ASK YOUR BOARD
Ask Your Board
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sk Your Board is a new feature that will run in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quarter issues of Welding & Gases Today. The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email steveg@gawdamedia.com THE QUESTION
As the industry is facing a “labor shortage,” what has your company done to combat this issue? How have you found success in recruiting and retaining talent?
BOB EWING 2022 GAWDA PRESIDENT Red Ball Oxygen Company We sure don’t have any magic wand. Just a lot of hustle to get the word out and shake the trees for applicants. We are offering referral bonuses, using tons of social media, and working on community partnerships with vocational schools. We are making sure to simplify and expedite the whole selection and hiring process, so we don’t have good candidates waiting on us for an offer. And we don’t wait until we have an opening to start recruiting. We are always recruiting, whether we have an opening or not. 30 • Spring 2022
ROBERT ANDERS 2022 GAWDA PRESIDENT ELECT Holston Gases, Inc. One of the things we tell our managers is to “control what you can control.” External market forces that make the labor situation so volatile are out of our control, but what we can control is how we treat our current employees. It doesn’t really matter if you have a great plan to attract new employees, if you are constantly losing your current talent. Our first focus is retention. Like everyone else, we post openings on most of the job search sites, but we have had the most success by interviewing talent referred to us by our current employees.
GARY HALTER 2022 GAWDA FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Indiana Oxygen Company Indiana Oxygen has changed our criteria for hiring. It is no longer about looking for the perfect candidate with vast amount of experience in the position that we need to fill. It is now about finding the person that fits our culture and has the ability and willingness to learn the job requirements. We utilize a 30-day check-in process for new hires, which is done with our HR team and their direct manager. This process is an attempt to ensure the new employee has all he or she needs to successfully do their new jobs. IOC has a new hire orientation program; all the new employ-
