Lessons from the Ranch on Labor, Training

By Leonard Toenjes

Q: I am an owner and in my locale commercial contractors are working at capacity in my market, hospitals and medical facilities. In fact, some of what we see tends to be along the lines of courtesy bids because they are so busy. What can we, as owners, do to help contractors fill the labor shortage?

A: The best way to seriously address a labor shortage in an area is for owners and contractors to have open dialog related to taking a collaborative approach. Too often, cost has been the only determinant in the construction industry.

Several years ago when I served as a training director and was trying to start a training program in our area for roofers who were in short supply, there was great enthusiasm in the room as we talked about needs, facilities and curriculum.

When we got to the cost of paying for the investment in training, we suddenly hit the wall and planning stopped.

One of the older gentlemen in the group stopped and stayed behind to express his disappointment. He lamented that the industry has treated the workforce shortage in a manner similar to a rancher who would save money and add great economy to his operations by cutting back on the amount of feed for his herd each day until he had his cattle trained not to eat. Much to his dismay, just about the time he had the cattle trained, they all died.

In too many instances, both owners and contractors have treated training in this way.

Survey the Market

The first step towards working together for labor shortage issues is to accumulate and agree on such issues as current workforce supply for both craftworkers and construction professionals, the upcoming projects that owners are planning to build in the market and available local labor pools and training providers.

With this survey of the marketplace, effective planning can start by addressing the following questions.

What is the anticipated gap between labor supply and demand at each level of the industry? Are some crafts or skills in higher demand than others?

For those identified gaps, are there existing training programs that can be augmented and better supported to fill these needs? If there are barriers to entry into these programs, how can they be overcome? Are more applicants needed into these programs? Are there new training programs that need to be created to address certain needs? Are the potential educational partners in the area such as vocational schools or community colleges who can help jump start the training?

Finally and most importantly, what will the training cost? This has been the biggest barrier to the implementation of training and education programs in the construction industry.

Can owners and contractors agree on a funding plan that will be fair to owners, show value for their investment, and insure that contractors who participate in the training are compensated for their training investment? The lowest initial cost may not be the best long term method to address this issue. Remember the cattle rancher.

Do you have questions on construction human resources, safety or management? E-mail them to Leonard Toenjes at ltoenjes@agcstl.org or craig_barner@mcgraw-hill.com. If Len picks your question, he will answer it in a future issue of Midwest Construction.)