U.S. Engineering does a lot of work on surveys, said Steve Hancock. The company wants to be sure that it is paying its employees as well or better than competitive firms in the marketplace.
“Where I think we are really missing the boat,” said Gary Nevius, “is we’re not looking at this issue from a high enough altitude.” Nevius meant looking beyond the immediate employee base and into the educational systems that will or will not produce next generation’s work force.
To this end, Sam Alpert recommended that his colleagues check out the iBuild event at Bartle Hall on April 17, an educational opportunity for middle and senior high students to be introduced to the careers in the construction industry. “This program is chipping away at the problem,” said Alpert, “but it does address making the younger kids aware of the build environment.”
Don Greenwell reviewed the sometimes useful but often inconsistent efforts made by trade groups and the educational establishment to make students aware of professional opportunities. “It’s up to us in the room to organize these programs and make them successful,” said Greenwell.
Reaching out to students, particularly to females and minorities, said Dawn Taylor, takes real commitment from volunteer mentors. “You have to be with them for 10 years to see any kind of real results,” said Taylor. “The challenge for us as an organization of volunteers is to carve out the time and the commitment.”
Although women are well represented on campus in architectural-degree programs, Laura Lesniewski observed, there is a significant gap in women who progress through their careers. “We are living in a complex environment,” said Lesniewski, “and I encourage everybody in this room to dig into that complexity and find women you could support and help them.”
Don Greenwell was involved in a high school group mentorship program in which initially all the students expressed interest in being architects,” but it diversified once they actually saw what the industry was actually about.”
The challenge, said Susan McGreevy, “is how do you get people to stop looking at it as a job and start looking it as a career or profession?”
At McCownGordon Construction, said Pat McCown, the work-force development conversation focuses on three things: how do we attract, how do we develop, and how do we retain employees? There are any number of things companies do to make the workplace more literally attractive, he said, but there is no overlooking the value of training.
“[Employees] walk into our doors expecting training of some sort and on an ongoing basis,” said Pat McCown. “If we don’t do that as an industry, whether it’s at the trades level, in the field or at the office level, I think we are going to see a flock of people leaving this industry.”