There are estimates that as much as 80 percent of the workforce left the residential construction industry during the housing crisis. Thousands of companies failed, and those that survived were mere shells of their former selves. Anyone working in that industry-from homebuilders to distributors to manufacturers-saw their lives upended. If they weren’t laid off, everyone around them was.
We were fortunate in the metal construction industry not to see that kind of devastation. That kind of loss of talent has long-term consequences, because the people who were laid off, for the most part, are not returning to the industry. I saw a recent study that suggested that with few exceptions, most homebuilders were working with senior managers who had less than five years experience. That means America’s homes are being built by newbies.
While we didn’t experience that kind of talent drain, we are seeing a threat to our talent pools in this industry. I was surprised when all the participants in our annual State of the Industry report (see page 16) referred to the necessity of retaining talent as one of the biggest issues they’re facing.
It’s not a shortage of talent they’re worried about, it’s the flexibility that people have now to move from job to job.
Consider this. For the last several years, wages have been flat and opportunity for growth constrained. Anybody who had a job in construction was clinging to it with tooth and nail. More than likely, if they were searching for new opportunities, they were restricted because they would struggle to sell their homes. Statistics also show that a huge percentage of Americans were upside down on their mortgages, so the only opportunities available were those in the immediate vicinity.
That has changed in the last few months. Wages are increasing. Companies are hiring. Homes are increasing in value and they’re selling. Consequently, people in the metal construction industry are seeing new opportunities to challenge themselves. Managers are battling with retaining the talent they’ve developed and are worried about plugging holes in key positions.
At the lower end of the labor pool, we are also seeing a growing shortage of workers to get the job done on the job site and on the production line. With an improved economy and lower energy costs, we’re beginning to see some of the production that was offshored returning to home soil. You need workers to get those jobs, and demographically, there just aren’t as many young workers available as there used to be.
All of us in this industry are facing the challenge of retaining good talent in 2015. I believe it will be one of our biggest difficulties. One of the things that can help is to ensure that the brand you have is prominent and valued. You want people to want to come work for you because they see and appreciate the value of what you do. A good brand doesn’t just attract good buyers. It attracts talent.
You also need to move to a much more competitive stance in the retention and search for talent. Your company is too important to see it wither because your best people found greater opportunity elsewhere.
