — including off hours.
Leverage workforce technology to better support 24/7 online or mobile learning, which is especially useful in construction, where on-site work limits traditional training time compared to a job done in front a computer screen five days a week, eight hours a day.
Evaluate human-capital management solutions that could help offer online courses in skills development and construction practices.
No matter how your business implements a firmwide skills development program, taking the first step is crucial. Investing in workforce training can better ensure your company keeps pace with industry changes while remaining competitive in the race to attract and retain top talent.