Learning a Living
Diamonds in the rough. Individuals who are bright with potential, but have yet to be polished into highly valuable gems. Many construction firms hold onto these precious resources—their own employees—without using them to their fullest potential, without recognizing that the key to their business survival and growth may lie right in their own hands.
According to a recent article, "Develop Them and They Will Stay," printed in FMI Quarterly, spending time and money on career advancement and training for employees—particularly those in the field—is a crucial investment.
"In order to manage and lead construction firms in this generation, the greatest source of skilled labor will come from within," says Gregg Schoppman, a senior consultant with FMI’s Tampa office. "It will be requisite for firms to cultivate their own leaders and technicians in order to meet the industry demands of the future."
Training at lower levels within a firm provides employees with incentive and growth opportunities while providing managers with opportunities to screen the next generation of foremen and superintendents, he says.
In 1992, John Gaylor, president and CEO of Gaylor, Inc., Carmel, Ind., had the foresight to put this idea into practice. He initiated a training program named Gaylor University, recognizing the only way he would thrive in a competitive construction market would be to develop his own people from the ground up.
Gaylor knew he couldn’t have advanced his own career from an electrician’s helper to a project manager to a company president without the continuing education and training provided by his previous employers. He decided education would be at the cornerstone of creating a super-company that’s ready to expand into new construction markets.
Today, every Gaylor employee, ranging in age from 18 to 68, participates in continuing education. Taught by in-house supervisors and professors from Purdue University and Ball State University, the program combines formal classroom instruction with supervised onsite practice.
"Gaylor University began by taking the best instructors from within our organization," says Michael Fort, chief values officer at the company. "Then we sought out the best individuals to teach more advanced courses as the program grew."
As a result, the company grew, too—from a firm with $1,000 to its name in 1984 to a $200 million enterprise today.
"It used to be said that you earn a living in construction. Now we like to say that 21st century workers will need to 'learn' a living," Fort says. "We really aim to make education the core of our business growth strategy."
Gary Shekter, president and CEO of San Diego-based Helix Electric, also sought a way to cultivate the best performers from within his organization and compete in a busy West Coast marketplace. After meeting with John Gaylor, he sent his vice president of human resources to Indiana to gather boxes of background information on the up-and-coming education program.
Helix now offers a similar program, Helix University, with an average of two courses held each month.
"We took the basic concepts we credit to Gaylor, and customized the training to reflect our own company’s values," says Greg Neville, Helix’s recruitment director.
Courses and Curriculum
Both Gaylor and Helix universities boast a high success rate. Employees are not required to attend, but they are clamoring to get into courses.
"Even if there is a wait list for a course, we’ll do whatever we can to make sure they can get their education. If we fill up a class, we’ll try to offer another one the next day," says Chuck Goodrich, Gaylor vice president and Indianapolis branch manager.
Courses range from specific craft skills training to general management and corporate training. For example, Gaylor’s August course list included: energized parts, aerial lift training, jobsite management, generator training, OSHA 10-Hour training, fall protection, CAD Weld, confined spaces training and CPR. In addition, employees can attend a Dale Carnegie course to improve public speaking, salesmanship and interpersonal skills.
An employee or a supervisor will translate materials and lectures into Spanish, depending on student demographics in a particular course.
With a geographic spread across 10 locations, Gaylor works with individual directors of education to evaluate the needs of employees at branch offices.
Students do not fall into a particular age group or experience category. "Rather, I think the shared quality of our students is their desire to learn and improve," Fort says. "We teach a great variety of people from all different backgrounds, which adds to the learning experience. When you put all these unique individuals together, it makes a wonderful recipe for education."
The concept is the same at Helix. Students begin with theory, whether it’s code or installation techniques, and then Helix sets up a model for students to complete hands-on training.
"The nature of the curriculum is that it’s for everybody," Neville says. "We offer something for entry-level employees in the field, as well as advanced techniques for our seasoned employees. There is continuing education going on at all levels."
Classes usually occur on Saturdays or after hours on weekdays.
Gaylor and Helix record the progress in employees’ resources files. Some courses, such as safety and CPR training, conclude with employees receiving a certificate or license and attending a graduation ceremony.
"This is a way to see who’s staying current and showing initiative that they want to advance up the career ladder," Neville says.
Helix superintendents, who are trained in adult learning theory and complete train-the-trainer courses, teach most of the curriculum. Most classes are voluntary, but safety courses are mandatory.
With more than 1,000 employees scattered across the country, Helix is looking to expand the program to incorporate new technologies and delivery methods, including online coursework, so employees can access the university from home.
Ripe for Promotion
Although many firms offer a handful of courses on an occasional basis, Gaylor and Helix pioneered the concept of creating an official career advancement pathway from education to promotion.
In a time when talent pools appear thinner than 25 years ago, what’s missing at many construction firms, in addition to willing participants, is a consistent methodology to identify those individuals with potential, FMI’s Schoppman says.
In other words, most firms have a loose system or a hit-or-miss approach to career advancement in which field workers occasionally display enough motivation to apply for open positions or become recognized by their supervisors. But, this traditional system of promotion may fail to find hidden talent among craft professionals. For example, craft professionals may be so focused on daily tasks that they don’t consider advancing their skill set or building their business acumen.
A proven method, as evidenced by the success of Helix’s and Gaylor’s training programs, is maintaining an established protocol for acceleration within the company. This career staircase requires satisfactory completion of critical skill sets that complement a current position.
"A person’s foibles and inadequacies can be identified, and appropriate training can take place to educate and reinforce," Schoppman says. "The key to a successful program will be to send the message that the firm is not only serious about the program, but is committed to the development of every employee."
Gaylor takes this concept seriously. "One of the main ingredients of our university is that if we have an employee who wants to improve, we’ll provide that opportunity for them," Goodrich says.
A Competitive Advantage
In addition, training universities reward individuals who excel in their trade, not just those with potential to move up to management-level positions.
"Retaining these tradesmen promulgates the message that the firm is an employer of choice for those who are great at their trade, making the firm desirable to other tradesmen with equal ability," Schoppman says. "The aim is to build people, including those at the crew level, in order to have the greatest technicians and leaders in all positions."
A firm with a training university gives itself a constant supply of highly skilled workers.
"Helix University gives us a competitive advantage because applicants know they can attend classes that enhance their skill sets and physically prove they are learning and advancing," Neville says. "It gives them a set of steps to take as they move along in their career paths. And management has a solid foundation showing what they’ve done to advance."
Training promotes employee loyalty and tenure because a clear career path exists for journeymen to become future estimators, superintendents and project managers, he explains. Several Helix craftworkers have completed years of coursework and moved up the ranks to senior-level management.
"Because the recruitment market is so tight, we need to take another look at applicants we wouldn’t have needed 10 years ago," Neville says. "We can take the average-level journeyman and advance his technical expertise. It’s a proven method for finding diamonds in the rough and polishing them."
Helix employees who show the most promise are invited to participate in supervisory training—a set of specialty courses that requires a recommendation from a supervisor and a preliminary interview with the vice president of human resources.
"I work with supervisors to help them understand who they should be looking for and how they can probe for details about a journeyman’s aspirations," Neville says.
Gaylor University also serves as a recruitment tool for young workers who recently completed high school or college, and the program continues to grow by word of mouth. Employees who’ve attended tell others the value of what they’ve learned.
"We try to make the classes inviting and profitable enough so they want to continue to participate," Fort says. "We’ve made it as innovative as possible in terms of recruiting, so they’ll come back again and again—and bring others with them."
To make it worth employees’ time, construction firms need to remember that adult education must be direct, practical and have a defined outcome.
"You have to provide education that is very applicable for them and has an instant take-home value," Fort says. "“It must impact their careers so that they can become better craftspeople."
This is certainly the case at both Gaylor and Helix. Company leaders say that if anything, employees are requesting more classes and more advancement opportunities.
"The really motivated employees want to take as many classes as possible to show they’re committed to advancing their careers," Neville says.
Education Culture
Formal education and training is the ultimate internal business development tool. At Gaylor, just about every employee who holds a management position has finished a series of courses through the university program.
"We want everyone who moves up in the company to participate in the education culture of the company," Fort says.
Education programs provide a win-win-win situation for employees, the company and their clients. First, employees have an opportunity to accelerate their careers and income levels. Second, the company retains a well-educated workforce to assume management positions as its leaders retire. And third, clients know their projects are being built by the best and the brightest.
"It’s to our advantage to develop the management workforce we know we’re going to need 10 years from now, rather than going out to find them in the market-place," Neville says.