Recruitment, Retention, and DEI on the Horizon A New Horizons Foundation research grant calls on SMACNA and SMART expertise in developing the future workforce. By Jessica Kirby
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arlier this year, the New Horizons Foundation—a SMACNA-sponsored research and education arm that works to advance and grow the signatory sheet metal industry— earned a Stanley Black & Decker Global Impact Challenge grant. The grant will go towards research and contractor education surrounding recruiting and retaining the next generation of sheet metal and HVAC workers—a generation that requires an about face approach. The grant proposal came out of the Foundation’s fourth iteration of the HVAC and Sheet Metal Industry Futures Study, which is typically published every four or five years but was delayed the last time by COVID. The 2022 Futures Study identified four areas of importance for moving the industry forward, one of which was workforce development. “There is a lot of effort being directed toward successful workforce development, including work of our joint labormanagement committees,” says Tom Soles, executive director of the New Horizons Foundation. “We want to report on
those successes and effective initiatives in other trades and industries.” Louise Medina, Local 256 business manager, says the workforce development research could be a useful tool in helping the sheet metal industry surpass barriers that go beyond reaching underrepresented groups, such women and people of ethnic minorities. “The next generation wants work life balance and that is something the trades don’t have,” she says. “Childcare is another issue parents run into financially.” Some of the initial outreach ideas the NHF project could pursue include creating reels and social posts that communicate the value in joining the signatory sheet metal industry. “The planned workforce element will be series of short video takes and podcasts on select workforce development and retention practices that are working among the building trades,” Soles says. The reels or short videos might depict the principal of a company talking about what he or she has tried in terms of Partners in Progress » November 2023 » 11
