The construction industry has changed a
lot over the years. I've been in the industry for thirty-five years
and I've watched it evolve over that time in many ways. One of the
most alarming trends is the aging of the workforce. When I was in my
twenties, it seemed everyone was in their twenties. Sure we had the
“old guys”. They were the foremen, the bosses, but most of the
workforce was young.
Over the decades that changed as we all
aged. Almost a decade ago when the insurance crisis first began, with
skyrocketing premiums and ballooning heath-care costs, the company I
worked for had an average age of forty-eight. The insurance companies
blamed that for the rising premium costs. As the job market
collapsed, forcing more young people out, that average age only
increased. From boss to helper, we were all “old guys”.
The tight economy hasn't helped, and
you can see the aging trend in every industry. Go to McDonald's and
you may see forty and fifty year old cooks and cashiers. The jobs
that were traditionally filled by high school and college students
are now filled by middle aged workers trying to get by and pay their
mortgage. But what does that mean for the future of the construction
industry?
Construction is a difficult and
physically demanding profession. It also takes years, even decades,
to learn and master the skills involved to be highly productive. We
have a highly skilled, highly productive workforce, but where will
they be ten years down the road? Who will step into their boots and
build the future? I learned much from those “old guys” when I was
a young apprentice, but there are very few young people being trained
today.
The current generation of young people
were convinced that a college degree was their ticket to a high
paying career and the American Dream, not the traditional
blue-collar, middle-class dream my generation grew up with. Many
struggle now to find work in their chosen fields and pay off their
huge student loan debts. With the hard economy they are competing for
even part-time work against people twice their age with long resumes
of experience.
Over the years the construction
industry has failed to entice young people into the trades. The
economic decline and shrinking workforce didn't help. There wasn't a
great need for new workers and seasoned workers struggled to keep the
jobs they had. But as the economy rebounds the labor shortage will
blossom into a major crisis. And that crisis will hit the
construction and maintenance trades the hardest as companies look for
young men and women to fill the boots of an aging workforce.
Over the next few weeks I will be
talking to industry leaders and workers in the field about the future
of the plumbing industry, and skilled trades in general, in North
Carolina. We have an opportunity now to entice young people into the
trades, but to do so we need strong job training programs and a
commitment from the industry to hire and apprentice young people. The
American Dream of my generation, and my father's generation, was
built on hard work and craftsmanship. We owe it to the next
generation to train them as we were trained.
I sat down last week with Shane Walden,
head of maintenance at a large local facility. We discussed the aging
workforce and the need to train a new generation. His people are all
in their forties and fifties. One of his HVAC technicians started
over in his fifties. I've known many others who were forced to do the
same as the economy shrank. Our discussion focused in on what skills
are needed in a changing workplace.
Shane told me that a broad skill-set
and knowledge base are essential. That is sorely lacking in many
training programs that teach generic fundamentals, but little or no
real-world application of skills. With the ever changing industry
many trade schools are behind the times or they choose the path of
generic training they consider “evergreen skills”. But what new
workers need is hands on experience with today's newest materials and
techniques.
In times past, broad experience was
gained over time on-the-job as an apprentice training under a
seasoned craftsman. Years of experience on a wide range of projects
offered an apprentice a diverse skill-set. But the industry today
tends toward specialization. We'll talk more about that in a minute,
but the unfortunate outcome of specialization is an apprentice who
may be very good at one aspect of the craft yet have very limited
knowledge of other aspects.
That is understandable from a business
point-of-view in a highly competitive marketplace. If a company has
an apprentice, or even a technician, who is highly productive running
copper water pipe why would they have him doing anything else?
Business is about profits and profits grow through increased
productivity. Yet the craftsman gets pigeonholed into a limited
skill-set. This is a place where trade schools can fill the gap with
diverse training programs that offer a young apprentice hands-on
experience with a wide range of skills and techniques he or she may
not acquire on-the-job.
But some specialization is important
for greater skill, better quality, and higher productivity. The old
truism tells us that the Jack-of-all-trades is often the master of
none. Shane told me that in his position as chief of maintenance he
likes to cross train his plumbers in heating and air and also
electrical skills. A broader skill-set is always desirable. But he
still has plumbing technicians and heating and air technicians. It's
good to know a little about a lot, but it's also important to know a
lot about something.
Again, training programs need to follow
that same diverse yet focused paradigm. Students need a broad
skill-set with hands-on experience using the latest materials and
techniques, but also specific knowledge in emerging areas that are in
demand. I asked Shane what he sees as some of the specific skills
needed in the industry today and what is likely to be needed
tomorrow. Building automation and controls was his top pick. As we
strive for better efficiency and conservation, greater control of
systems in real-time is emerging as a highly skilled specialty.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy
& Environmental Design has become a major part of building design
and construction in recent decades and efficiently maintaining
structures after construction can make a dramatic impact on
continuing operational costs. A large part of that efficiency comes
though precise system control and balancing. Though much of that work
involves the HVAC and electrical trades, environmental concerns and
energy efficiency is also an emerging part of the plumbing industry.
With the growth of building automation
technology and energy efficient design comes the need for many skills
not traditionally associated with the building trades. One of the
emerging skills needed by both new and seasoned workers in the
industry is basic skills and familiarity with technology. Often the
older, most experienced craftsmen are the least comfortable with
emerging technology – from basic use of computers to CAD (computer
aided design) and BIM (building information modeling) practices.
Our industry is changing. In this new
millennium plumbers will continue to learn the skills and knowledge
dating back to the Roman Empire, and add to that emerging skills and
knowledge which will take us into the decades ahead.
