1004 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 | (703) 684-3450 | www.asaonline.com | communications@asa-hq.com TRAINING AND EDUCATION MONTHLY EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SUBCONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION AUGUST 2022
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EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS
AUGUST 2022 is the monthly educational journal of the Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (FASA) and part of FASA’s Contractors’ Knowledge Network. FASA was established in 1987 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity to support research, education Through its Contractors’ Knowledge Network, FASA is committed to forging and exploring the critical issues shaping subcontractors and specialty trade contractors in the construction industry. The journal is designed to equip construction subcontractors with the ideas, tools and The Contractor’s do not necessarily represent the opinions of FASA or the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (ASA). To educate and equip subcontractors and suppliers with the education and resources they need to thrive in the construction industry. Additionally, FASA raises awareness about issues critical to and about construction in the is a free monthly publication for ASA members and nonmembers. For questions about subscribing, please contact communications@asa-hq. com
Contributing authors are encouraged to submit a brief abstract of their article idea before providing a full-length feature article. Feature articles should be no longer than 1,500 words and comply with The Associated Press style guidelines. Article submissions become the property of ASA and FASA. The editor reserves the right
to edit all accepted editorial submissions for length, style, clarity, spelling and punctuation. Send abstracts and submissions for The Contractor’s Compass to communications@ASA-hq.com. ABOUT ASA ASA is a nonprofit trade association of union and non-union subcontractors and suppliers. Through a nationwide network of local and state ASA associations, members receive information and education on relevant business issues and work together to protect their rights as an integral part of the construction team. For more information about becoming an ASA member, contact ASA at 1004 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314-3588, (703) 684-3450, membership@ASA-hq.com, or visit the ASA Web site, www. ©angelamroe@gmail.comAngelaLAYOUTasaonline.com.MRoe2022Foundationofthe American Subcontractors Association, Inc. FEATURES Intentional Training—A Strategic Initiative .....................................................14 by Stephane McShane, Maxim Consulting Building Soft Skills Needed for Workforce Agility.................................... 16 by Dale Carnegie Staff How to Accelerate Inclusive Hiring for the Green Economy ............... 20 by Kate McElligott-Buchanan, Autodesk The Black Box and the Selfish Gene ................................................................ 22 The dichotomy of bonus programs and the unintended consequences by Gregg Schoppman, FMI Students Have Fun on Simulators to Get a Taste of Reality ................ 24 by Mary Klett, ASA Communications Team More People with Bachelor’s Degrees Go Back to School to Learn Skilled Trades ...................................................................... 27 by John Marcus, Hechinger Report ‘Nobody's Using It’: Importance of Training in AdoptingNew Construction Software ........................................................ 33 by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com DEPARTMENTS ASA PRESIDENT'S LETTER ................................................................................. 5 CONTRACTOR COMMUNITY ............................................................................. 6 ALWAYS SOMETHING AWESOME ASA Member Lives Up to Its Name....................................................................... 12 QUICK REFERENCE SESCO Webinars ..................................................................................................... 32 Coming Up .................................................................................................................. 35
InterestedADVERTISING.inadvertising? Contact Richard Bright at (703) 684-3450 or rbright@ASA-hq.com or advertising@ASA-hq.com
PRESIDENT'S LETTER Dear Readers — Wow! I’m excited about what a transforming future we have ahead of us, building clean technology manufacturing plants, renewable energy properties, grants for transportation infrastructure, and trade craft careers that will be developed and expanded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which Congress approved, and President Biden signed into law last week. Check out the summary Mike Oscar, our Director of Government Relations, put together, summarizing what this bill means. Granted, it’s going to take awhile for the gears to start churning, but if all the Teslas I’ve been seeing on the road these days are a sign of the times, life is definitely going to be changing, and we had best embrace it, if we want to thrive. When I was a kid and old enough to paint the fence around our house, my Dad tasked me with the paint and project completion. It was a large fence and I knew it was going to take several precious weeks of my summer vacation to do it. I was less than excited to take on the new work project. I had “important” friend activities all planned out. However, after the project was complete, I really took pride in the finished product and was satisfied with my hard work. So, over the next several years I was tasked to do it again, and I actually looked forward to doing it and making it the best-looking fence on the block. It was tough work, but I also learned to take pride in doing a job well and appreciating the finished product. Because of that I have enjoyed working hard and taking on many new things. It’s hard to adapt to new things, when the old ones work just fine. But then…we look back and wonder how we got along without them…yes, you, smartphones.Thankstoall the members and new members who have renewed, and are planning to renew…. We’re waiting for you, and hope you are finding your membership in ASA worthwhile. If not, let us know what you’re seeking, what you expect from us. Without you, we don’t matter. How can we help you succeed? This month’s issue is about education and training. New initiatives, different processes, and a better way of working. Ever heard of Be Pro Be Proud based in Arkansas…and now spreading around the country? Check them out. Welcome to our newest sponsor, BlackBoiler. With their AI contract technology, you can red-line contracts in minutes, saving you time and money, while also reducing legal risk. And yes, it’s hot. Temperatures are hanging in the high 90s these days (in Denver!), and heat advisories are almost everywhere. For those with children, we wish you a successful start to the school year. Remember to thank all the educators who keep teaching and nurturing our future generations.
ASARustySincerely,PlowmanPresident- 2022/23
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUGUS T 2022 5
• instituting a paperless application process while approving bond applications in less than two days;
• raising the streamlined Quick Bond Application from $250,000 to $400,000; and
• increasing the guarantee up to 90% for participating surety companies;
• increasing the contract size bond amount from $2 million to $6.5 million, and up to $10 million for federal contracts with the contracting officer’s certification;
On Wednesday, July 27, 2022, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing on the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program. ASA participated in the SBA’s 50th Anniversary of the program and during the hearing, Peter C.Gibbs, the former Director of the Office of Surety Guarantees of SBA, testified about the program’s recent enhancements that would help small and emerging contractors such as:
New ASA Sponsor BlackBoiler is turning contract review and negotiation on its head through award-winning AI-powered technology. Both independently and through partnerships, BlackBoiler is helping organizations automate the contract review and markup process, improving the speed of business while boosting the bottom line. The only patented AI contract automation and review software that instantaneously reviews and redlines contracts right in “Track Changes,” just like a human. House Small Business Committee Hearing on the SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program
AUGUST 2022 THE C ONTRACTOR’S COMPASS6
• reducing the fees charged to sureties and contractors which secure surety bonds through the program to create greater opportunities for small and emerging contractors to grow their businesses and stimulate greater corporate surety and surety bond producer participation in the PerProgram.Mr.Gibbs, “these changes are the direct result of an increase in surety company partnerships, which rose from 23 to 42 companies. For Fiscal Year 2021, the SBA guaranteed bid and final bonds totaled more than $6.8 billion in overall contract value. With the work of the SBA’s topperforming surety partners and bond agencies, over 1,600 small businesses were assisted, and over 34,000 jobs were supported according to the SBA.”
• granting the SBA Administrator with statutory discretion to determine the portion of liability assumed by the SBA and the surety;
CONTRACTOR COMMUNITY
• New production and investment tax credits related to clean electricity. The credits would be based on carbon emissions. Both would be available for facilities placed in service after 2024 and phase out beginning in 2032 or when U.S. emissions targets are achieved.
• Credits for biodiesel and renewable diesel and alternative fuels and alternative fuel mixtures through 2024.
• The legislation includes over $60 billion to on-shore clean energy manufacturing in the U.S. across the full supply chain of clean energy and transportation technologies.
• Deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings beginning after 2022. A building would have to reduce its annual energy and power costs by more than 25%, instead of 50%. An increased deduction would be available for qualified retrofits.
• Credit for qualified energy efficiency improvements for residential energy property through 2032. The credit would be increased to as much as $1,200 annually, from a $500 lifetime cap, for expenditures on windows, doors, heat pumps, and biomass stoves and boilers.
• A new credit for the domestic production of clean fuels that would be based on their carbon emissions. It would apply to fuels produced after 2024 and would phase out entirely after 2027.
• Up to $20 billion in loans to build new clean vehicle manufacturing facilities across the country
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 On Sunday, August 7, the Inflation Reduction Act passed the Senate and on Friday, August 12, it passed the House and was quickly signed by President Biden. The $3.5 trillion package includes a new minimum tax on large corporations, provisions to lower prescription drug prices and more than $300 billion to address climate change and promote clean energy. The legislation stipulates that the funding for the energy and climate programs must meet certain prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements. Also, it ensures timely permitting processes including environmental reviews on all federal construction projects and on Federal Energy Regulation (FERC)Commissionandinterstate electricity transmission line projects. The legislation includes the following: Renewable Energy Credits: The legislation has $60 billion of incentives to bring clean energy manufacturing into the U.S. These include production tax credits to accelerate U.S. manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and critical minerals processing. The legislation also includes investment tax credits to build clean technology manufacturing plants that make electric vehicles (EVs), turbines and other products. Additionally, there would be tax credits for consumers who add renewable energy items to their homes including efficient heat pumps, rooftop solar, electric HVAC and water heaters. The legislation includes $9 billion for home energy rebate programs for low-income consumers to make their homes more energy efficient and $1 billion in grants for affordable housing energy upgrades. The legislation adds new tax credits: • The investment tax credit for renewable energy property, which would be extended and modified for facilities that begin construction before January 1, 2025. The credit would be extended through 2024 to include investments in energy storage technologies, qualified biogas property, and microgrid controllers. The credit would be increased for projects in energy communities and for solar and wind facilities that serve lowincome communities.
• A new credit for qualifying zeroemission nuclear power produced by facilities placed in service before the measure’s enactment.
• Grants and tax credits to reduce emissions from industrial manufacturing processes, including almost $6 billion for a new Advanced Industrial Facilities Deployment Program to reduce emissions from chemical, steel and cement plants. Building Codes: The legislation would provide $330 million for fiscal year 2022 for grants to help states adopt residential and commercial
• A new credit for the production of clean hydrogen, based on lifecycle greenhouse gas emission rates, for properties that begin construction before 2023.
• $10 billion investment tax credit to build clean panels.vehicles,asmanufacturingtechnologyfacilitiessuchfacilitiesthatmakeelectricwindturbinesandsolar
Manufacturing:
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 7
• The measure would provide as much as $10 billion in additional allocations for a program to award certifications for qualified investments in energy manufacturing facilities.
• $500 million in the Defense Production Act for heat pumps and critical minerals processing
• $2 billion in grants to retool existing auto manufacturing facilities to manufacture clean vehicles
The legislation extends existing tax incentives:•Creditfor carbon capture facilities that begin construction before January 1, 2033.
• Tax credits for clean sources of electricity and energy storage and roughly $30 billion in targeted grant and loan programs for states and electric utilities to accelerate the transition to clean electricity.
Offshore Wind: The legislation would allow Energy Department (DOE) to grant leases, easements, and rightsof-way for offshore wind projects in parts of the Outer Continental Shelf off the coasts of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina withdrawn from leasing activities by two Trump administration memos.
Drought Mitigation: The legislation would provide $4 billion for fiscal 2022 and available through fiscal 2026 for grants, contracts, or financial assistance for projects to mitigate drought in the “Reclamation States,” which are primarily in the western US. Priority would be given to the Colorado River Basin and other basins experiencing comparable levels of long-term drought. The legislation would also provide in fiscal 2022:
• $2 billion for National Labs.
• $200 million for a financial assistance program for states to create a training program for contractors completing energy efficiency and electrification projects.
Affordable Housing Efficiency: The legislation would provide $1 billion to the Housing and Urban Development
• $550 million to the Bureau of Reclamation for domestic water supply projects.
Transportation Infrastructure: The legislation would provide $1.89 billion for fiscal year 2022 for the Federal Highway Administration to provide grants to states, local governments, territories, or transportation authorities to increase neighborhood access and transportation equity, or reduce the negative effects of infrastructure projects in disadvantaged or underserved communities.
AUGUST 2022
Fossil Fuels: The legislation could cost the oil industry $25 billion in new taxes as it would reinstate and increase a long-lapsed tax on crude and imported petroleum products to 16.4 cents per gallon.
EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction: The legislation would provide $12 billion for fiscal year 2022 for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide financial and technical assistance on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An additional $8 billion for fiscal 2022 would be provided for grants to offer assistance on GHG reduction projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Ports: The legislation would provide $2.25 billion for fiscal year 2022 for grants and rebates for port authorities, air pollution control agencies, private entities, and governments with jurisdiction over ports to install zeroemission port equipment or technology. Awards could also be used to develop climate action plans to reduce GHGs and other air pollutants. An additional $750 million would be provided for ports in areas that do not meet national ambient air quality standards.
Methane: The EPA would impose a charge on methane emissions for oil and gas facilities that report more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHGs per year if they exceed the amount of oil or gas they produce by a certain threshold. The charge would be $900 for each metric ton above the threshold in 2024, rising to $1,500 in 2026. Diesel: The legislation would provide $60 million for fiscal year 2022, for grants, rebates, and loans identifying and reducing diesel emissions resulting from the transportation of goods and to address health effects on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
• $700 million for EPA to provide grants, rebates, contracts, and loans for reducing emissions at marginal conventional wells.
• $850 million for the EPA to provide grants, rebates, contracts, and loans for incentive programs to reduce methane emissions and waste reduction from petroleum and natural gas systems.
• $250 million for EPA to provide grants supporting development of environmental impact documentation for construction materials and products that reduce emissions associated at all stages of the material’s production.
• $700 million for programs to increase availability of high-assay low-enriched uranium.
• $760 million for grants to state, local, or tribal governments to facilitate interstate electricity transmission lines.
Electric Car Credits: The legislation includes $4,000 tax credits to purchase used electric vehicles, and up to $7,500 tax credit for new vehicles.
THE C ONTRACTOR’S COMPASS8 building energy codes that meet or exceed the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019, or some combination of those codes. Funds could also be used to implement building codes achieving equal or greater energy savings. It would provide a further $670 million for states and local governments to adopt building codes to meet or exceed the zero-energy provisions in the 2021 IECC and to implement a plan to achieve compliance with newly adopted building energy codes.
• $1.2 billion for national parks and public lands, including for hiring employees and for deferred maintenance projects.
Construction Materials: The legislation would provide $2 billion for fiscal year 2022 for the Federal Highway Administration to reimburse or provide incentives to states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and public authorities to use materials produced with lower-carbon emissions. The incentive could cover as much as 2% of the incremental cost of using the materials. Funds could not be used for projects adding travel lanes for single occupancy passenger vehicles. The legislation would authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance for low-carbon building materials and encourage low-carbon and net-zero energy projects.
• Insulin Provisions:
• Private Insurers: The legislation would require private group or individual health plans including catastrophic coverage plans to cover at least one of each type of insulin, cap cost-sharing at $35 a month, and not apply deductibles starting in 2023.
Financial statement income would be:
• Vaccine Coverage: The legislation would require coverage of vaccines with no cost-sharing or deductible under Medicare Part D beginning Jan. 1, 2023. It also would retroactively reimburse Medicare Advantage plans the lost costsharing for 2023.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 9 Department. Of those funds, $837.5 million would be for grants or loans to the owners and sponsors of affordable housing to implement or promote:
• Reduced by depreciation deductions; deductions for the exhaustion or wear and tear of a physical property used for trade, business, or held for the production of income.
• Zero-emission electricity generation or low-emission building materials or processes;
• Made by a regulated investment company or a real estate investment trust.
• Indoor air quality or sustainability;
• Contributed to an employersponsored retirement plan, stock ownership plan, or similar plan.
• $3.18 billion for taxpayer services, including pre-filing assistance and education, filing and account services, and taxpayer advocacy Amountsservices.would remain available through fiscal year 2031. The measure would specify that the IRS funding boost is not intended to increase taxes on any taxpayer or small business with a taxable income below $400,000 or any taxpayer not in the top 1%. CBO estimates that the IRS will collect about $203 billion resulting from the 10-year, $80 billion allocation for IRS tax enforcement and compliance.
• Drug Pricing: The legislation would direct the Health and Human Services Department to establish a “Drug Price Negotiation Program” to negotiate a maximum price of high-cost prescription drugs beginning in 2026 for Medicare Part B, which covers medicines administered in a medical setting, and Part D, the program’s prescription drug benefit. The measure would require HHS to identify 100 drugs without competition that have been on the market for seven years and biologics that have been on the market for 11 years, and that have the highest spending under Medicare.
• Medicare: The legislation would exclude insulin products covered under Medicare Part D from applying to beneficiary deductibles under the program, beginning in 2023. The bill would also cap insulin copayments for Medicare beneficiaries to $35 a month for plan years 2023 through 2025 regardless of whether a beneficiary has reached the initial coverage limit or out-of-pocket threshold. Beneficiaries would also receive reimbursement for any excess cost-sharing or copayments made in the first three months of 2023.
Prescription Drugs:
• Energy or water efficiency;
• Adjusted to disregard any amount of depreciation expense on a taxpayer’s financial statement for a property.
• Energy storage; • Building electrification; and • Climate resilience. Corporate Minimum Tax: The legislation would impose a 15% minimum tax in tax years after 2022 on the income corporations report on their financial statements, or “book income,” with some adjustments. The minimum tax would apply to corporations with more than $1 billion in average annual income over a three-year period.
• Treated as a dividend.
• Reduced by amortization deductions, deductions for certain capital costs for non-physical assets over time, for wireless spectrum used in the business of a wireless telecommunications carrier and acquired after December 31, 2007, and before the measure’s enactment.
• Less than $1 million.
Stock Repurchases: The legislation would impose a 1% excise tax of the fair market value of any stock repurchase in a tax year by a publicly traded U.S. corporation, including any subsidiary that has 50% or more of its stock owned by a corporation. Firms purchase their own shares as an alternative way to distribute income to shareholders, with a lower tax rate compared to divided distributions. The tax would also apply to stock repurchases of certain foreign corporations by subsidiaries and “expatriated entities.” It would exempt stock repurchases that are:
IRS Funding: The legislation would appropriate the following amounts for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in fiscal year 2022:
• $25.3 billion for operations support, including rent payments, facilities services, other IRSwide administration activities, research and statistics of income, and information technology development.
• Part of a reorganization with no gain or loss recognized.
• $45.6 billion for tax enforcement activities, including legal and litigation support, criminal investigations, and digital asset monitoring and compliance activities.
• $4.75 billion for business systems modernization to provide a more personalized customer service.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the lead federal agency, in partnership with the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Veterans Affairs, working to make the promise of 988 a reality for America.
326316-D Developed in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In 2020, Congress designated the new 988 dialing code to operate through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Moving to a 3-digit dialing code is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen and expand the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (the Lifeline). Of course, 988 is more than just an easy-to-remember number—it is a direct connection to compassionate, accessible care and support for anyone experiencing mental health related distress – whether that is thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. Preparing for full 988 implementation requires a bold vision for a crisis care system that provides direct, life-saving services to all in need.
SAMHSA sees 988 as a first step towards a transformed crisis care system in much the same way as emergency medical services have expanded in the US. In pursuit of this bold yet achievable vision, SAMHSA is first focused on strengthening and expanding the existing Lifeline network, providing life-saving service to all who call, text or chat via 988. Longer term, SAMHSA recognizes that linking those in crisis to community-based providers—who can deliver a full range of crisis care services— is essential to meeting crisis needs across the nation.
The Lifeline is a national network of over 200 local, independent, and state-funded crisis centers equipped to help people in emotional distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis. Moving to 988 will not replace the Lifeline, rather it will be an easier way to access a strengthened and expanded network of crisis call centers. Beginning July 16, 2022, people can access the Lifeline via 988 or by the 10-digit number (which will not go away). When will 988 go live nationally?
What is the Lifeline and will 988 replace it?
Congress has provided the Department of Health and Human Services workforce funding through the American Rescue Plan, some of which will support the 988 workforce. At the state level, in addition to existing public/ private sector funding streams, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 allows states to enact new state telecommunication fees to help support 988 operations. Is 988 available for substance use crisis?
The Lifeline accepts calls from anyone who needs support for a suicidal, mental health and/or substance use crisis. Too many Americans are experiencing suicide and mental health crises without the support and care they need. In 2020 alone, the US had one death by suicide about every 11 minutes — and for people aged 10-34 years, suicide is a leading cause of death.
Frequently Asked Questions
Providing 24/7, free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress works! The Lifeline helps thousands of people overcome crisis situations every day.
Emailsamhsa.hhs.gov988Team@988questionsto:
The 988 dialing code will be available nationwide for call (multiple languages), text or chat (English only) on July 16, 2022. Until then, those experiencing a mental health or suicide-related crisis, or those helping a loved one through crisis, should continue to reach the Lifeline at its current number, 1-800-273-8255.
How is 988 different from 911?
Moving to an easy-to-remember, 3-digit dialing code will provide greater access to life-saving services.
988 was established to improve access to crisis services in a way that meets our country’s growing suicide and mental health related crisis care needs. 988 will provide easier access to the Lifeline network and related crisis resources, which are distinct from 911 (where the focus is on dispatching Emergency Medical Services, fire and police as needed). How is 988 being funded?
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ASA Member Lives Up to Its Name Mary Klett, ASA Communications Team completed surveys. The survey results were then tabulated to reveal this year’s top companies.The20+team members of You Name It Specialties enjoy happy hours and social outings, quarterly staff lunches (minus leadership!), catered food, and community service activities. What employees say: “The culture that is cultivated at You Name It Specialties is the healthiest and most encouraging I have been around in my professional life. They equip and motivate everyone to do their best. It really feels as though we are a team striving to meet our goals.”
What You Name It Specialties CEO Josh King says: “... Each member of our team contributes to our success and the workplace environment, so this is truly a team award. Thank you YNIS team for making our organization a place where I want to come to work every day! We have an amazing work family, and I am honored to consider each member of this team a true friend.” Their team enjoys volunteering at ASA-San Antonio’s annual BBQ Cook-off & Subfest
AUGUST 2022 THE
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There are thousands of promotional products companies – just in the U.S. alone. So how do you decide? Many times it's because of someone you know, some relationship, someone you trust. But in any case, in the end, you stick with a company because you trust they’ll provide you with the service and products you need. Like in any successful business.
The Contractor’s Compass is recognizing excellence in ASA’s ranks. Every month we are highlighting the activities, achievements, and actions of ASA members that might inspire others. Do you have something you want to share? Send us an email at asa-hq.comcommunications@
ONTRACTOR’S
Jan Meuth at ASA's BBQ Cook-off & Sub Fest
photo by Mary C. Haskin C COMPASS
A member of ASA for +15 years, You Name It Specialties, Inc. lives up to its name. They were one of only 47 promotional products companies voted as the “best companies to work for” by PPB Magazine in 2022. Many of their customers are contractors and subcontractors, and figured it was good business for them to become an ASA member. YNIS Principal, Jan Meuth, has been an active volunteer in the local ASA chapter and currently serves on the Board. PPM Magazine evaluates distributors, suppliers and business services firms of all stripes and sizes, from businesses with less than 10 employees to national and multinational operations with workforces numbering over 1,000. Companies included in the competition had to be nominated by an employee. Survey topics included benefits, resources, culture, leadership and company direction. Companies were also required to meet a percentage of
3. Have best practices surrounding this work been defined?
Defining Success—Starting with The End Game
To create educational programs that will have lasting impact, we must first ask some very specific questions to build the proper foundation necessary for success.
4. Who needs this training?
7. Who will lead this training and in what format? Why is this training necessary? This is the pivotal question that must be answered to determine whether traFigure 1ining is even required. The answer must be clear and extremely specific. If we ask this question, and the answer is, “We want the employees to make us more profit,” that is not an actionable needs statement. This is a question, based in fact, focusing on the problem of lack of knowledge or skill, or lack of defined standard practice, not on whether the people are doing their job “correctly.” Utilizing change order management as an example, an answer to this question might be, “Project managers are performing change order management differently, causing wide variations in both risk management and profitability.”
5. How is the training program created? 6. How will we know if this training is successful?
Who needs this training? Once we have defined workflow, it becomes very easy to understand who needs to be involved in the training.
AUGUST 2022 THE C ONTRACTOR’S COMPASS14
2. What are the goals of this training?
FEATURE Intentional Training—A Strategic Initiative by Stephane McShane, Maxim Consulting Training done with the desire to increase both skills and employee morale is certainly well intended. The effectiveness of programs vary widely based on whether a short term or long term approach is deployed. There is a choice whether to develop training in house as a corporate university, or to outsource the development, if needed. The most effective training creates synergy between process definition, technology deployment, and employee engagement. This is an enterprise level, structured approach to gain the traction necessary to evoke real change.
What are the goals of this training? The goals of any training are to create consistency and success in work practice. This discussion must also center around the topic of the benefit to the attendees themselves and to the organization if we learn and implement a new, consistent skill. With that in mind, what are the three to five highlighted practices that are desired for each attendee to leave with? These three to five items should lead us directly to the goals and be the foundational outline for your training. Again, utilizing change order management as an example, the goals might be to identify, prepare, price, process and negotiate change orders. Workflow surrounding each of these segments of the process could be easily determined, giving us a strong foundation for transparency and trainability. Have best practices surrounding this work been defined? This point alone seems to be a big challenge for many construction organizations. If workflow has not been defined and deployed correctly, then inconsistencies in performance are commonplace. It's not sufficient to have just the work steps defined, but who is performing each one of those steps. If we have already answered the question on whether training is needed and that answer is yes, likely there is a deficiency in workflow definition or implementation, or both. An example of a workflow document is shown in Figure 1. This example depicts each of the major work steps involved in a lump sum change order. As additional information is needed, we can insert video links, examples, or templates directly into the workflow in the bottom section called documents and templates. At this point, it would be imperative to evaluate whether technology has been implemented correctly for the given process. This is the time to make those critical definitions in properly utilizing technology. Avoiding the pitfalls of implementing a flawed process would be wise as trust and faith are costly to lose. If there are any timing requirements involved in this process, we can insert those requirements in the top swim lane entitled metrics. There are three middle swim lanes designating job titles. With this type of workflow documentation, it is very clear who is to perform each work step, with supplemental information as needed to make those work steps easy to understand. Truly, without workflow definition, many organizations are using hope as a strategy. That strategy is both inconsistent in results and contains large amounts of risk. It is impossible to train to a standard that does not exist.
1. Why is this training necessary?
Those people who have executable steps, or management oversight of the steps, should be involved in the training. How is the training program created? Training programs should always begin with a discussion about why the training is important, this was defined in question number one. Next, the discussion around the benefit to the individual attendee, as well as the benefit to the organization if we learn to do this process extremely well. That was defined in question number two. Only after thorough discussion of why it is important and what the benefits are for doing it well, should the how be discussed. The how of any given process is the workflow itself, broken down into the goals statements established previously. The workflow is designed to create consistency and transparency and performance so that any given important process in your construction organization is done in line with the expectations depicted. It is always the best practice to record a training session so that it can be viewed again via video and/or audio at a later date. This will ensure a higher learning retention rate since the resource does not simply disappear after the training has ended. How will we know if this training is successful? In the goal statement discussed above, the clarity of the desired result has been defined. Creating a benchmark of performance prior to the training as well as trending improvements after the training will allow clarity behind the success of the initiative itself. The desired output is to use data to measure the success, not gut feel or assumption. Best practice would be to share these improvements with the team that is working so hard to make the improvements happen. It is critical to take time to celebrate the win, so that the team can utilize the win as fuel for the next improvement initiative desired. Who will lead the training and in what format? Many times, training should be led by a peer or by someone who is one step above those who will be in the training. Avoid utilizing trainers who are not subject matter experts in the topic or are too far removed from the actual work the training is centering around. Proper trainers lend credibility, humor, and context to the messaging, making it more powerful and much better received. Small group training is almost always the desired format when group training is required. One-on-one training, or mentoring programs, are also highly effective ways of delivering content. The subject itself would lend itself to the correct path of delivery. Summary Creating synergy of people process and technology cannot be accomplished with a Band-Aid approach of generic training. It is a strategic initiative that allows the organization to define if the training is needed due to a definable gap in learning, skill, or intrinsic knowledge. If training is required, following the steps outlined above will allow the creation of defined process, role definition, and workflow. These tools, when implemented effectively via training and documentation, will allow much greater consistency in performance and predictability of output. About the author Stephane McShane, Director at Maxim Consulting Group, is responsible for the evaluation processesimplementationandwithour clients. Stephane works with construction related firms of all sizes to evaluate business practices and assist with management challenges. Her areas of expertise include: Leadership development, organizational assessments, strategic planning, project execution, business development, productivity improvement, and training programs. Mrs. McShane is an internationally recognized speaker, mentor, author, and teacher.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUGUS T 2022 15
As technology transforms the workplace, soft skills will be critical for organizational agility. An agile workforce, where learning is an ongoing part of work, will have the adaptability and confidence to step up to new roles and tasks that require high levels of social or creative intelligence. Along with trust in leadership and a good grasp of how the technology works, soft skills training is key to developing change agents and advocates who are extremely positive about the potential new technologies bring. As the world of work continues to evolve at a rapid clip, technology’s growing influence across all aspects of business is adding a whole new variable to the mix. While digital transformation has been on the agenda for most industries in recent years, the coronavirus pandemic and resulting social distancing requirements have suddenly accelerated that process for everyone. Remote work is the new normal for a huge number of organizations today and, potentially, for the foreseeable future. At the same time, more businesses are looking at how they can use technology to automate previously labor-intensive processes and tasks — a shift that will likely endure beyond the current realities. What does it take to compete effectively and get the advantages of new technologies in this ever-changing environment? Technical expertise and good decisions about where and how much to invest in the technology are vital. But there’s one other factor that’s becoming increasingly important for success in the era of digital transformation: organizational agility. Technology’s impact on the workplace reaches far beyond the technical. In fact, experts agree that achieving the full potential of digital transformation depends on a successful partnership between humans and machines. That means people’s attitudes and expectations about new technologies, like artificial intelligence and automation, and their ability to be agile — to quickly adapt in the midst of ongoing change and disruption — will be pivotal. At Dale Carnegie, we aren’t experts in AI and other new technologies, but we are experts in change management and developing the skills leaders and others will need to thrive in a workplace that is transforming. To help organizations prepare for this new era in business, we conducted a global survey in 2019 to explore people’s expectations for AI, in particular, and their own organization’s agility. We heard from more than 3,500 employees across roles, industries and company size, and the vast majority (82% worldwide) agree: AI will fundamentally change the way we work and live in the next 10 years.
AI, automation and many other
AUGUST 2022 THE C ONTRACTOR’S COMPASS16
FEATURE Building Soft Skills Needed for Workforce Agility by Dale Carnegie Staff
Anticipating New Roles and Skill Shifts
• have received training in the past three years on one or more of the above soft skills. These respondents were three times more likely than all others to be extremely positive about the potential for new technologies. They’re not only primed and ready for it, they’re your advocates, the ones who will help make the early wins happen and bring others on board to accelerate the change.
The soft skills that are so critical to success in an environment of digital transformation also support two essential building blocks of organizational agility: social intelligence and resilience. As the pace of change continues to pick up, so will the need for trust, collaboration and risktaking. Agile workplaces thrive on great teamwork, quick decision-making and a positive attitude that keeps you moving forward, even when the environment keeps shifting underfoot or things don’t go as planned. By definition, agility requires a nimbleness and flexibility that can only be sustained through continual learning, coaching and development.
• From mono-skilled jobs to multiskilled jobs For example, PlainsCapital Bank, one of the largest independent banks in Texas, needed fewer human tellers as digital banking increased, so they combined the roles of teller, adviser and customer service agent into a “universal banker” role. This job requires less counting and processing and stronger interpersonal skills, problem-solving abilities and creativity, in addition to excellent knowledge of the full range of products to deliver the desired experience to their customers. If technology is used in accounts payable/collections to help predict which invoices are likely to have issues (late payment, nonpayment), you can shift the role of the humans by building their communications and critical thinking skills and allowing them to spend more time with these clients to try to prevent negative outcomes. Of course, these skill shifts will require trust in leadership to make the right decisions about implementing technology and a workforce that’s both open to change and confident in its ability to adapt Critical the Soft Skills Needed Now
• trust their leaders,
To understand what specific skills your workforce will need, experts at Accenture suggest focusing on three areas of transition:•Fromtraditional job descriptions to project-based work
Based on McKinsey estimates, 75 million to 375 million people may need to switch occupational categories and learn new skills as a result of advances in AI and automation. But contrary to what you might think, the growing skill requirements aren’t strictly in the STEM fields.When we surveyed people about the type of skills they believe are most likely to be needed in the future to avoid job loss to AI, a resounding 73% told us the soft skills — communications skills, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, emotional intelligence, leadership — will be the must-haves. The reason is simple. While advances are made every day, current thinking is that machines still aren’t particularly good at replacing humans in areas that require high levels of social or creative intelligence. These are the areas where humans retain an advantage. An agile workforce, where learning is an ongoing part of work, will have the adaptability and confidence to step up to these “adjacent tasks” when other activities are automated or taken over by AI.
About the Editor: Robert Graves, MBA, is a Dale Carnegie Certified Trainer for Dale Carnegie Tampa Bay. His focus is Relationship Selling. He is the author of “Making More Money with Technology.”
About Dale Carnegie: Dale Carnegie is a global training and development organization specializing in leadership, communication, human relations, and sales training solutions.
More than 9 million people around the world have graduated from Dale Carnegie training since it was founded in 1912. Dale Carnegie Training can help an organization build effective interpersonal skills that generate the positive emotions essential to a productive work environment and that lead to increased employee engagement.
The Must-Have Soft Skills for the Future Workforce
• From operational work to insightdriven work
• have a good grasp of how the technology works and
The soft skill areas were defined as Management and Leadership, Communications and Presentations, along with Sales and Customer Service. Training employees in these areas will result in an agile workshop.
The good news is, people are hungering for that opportunity to grow. Nearly 7 in 10 respondents in our study said that getting additional training would be very or extremely important to avoid losing their job given technological advancements in the workplace. And 64% are looking for on-the-job or other training to be offered by their employer.
Agile organizations need everyone to serve as change agents, not reluctant implementers or outright resisters who need to be dragged along. Fortunately, there’s a clear formula for developing more of these change agents in your organization. Many respondents in our study said they:
He often speaks on the evolution of Marketing, Sales, and Service. Robert can be reached at dalecarnegie.comrobert.graves@ or call/text 813-966-3058.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 17 technologies are already part of the equation in many organizations, and they’re only going to become more pervasive as time goes on. Every organization needs to be looking at what skills their people will require to adapt and succeed in this new world.
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FEATURE How to Accelerate Inclusive Hiring for the Green Economy
by Kate McElligott-Buchanan, Autodesk As the global economy transitions from traditional fossil fuel-based industries to renewables, the labor market is also shifting, and hiring for fast-growing “green” jobs is exploding. The International Labor Organization estimates 24 million jobs could be created by the green economy by 2030. Green jobs span a wide range of industries, from obvious ones like renewables to more unexpected ones like finance and transportation. But at this pivotal moment, how do we ensure that no one is left behind? Autodesk’s work is rooted in the future of our industries. Construction and manufacturing, two key industries we serve, face challenges in reducing their carbon footprint while meeting the increasing demand for qualified workers in a dynamic labor market. In the U.S alone, 2.1 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2030. For the construction industry, that number increases to 200 million globally by 2030. That’s without taking into consideration the new demand for workers in a range of manufacturing and construction roles involving renewables and energy-efficient technologies. These additional investments could create up to 10 million more jobs globally. Today, the construction sector represents 39% of energy-and process related emissions. Moreover, 28% of emissions come from operational energy consumption and 11% from the production of building materials such as cement, metal, and glass. This is a real challenge when you consider that to keep pace with the growing urbanization of the global population over the next 30 years, the construction industry will need to build an average of 13,000 buildings every day to keep up with demand.
Meanwhile, manufacturing processes use roughly one -third of the world’s energy. By reducing waste and water usage, adjusting energy loads, and tapping into renewable resources, the factories of the future have the potential to drive measurable sustainability outcomes as well as reduced costs. But that’s only if industry professionals are equipped to adopt new approaches and ways of working. To help our customers and communities identify opportunities to accelerate more equitable pathways into these emerging green jobs, the Autodesk Foundation teamed up with organizations including LinkedIn and
These are useful lessons as Autodesk looks to further invest in helping our customers, communities, and employees thrive in the era of automation. They can inform how we create an equitable future where technology creates a smarter, not a smaller workforce. Yet the findings also show there’s much work to be done to achieve a more inclusive talent pipeline in the green economy.Wecan’t achieve a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world alone. But we’re excited to do our part to ensure Autodesk people and technology are part of the solution. We welcome you to join us in investing in new approaches to inclusive hiring for a low-carbon economy. About the Author Kate Autodesk’sleads Future of Work practice focused on lifelong learning for the most in-demand skills of the future –enabling the workforce of today and tomorrow to adapt and thrive. Her role is strategic, impactful, and cross-functional. She’s responsible for creating and implementing a global corporate strategy, managing executivelevel initiatives, and driving multistakeholder integration for optimal value creation. This article was originally published on July 21, 2022, on Autodesk’s blog
Seeded by Autodesk Foundation’s investment, the NationSwell collaboration aimed to rethink existing hiring approaches and drive more inclusive practices in industries creating thousands of middle-skill green jobs. The work investigated key roles and workforce development practices in industries that sit at the crux of innovation and the creation of middleskill green jobs: manufacturing, clean energy (solar power and electric vehicles, in particular), and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance.
Workday for a cross-industry coalition, the Just Transition Collaborative. Facilitated by NationSwell, a social impact company helping changemakers tackle our world’s most urgent challenges, the Just Transition Collaborative focused on communities and regions most impacted by the shift from traditional fossil fuel to sustainable industries. The effort is guided by the concept of just transition: the notion that no one is left behind in the transition to a greenTogether,economy.we’re motivated by the shared belief that this economic shift represents a chance to help close the opportunity gap in the US. According to NationSwell’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Behrman, “There are many unemployed or underemployed people who are eager for work, but repeatedly turned away from jobs because something’s missing — the right fouryear degree, the right experience, or a perfect resume without any gaps. Every step we take to close the opportunity gap benefits our communities.”
Further, by speaking directly with an ecosystem of stakeholders in Indigenous, Appalachian, and Midwestern communities that have the most to gain from support for more equitable career pathways, we were able to better understand the needs of jobseekers impacted by the economic transition and identify ways in which funders in this space can help accelerate change.
The research provided a few key insights that can not only impact Autodesk Foundation’s investment strategy, but we hope will inspire change in the communities we serve. Takeaways include:1.Pathways into middle-skilled “green” roles are opaque and often include many barriers to entry, including the need for academic qualifications or expensive credentials. 2. Employers for the middle-skill roles seek and value on-the-job experience, and in practice, they often will not hire entry-level talent without at least five years of experience.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 21
3. One of the key barriers to underserved talent growing in these careers is the lack of ongoing support that acknowledges life circumstances. What struck me most about these findings, are the straightforward ways corporations can change their behavior to support more inclusive hiring practices and green job growth. Reducing barriers to entry, investing in early career talent, and providing wellbeing services for employees, all play a role in bridging the gap for diverse workers. And while this supports green workers, it’s good practice for all workers.
The Selfish Game
The dichotomy of bonus programs and the unintended consequences by Gregg Schoppman, FMI Compensation can be an icky subject. While icky might be the least technical adjective, many business leaders feel their skin crawl as base compensation and bonuses enter the conversation. Employers feel that this is one of the main impediments on why they cannot attract top talent while employees just want what they feel is fair in the market. What could possibly go wrong? For many years, FMI has studied the myriad of compensation programs that exist and if there is one inalienable truth, there is no perfect program. Designing a compensation program requires care and an affinity to marry the right drivers with the right outcomes. However, leaders have to identify the rocks in the road that are directly relatable to their currentTheresystem.isplenty of data and resources in the market that allow business leaders the ability to determine effective wages and salaries for most positions. While there is always some subjectivity when it relates to job titles and descriptions, this is less about the base compensation and largely about the 500 pound gorilla in the room –bonus programs. For a large percentage of organizations, there are two basic bonus philosophies – The Black Box and the Selfish Gene. Of course, these programs have a level of cynicism,
Reward Systems
AUGUST 2022 TH E CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS22 FEATURE
The Black Box and the Selfish Gene
The Black Box Bonuses awarded on how well the firm does Limited optics on how an amount is calculated Bonuses awarded on how well an Formulaticprojectindividual'sdoesandindividualistic
Fat estimate, heavy contingencies and seemingly pristine conditions to build. Through no achievement of their own, they are rewarded disproportionately. Fool me once, shame on the firm. Some managers and supers work to “solve for this” on their own. Frugality gives way to the “selfish gene”, creating situations of hoarding and non-firm first behaviors. Rather than sharing and supporting a colleague, a manager or superintendent might take a more aggressive stance when it comes to sharing equipment, tools, people, information, etc. The good news is a project may win but a firm may lose in numerous other areas, including but not limited to the potential toxic culture. Rather than having a united and collegial firm, there is the possibility of having a group of rogue individuals solely motivated by their own W-2. Goldilocks So, the black box created free riders and the selfish gene mutated our organizations into a bunch of self-centered jerks. While it seems all systems have flaws there is a happy medium that can drive a winwin solution. Performance based compensation systems do not need to solely measure how a manager/ superintendent’s projects perform, but rather how they perform their roles. Consider that example of a great project team assigned to a poor project. Assuming the firm does achieve some modicum of success in the firm of profitability and assuming the project team does their best job in managing that challenging project, they should be rewarded accordingly. For instance, did the manager exhibit the following traits when evaluating their performance:
• Safety – Was safety managed effectively with no issues?
.
• Is the firm truly sharing the fruits of a successful year and the perception of a “gift” correct?
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 23 but they do begin to describe the challenges that a firm faces when fairly compensating business units, project teams, and associates.
There are several unintended consequences that occur. First, if a firm is bonusing everyone equally, using the base salary as the foundation for any calculation, how does it reward high performers effectively? In many cases, there exists a high level of “bonus socialism” that occurs in this system, in that everyone receives the same percentage, or worse, there is a perception that everyone receives the same percentage because of the “black box phenomenon.” Ultimately, the firm has the potential of creating a “free rider effect.” Top performers are demotivated by everyone receiving the perceived same amount, and lower performers dig into their behaviors because they receive something regardless. The Selfish Gene There is a great migration that often occurs when firms try to swing the pendulum after receiving critical feedback on a negative “black box experience.” Rather than pay everyone similarly, firms compensate project teams based on the performance of their individual completed projects. Paying for performance seems like a logical transition. Perform well and you get compensated well. However, this also assumes two very big considerations:•Howthework is doled out
The concept is simple. If the firm does well, the team does well. Win together, lose together. The calculation is often straightforward, requiring little more than the firm’s roster, base salaries and a spreadsheet. The challenge manifests itself when a firm tries to use the bonuses to drive individual behaviors. With limited optics on how the calculation is made and the timing on which the bonus is made (i.e., normally coinciding with the holiday season), associates of the firm tend to view this less as a performance incentive and more like a gift. As a result, employers often characterize the attitudes of their associates as entitled and ungrateful. The questions to ponder are this:
• Is the firm trying to modify behaviors and engage the team better by using the bonus as an incentive?
• Alignment of customers/markets with individuals within the firm Like most organizations, leaders put their best people on the most complicated projects. In some cases, these projects may have inherent flaws such as estimating errors. Through no fault of the manager and superintendent, they are responsible for completing a project that was “at risk” from its very inception. At the end of said project, what if the margin is zero? Conversely, what about that project that was assigned to an associate that had all the makings of a “perfect project.”
• Operations – Did they follow the firm’s process procedures, resulting in higher performance?
• Client Management – Was the customer pleased with the project?
• Good of the Order – Is this person someone that puts the firm ahead of personal Regardlessinterests?ofthecalculation or percentage, the firm sends a clear message about what is expected from every individual from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Additionally, super stars can be compensated proportionally and also see the specific triggers that enabled them to see success. There is no way to remove the complete ickiness from any compensation conversation but aligning a firm’s strategy, its operational capabilities and a measurable reward system is essential to long-term success. About the author FMI is the largest provider of management consulting, investment banking, and research to the engineering and construction industry. FMI works in all segments of the industry providing clients with value-added business solutions. For more information visit www.fminet.com or contact gschoppman@fminet.com
The Black Box
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FEATURE Students Have Fun on Simulators to Get a Taste of Reality by Mary Klett, ASA Communications Team
Remember the first time you used an electric drill? Went up on a scaffold? What was it that convinced you that you wanted to be a technical professional? Wouldn’t it be a boon to be able to see and feel what it’s like to drive a truck, weld metal, or other skills, before deciding on a profession? Be Pro Be Proud is a workforce development initiative introducing America's students to technical careers through virtual reality experiences. Be Pro Be Proud works to connect interested students to resources, training and employment opportunities in the construction, manufacturing, transportation and utilities sectors. With operations in Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina and impending launches in North Carolina, and Tennessee in Fall 2022, more than 178,000 students have said “YES!” to check out careers in skilled trades, and 67,000 students registered for more information about beginning their own technical career through training and jobs. Discussions are underway to start Be Pro Be Proud programs in several other states, with the hope of a total of 8-10 states by the end of While2023.starting in 2016, Be Pro Be Proud was incorporated in 2022 to guide and support customized state programs with best practices, digital resources, fundraising strategies, and more. The inaugural Be Pro Be Proud National Conference was held in Bentonville, Arkansas during June of 2022, and hosted leaders in industry, education and government. The conference focused on how to launch a Be Pro Be Proud state program, as well as support for operational state programs.
Typically approached by Chambers of Commerce, business development, state departments of labor, the Be Pro Be Proud program works with each state to customize the mobile workshop (or more than one workshop in several cases) depending on what skills are needed in eachForstate.example, in Arkansas, the two workshops are on the road about 200 days out of the year, traveling to 264 school districts attempting to reach as many students as possible each semester. The demand in Arkansas required the construction of a second Mobile Workshop to adequately serve the state and cut down on wait-times schools experienced. Operational efforts in Georgia and South Carolina are experiencing similar levels of interest." The career attracting the most student interest in Arkansas is welding, while in South Carolina, welders and electricians are becoming sought-after professions. If you have questions about this program, please visit https://www. beprobeproud.org/, or contact Austin Slater at austin.slater@beprobeproud. org.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 25
by John Marcus, Hechinger Report
First-year nurses with associate degrees can make $80,200 a year and up and first-year electrical and power transmission installers, who also need associate degrees, $80,400 — more than some graduates of Harvard with not just bachelor’s, but master’s degrees.
THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 27
“I spent a lot of money to end up doing … this,” said Kelly, who is now 28, as his colleagues stowed the equipment before they filed back into a classroom.
Chris Drumm practices putting on a hazmat suit in the fire science program of Southern Maine Community College. Drumm previously earned a bachelor’s degree and now is training to be a firefighter. “I wish I knew about this program when I was coming out of high school,” he says.
FEATURE More People with Bachelor’s Degrees Go Back to School to Learn Skilled Trades
SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Putting on hazmat gear for the first time turns out to be a long-drawn-out process, so the trainees who are practicing this new skill make the time go faster with a little clowning around. “Smile! Work it! Work it!” one shouts at a classmate as she jokingly strikes glamor poses for photos in a heavy vapor suit with rubber boots, two layers of gloves, a respirator and a 26-pound breathing tank. Another compares the get-up to the uniforms worn by the child-detection agents in the movie “Monsters, Inc.”
Trend highlights how some students who get four-year educations don’t use them.
One in 12 students now at community colleges — or more than 940,000 — previously earned a bachelor’s degree, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. And even as college and university enrollment overall declines, some career and technical education programs are reporting growth, and anticipating more of it.
Credit: Molly Haley for The Hechinger Report
“I thought I was the only one following this road, but apparently a lot of people are,” said Noor Al-Hamdani, 26, who is getting an associate degree in nursing at Fresno City College, a community college, after having already earned a bachelor’s degree in public health from California State University, Fresno.
Spread out in a parking lot beside a fire station, these congenial twentyand thirtysomethings are enrolled in a community college program to become firefighters.Fourofthe five in this group have something else in common: They previously earned bachelor’s degrees, even though they’ve now returned to school to prepare for a job that doesn’t require one. “I was part of that generation that was told to go to college, so that’s what I did,” one, Michael Kelly, said with a shrug. “That’s what we were supposed to do.” But after getting a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New England — for which he’s still paying off his student loans — Kelly realized that what he actually wanted to do was become a firefighter; after all, he said, unlike a politician, no one is ever angry to see a firefighter show up.
A lot of other people also have invested time and money getting four-year degrees only to return for career and technical education in fields ranging from firefighting to automation to nursing, in which jobs are relatively plentiful and salaries and benefits comparatively good, but which require faster and far less costly certificates and associate degrees.
Duhaime chose Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, which is within 30 miles of at least seven ski resorts, largely because “I knew I wanted to get better at snowboarding,” he said. What he didn’t know was what to do with the bachelor’s degree in marketing he ended up with. So Duhaime worked at restaurants until, now 27, he has also found himself in the firefighter training program.“Coming out of high school there’s social pressure on you: ‘Where are you going to college?’ Then there’s social pressure on your parents: ‘Where is your son going to college?’ ” he said. “But the hardest thing is making such a finite decision about what you want to do at 18 yearsNicoleold.”Buff got a bachelor’s degree in criminology and psychology at Indiana State University just as the last recession started. With jobs scarce, she ended up working in a manufacturing plant that makes brake components for cars and then as a quality technician. Now she’s pursuing a credential in advanced Shana Tinkle has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and now is training to become a wildlands firefighter. When she was finishing high school, it was more or less “a rite of passage” to go to college, Tinkle says. Credit: Molly Haley for The Hechinger Report
Chris Drumm went to the University of Massachusetts Amherst and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” he said. But “my parents were very insistent on, ‘No matter what you do, you’ve got to get an education.’”
When they do start on the route to bachelor’s degrees, a third of students change their majors at least once and more than half take longer than four years to graduate, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Some of the rest drop out. Even among those who manage to finish, more than 40 percent of recent graduates aged 22 to 27 are underemployed, meaning that they’re working in jobs that don’t require their degree, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports. That makes four-year universities and colleges “a really expensive career exploration program,” quipped Amy Loyd, vice president at the education and employment policy organization Jobs for theWhenFuture.Shana Tinkle was finishing high school, it was more or less “a rite of passage” to go on and get a bachelor’s degree, she said — in her case, in creative writing from Brown University. “ ‘You’re supposed to do this. You’ll get a job later,’ ” Tinkle, now 32, remembered being told. “It wasn’t a particularly careeroriented approach.” Since college, she has worked as a bartender on a sightseeing train in Alaska, a teacher in Canada, a crew member on a sailing ship and a union organizer before ending up here at Southern Maine Community College with the tentative goal of becoming a wildland firefighter, an occupation she points out is in extremely high demand. Advocates for career and technical education say that, for many people, it makes more sense to start with those kinds of programs, reserving the option of continuing on to more time-consuming and expensive bachelor’s degrees later, instead of vice versa. “They’re doing college backwards,” said Dave DesRochers, a former offensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks and now vice president of PATH2, which helps students figure out what they want to do with their lives — before they finish high school — and choose their education accordingly.Sebastian Valenzuela learned the hard way. He got a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies at Loyola University New Orleans and a master’s in music composition at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — credentials he calls “all these pieces of what are now wallpaper.” Now he’s getting an associate degree in cloud computing at Northern Virginia Community College. “You can get a good job without a bachelor’s degree,” Valenzuela said. “You don’t need to go to a fancy school. You don’t need to spend a lot of money. But how would “high school me” know that?”
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In some cases, bachelor’s degreeholders are obtaining supplementary skills — computer science majors adding certificates in cloud technology, for example.Butthe trend is also exposing how many high school graduates almost reflexively go to college without entirely knowing why, pushed by parents and counselors, only to be disappointed with the way things turn out — and then start over.“Somewhere along the line it became ingrained that in order to succeed, whether your children wanted to go to college or not, they had to go to college,” said Jane Oates, who was assistant secretary in the Obama administration’s Department of Labor and now heads WorkingNation, a nonprofit that tries to better match workers with jobs.
He worked in hospitality for a while, then as a paralegal, and now is in the firefighter training course at SMCC. “I wish I knew about this program when I was coming out of high school,” said Drumm, now 25. Drumm’s fellow trainee Matt Duhaime attended the prestigious Boston Latin School, from which almost everyone in his class went on to four-year colleges and universities. “The one that didn’t went into the Air Force. I remember the teachers and administrators wondering why he wasn’t going to college.”
That’s Gianna Dinuzzo’s story, too. “Even deciding what I was going to major in in college, I was just going through the motions. I graduated from high school and then — what’s next? Okay, college,” said Dinuzzo, who earned a bachelor’s degree in community health from Fresno State and is now studying toward an associate degree at Fresno City College to become a dental hygienist.
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automation and robotics technology at Ivy Tech Community College, a field she said she really likes. “There is a little resentment” about the time and money spent on her bachelor’s degree, said Buff, now 36. “I’ll never regret learning something. But I was part of that group of people who listened to their parents and their teachers and advisers who said ‘Yes, get this and you’ll be set.’ ” She laughed. “And I did, and it ended up poorly. I don’t think when we’re 18 we’re anywhere near ready to plot out what we’re going to do.”
This not only winds up costing time and money; it contributes to a shortage of workers in skilled trades, said Robert Templin, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program who served as president of two community colleges. “It was pretty frequent that we found arts and sciences students who had not considered when they started their bachelor’s degree education how they wanted to make a living,” Templin said. “Universities are still seen as places where young people go to figure out what they want to do, and that’s expensive, not only for the students and their parents but for the taxpayers who support those four-year institutions.”Thepushto help students make more informed career decisions while they’re still in high school is coinciding with frustration over the high cost of college — further heightened by the fact that many institutions have continued to charge full in-person tuition for remote classes during the Covid-19 crisis — and increased public awareness of the potential for jobs at good pay in the skilled trades. The pandemic also has intensified demand for so-called “middle skills” workers with certificates or associate degrees, such as nurses and information systems security technicians. “If students had more awareness of other options, training opportunities or workforce demand at an earlier age they might take a different path,” said Shaun Dougherty, a professor at Vanderbilt University who studies education policy. Trainees and instructors in the fire science program of Southern Maine Community College practice putting on hazmat suits. Several of these aspiring firefighters have already earned bachelor’s degrees. Credit: Molly Haley for The Hechinger Report In Virginia, Colorado and Texas, where earnings are tracked, students with certain technically oriented credentials short of bachelor’s degrees earn an average of from $2,000 to $11,000 a year more than bachelor’s degree-holders, the American Institutes for Research found.Nationally, median pay for a construction manager is $95,260, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; an aircraft mechanic, $64,310; a web developer, $73,760; and a dental hygienist, $76,220. Plumbers make a median of $55,160, and the top 10 percent take home $97,170; , $50,850, rising to $92,020 for the top 10 percent.Andan analysis by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found firstyear nurses with associate degrees making $80,200 a year and up and firstyear electrical and power transmission installers, who also need associate degrees, $80,400 — more than some graduates of Harvard with not just bachelor’s, but master’s degrees.Manyof these kinds of jobs are coming open even as the recession cuts into employment. That’s because more skilled tradespeople are between the ages of 45 and 64, and nearing retirement, than workers in other occupations, the staffing company Adecco calculates.
And employers often prefer candidates with bachelor’s degrees, even for jobs that previously did not require them, a Harvard Business School study found. This so-called “credential inflation” tends to peak during and after recessions, Matt Duhaime, left, and Michael Kelly help Chris Drumm put on a Level A vapor suit in the fire science program of Southern Maine Community College. All three previously earned bachelor’s degrees and now are training to become firefighters. Credit: Molly Haley for The Hechinger Report
Graduates with bachelor’s degrees still generally make more than people with lesser credentials — about $19,000 a year more than associate degree recipients when they’re at the peak of their respective careers, according to The Hamilton Project. (Six in 10 people who go to four-year universities or colleges also borrow to pay for their educations, and end up with an average $28,950 in student loan debt.)
Completing career and technical education is almost always faster and less expensive than studying toward a bachelor’s degree, however, and trainees can earn while they learn. That’s the case for several of these future firefighters, who are already working in fire stations and getting paid to go on calls. “Even deciding what I was going to major in in college, I was just going through the motions. I graduated from high school and then — what’s next? Okay, college.” Gianna Dinuzzo, student, Fresno City College, a community college “It’s just a better pathway for people who are not so sure they want a bachelor’s degree but they know they want to go into, for example, firefighting,” said Michelle Rhee Weise, author of the new book “Long Life Learning” and former senior vice president for workforce strategies at the Strada Education Network. “And that’s important to know before they make their huge investment.”
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There’s some risk that this could end up diverting low-income and racial and ethnic minority students into training for skilled trades while their higher-income and white classmates continue to get bachelor’s degrees. “Coming out of high school there’s social pressure on you: ‘Where are you going to college?’ Then there’s social pressure on your parents: ‘Where is your son going to college?’ But the hardest thing is making such a finite decision about what you want to do at 18 years old.” Matt Duhaime, student, Southern Maine Community CollegeCommunity College, Higher education access, Higher education affordability, Higher education completion “That is the big concern, and part of why people are a little reluctant to take it on,” Dougherty said of the idea that high schools more proactively help students pick career paths. “It has to be done thoughtfully so that we don’t go back to a tracking model [based on] the color of your skin or your ZIP code.”
Related: How career and technical education shuts out Black and Latino students from high-paying professions “It’s not as cut-and-dry as too many students are going to four-year degree programs,” said Alisha Hyslop, director of public policy for the Association for Career and Technical Education. “It’s more that we need more education for students before they get to college, more career awareness and exploration opportunities to learn about careers.”
Still, he and others point out that higher education is already deeply stratified in these ways, with more affluent Americans going to the most prestigious universities and lower-income ones to community and for-profit colleges. “So the question becomes,” Weise said: “How are we going to do this better?”
What Wong really wanted to do was work around food. “I went to college because that’s what we did,” Wong said. “My mother said, ‘You’re going to get a degree if it kills me.’ I really didn’t want to go. I was just there trying to figure out what I wanted to do.” He ended up in sales jobs and worked for a bank for a while and then for a national retailer. “It was a paycheck,” he said.Now 52, and having moved home to Chicago to be closer to family during the pandemic, Wong is studying toward an associate degree in culinary arts at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana. “I don’t regret the stuff I’ve done,” he said. “But I wish I had done this 20 years ago.”Tinkle, the aspiring wildlands firefighter with the Brown degree, said she hears that a lot. “A lot of people I’ve met have said to me, ‘I wish I’d done what you were doing when I was your age,’ ” she said. “And I tell them: ‘Well, you should have.’ ” This story about CTE programs was produced by The Hechinger Report and supported by the Citizens & Scholars Higher Education Media Fellowship. Sign up for our higher education newsletter The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn't mean it's free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that. About the author Jon Marcus writes and edits stories about, and helps plan coverage of, higher education. A former magazine editor, he has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Wired, and Medium.com. He can be reached at jmarcus@hechingerreport.org
Sometimes the question may be more simple: What makes someone happy? For Peter Wong, it wasn’t necessarily the bachelor’s degree in anthropology he earned at Loyola University Chicago, or even his subsequent law degree.
All of this is helping change perceptions of long-disparaged career and technical — previously called vocational — education. “We have done a lot as far as addressing the recognition of the value of these jobs,” said Chelle Travis, executive director of SkillsUSA, an association of teachers, students and industries that focus on it. This changing awareness is already having an effect. Maine’s community colleges report that the number of people signing on to short-term job training quadrupled over the last two years, to 3,625 in the 12 months ending June 30. El Paso Community College in Texas is expanding those kinds of programs; its president, William Serrata — who chairs the American Association of Community Colleges — told education journalists in September that his counterparts are also preparing for an increase in demand. Arkansas, where a quarter of skilled tradespeople are at or near retirement, has launched a campaign to nudge more people into career and technical education. And New Jersey educators agreed this year to create smoother routes for students from vocational high schools to community colleges for career and technical education. Parents still see four-year universities as the ultimate goal, however, high schools are ranked on the basis of how many of their graduates go to one and some jobs in manufacturing and skilled trades continue to be looked down upon.
according to research conducted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which found that, during the last recession, the proportion of job postings requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher rose by more than 10 percentage points.
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Providing Performance Feedback – Helps managers learn a systematic, fact-based approach to performance improvement through quality feedback. Effective Discipline – Helps managers learn effective techniques for addressing problem behavior. Using communication skills, the manager works to preserve the individual’s self-respect and encourage the best kind of discipline – self-discipline.
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When considering all the aspects of neglected management, most often organizations identify development planning as an area of important need. Development planning truly aids your employees in shaping not only the future of their careers but also the future of the organization. For a variety of reasons, the valuable activity of employee training and development often goes ignored or becomes an afterthought by management. With this comes the ultimate price: the loss of top talent or future hopefuls.Training and development planning doesn't have to be elaborate or costly. This session will focus on the core of every training program. Participants will learn to have a good management culture of taking the person-to-person time to understand employee needs and desires, recognizing skills and training needs and collaborating with the employee and human resources to fill any existing gaps that are critical functions for every organization. Next, the session will discuss if training and development is executed well, the payoff for the organization can be substantial in terms of long-term loyalty, retention, engagement and productivity. Lastly, participants will learn how to negate training and development voids which substantially risk valuable employee assets and long-term talent.
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AUGUST 2022 THE C ONTRACTOR’S COMPASS32 ASA is excited to announce the latest lineup of webinars available through SESCO Management Consultants. ASA Members can get a 15% discount just by using the promo code SPRING15 when you register! SESCO is just one of the many member benefits available through your ASA membership. To learn more about this and all of the benefits waiting for you, click here. Here are just three webinars coming up. To view the complete listing, click here.
September 7 & September 21: Understanding Ourselves and Others: DiSC Personality Profile Assessment (Part 1 & Part 2) We all have many personalities and whatever the reasons, unless we understand ourselves better, it will be more difficult to understand others. The DiSC Profile is designed to help us understand more about our natural behavioral styles. Being aware of how we behave is one thing.... knowing why we behave the way we do is something else. The premise of this training is four-fold: (1) To understand your behavioral tendencies and begin developing an understanding of how these styles may affect others, (2) to understand, respect, appreciate and value individual differences, (3) to enhance your effectiveness in accomplishing tasks by improving your relationships with others, and (4)to develop strategies for working together to increase productivity. The DiSC Personal Profile System isn’t a test that you can pass or fail.The Personal Profile System is a simple, self-scoring instrument that will help us not only understand ourselves and others, but also learn about how to work more productively with those in our organization whose behavioral styles are different from ours.
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October 5 & October 26: Performance Management (Part 1 and Part 2) Did you know two thirds of supervisors receive little to no training on how to handle the soft skills of management? Supervisors must exhibit true leadership, boost morale, and reduce employee turnover, all while positively impacting your organization's bottom line — a tall order for even the most experienced professional. This twopart series will address necessary skills with a focus on the employee – manager relationship. We’ll discuss the behaviors that effective supervisors should demonstrate and lay the groundwork for effective leadership and management skills.
August 24: Employee Training and Development: The Importance and Ultimate Cost to the Organization
Session 1 Learning Topics include: Essential Skills of Leadership– Builds a foundation that enables managers to manage their team toward a shared goal: achieving the organization’s strategic objectives. Essential Skills of Communicating–Teaches managers the latest business communication strategies, thereby improving their performance and increasing the productivity of both the team and the organization. Developing Performance Goals and Standards– Learners analyze the skills and strategies they use every day in their jobs to identify the techniques that they do very well and to develop ways for them to do their job Sessionbetter.
2 Learning Topics include: Coaching Job Skills– Helps managers learn how to effectively coach individuals through a process of observation, analysis and communication. By carefully planning one-on-one discussions, managers can have the greatest impact and gain individual commitment to achieving results.
About the Author: Patrick Hogan is the CEO of Handle. com, where they build software that helps contractors and suppliersmaterialwith lien management and payment compliance. The biggest names in construction use Handle on a daily basis to save time and money while improving efficiency.
by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com
There are cases where software can be a bane to your operations even if you onboard it with the best intentions. This is why evaluating your teams' experiences with using the software is essential to appraise whether you're getting your money's worth and identify potential or pressing issues with the tech and its alignment with your company's goals. Training is an essential component as your organization works on digitization. Finding the right tools and putting a training plan in place will improve your operations and allow you to stay ahead of competition.
Many training resources from the provider won't be specifically tailored to your use case. For features your team uses often, it's prudent to create regularly updated and accessible documentation for those who might need it. These also allow you to be more specific whenever you'd wish to consult with someone from the software company regarding points of friction and feature requests.Business-to-business software providers are very receptive to customer feedback. They pay particular attention to persistent issues and feature gaps. Documenting how your teams use the software will not only help hasten the training for new personnel, but also help improve the software itself and amplify its benefits for your team.
Identify championstechnology
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The construction industry is steadily increasing its embrace of technology to improve efficiency. Moving from paper to digital spreadsheets had been a long process. Today, with significant advancements in construction tech, many back offices and even professionals on job sites are adopting various tailored software solutions to streamline their operations and make their jobs easier. That said, companies that have rolled out new technology would be familiar with the challenges of changing workflows and learning new software, especially when operations are nonstop. You won't want to invest in a new app or system and end up not using it or having a mish-mash process that defeats the purpose of adopting new tech.Suppose you're looking into new software or seeking to improve the adoption of new tools in your construction business. In that case, you will need to understand that even solutions that are advertised as turnkey will still require conscientious learning for you to extract the most benefit. Training is critical in thisHereregard.aresome training strategies you could incorporate into your company to get the most out of your tech investments. Enlist the help of the software provider Software providers in tech want you to be comfortable with their offerings, moreso with the advent of subscription-based programs. Tech is a competitive space, no matter the vertical. So don't think twice about asking your point person for assistance, even if they've supplied you with training materials and resources such as knowledge bases and training videos. The vendors are also more familiar with the challenges you and your teams can expect and can help you anticipate potential issues, as they've gathered previous customer feedback, especially from clients with similar profiles to yours. Companies that create software for use on the job site know that no two situations are alike, and their assistance is integral to your optimal use of the solution they provide. For example, a lien management software provider can help your credit staff devise a streamlined workflow aligned with the combination of states you have projects, so you never miss the filing of necessary pre-lien notices and other documents.
FEATURE ‘Nobody's Using It’: Importance of Training in Adopting New Construction Software
Set aside time for training Time spent on software training shouldn't be deemed a waste. This time is an essential investment that pays off in time savings when your staff has the necessary knowledge to use tools to make work more efficient. For example, you may need to set aside a few hours to train your accounting and credit departments to learn a new accounting system that integrates seamlessly with your lien management software.Itmaybe tempting and seemingly less time-consuming to assume that learning new software can be done on the fly. However, for business-critical processes where issues can cause a ripple effect on the rest of your business, you'd want to ensure all staff involved are adequately trained. Making unnecessary mistakes that can derail things beyond the work at hand can be avoided by proper training.
Adoption is uneven. Some people in your company may be more comfortable with tech in general or have used similar or the same software previously. They play a key role in ensuring peer support is present for those facing friction as they use new software. You should note that a learning curve is inevitable. This is especially the case if switching away from workflows and tools that your staff has been using for many years. Those who can adapt to new tech fast will be able to help bridge the gap, whether your company chooses to do a quick shift or a slow transition to the new tech. Document software usage
Regularly evaluate software effectiveness and usage
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THE CONTRACTOR’S COMPASS AUG UST 2022 35 Photo PxHere Coming Up in the September 2022 issue of FASA’s THEME Next Gen—Workforce Development • How to become "The Most Valuable Young Professional" • "Pay if Paid" in Virginia - what does it mean for you? • Plus more! Look for your issue in September. To access past issues of The Contractor’s Compass, please click here For questions about subscribing, please contact: communications@asa-hq.com SAVE THE DATE MARCH 8–11, 2023 • FORT WORTH, TEXAS
