Solving the Skilled Labor Shortage by Focusing on Training

Like any industry reliant on trade workers, construction has been impacted by the skilled labor shortage and Unistrut Midwest has not been immune to the complications that come along with it. As Director of Operations for Unistrut Midwest, finding skilled team members to keep up with our growing demand has been one of my most significant challenges. That's why we established our training program and are working to guide the next generation of skilled installers.

The Unistrut Midwest Training Program

The dwindling construction workforce is made even smaller by the fact that Unistrut Midwest operates in a niche section of the industry. Just because someone has construction experience doesn't mean that they can jump into our processes on day one. Instead of trying to find the few people who already have the skills we need, we hire dedicated and eager personnel and train them to become reliable members of the Unistrut team.

It starts in the Unistrut Midwest training room, a dedicated space built to emulate real-life installation environments. Our installation leads will spend anywhere from one to six months providing hands-on training for new hires, giving them past designs and blueprints to practice installation techniques and familiarize themselves with our products and processes. From there, new team members move to assisting with assembly and prefabrication in our warehouse.

Once they are confident in their assembly skills, and after completing their OSHA and forklift training, new team members move into the field as assistants to the installation leads. After some time, they have the opportunity to become an installation lead themselves or advance further to becoming a foreman.

This dedication to training allows us to create the workforce we're looking for. By tapping into talented but inexperienced workers and giving them the exposure to the industry that they need, we have established a skilled and reliable team of warehouse, prefabrication, and installation experts. Of course this benefits us at Unistrut Midwest, but it is a crucial step towards success for our customers as well.

Skilled Labor for Client Success

Instead of training, a pitfall we have found is that many in the industry hire out subcontractor teams for their installation projects. They send their foreman to the work site but use the subcontractors to complete the job. This can require significant time to familiarize the contracted team with materials, as many have never worked with Unistrut before.

By training in house, we are confident that our team is familiar with the equipment, material, and processes required on day one of a project. Our team members know how to appropriately prefabricate solutions to efficiently install on site, and our clients can be assured that they have a partner who is deeply experienced in their requirements.

We know that everything in construction is about speed. The sooner a building is completed, the sooner it can operate and start turning a profit. By leveraging a skilled and experienced workforce on both our prefabrication and installation teams, we help keep our client projects on time and within budget.

How has the skilled labor shortage impacted your organization? What steps have you taken to help mitigate the challenge?