This episode explores the shifting landscape of the labor market and the urgent need for companies to invest in training to retain top talent. Experts from Aerotek discuss practical strategies for bridging the skills gap, from apprenticeship programs to leveraging emerging building technologies.
The traditional approach of competing solely on compensation and benefits is no longer enough to remain competitive in today's tightening labor market. In this episode, Jason Wetherford and Quinn Heimann from Aerotek share deep insights into the facility management industry, highlighting a significant shift where job seekers now prioritize opportunities for skills development as a top motivator for accepting new roles. The conversation addresses the looming "retirement skills gap" and offers a roadmap for succession planning through tailored training programs, mentorship and high-impact partnerships with organizations like Skills USA and Tooling U. They also discuss how proactive upskilling can prevent operational inefficiencies and the loss of critical institutional knowledge.
This episode is sponsored by TMA Systems! Discover more at https://www.tmasystems.com/ifmapodcast
Time Stamps:
Quinn Heimann: [00:00:00] To remain competitive companies have to go beyond compensation and benefits now.
And specifically that's where we need to look at offering opportunities for skills development.
That's really what signals a long-term commitment, right. From a company to an employee. It strengthens the organization also with your sustainability. And so training and upskilling we're seeing is now not only improving employee retention and satisfaction, but it also has benefits for the company as well.
Host: Welcome to Connected fm, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by ifma, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you are ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to ifma.org to get started in a tightening labor market.
Competing on pay and benefits alone is not enough to truly win. [00:01:00] Companies have to offer something more a path forward. Joining us today a. Our Jason Weatherford and Quinn Hyman from Aerotech, they're sharing why skills development has officially become the top motivator for today's job seekers. And they also share how to bridge the retirement skills gap using high impact mentorships and partnerships with organizations like Skills USA and Tooling U.
They also discuss how proactive upskilling can prevent operational inefficiencies, the loss of the critical institutional knowledge and more. Now let's get into it.
Jason Wetherford: I'm Jason Wetherford. I'm a strategic account executive for Aerotek. I've been with Aerotek for over 20 years, and I'm specifically focused on the facilities management industry.
I've been uh, focused in this space for the past six years.
Quinn Heimann: And my name's Quinn Heimann. I am the Director of Strategic Sales for Aerotek that runs our facilities and [00:02:00] maintenance division. I've been with Aerotek going on 15 years and have been overseeing the facilities and maintenance division for six years as well.
Jason Wetherford: Great. Well, I'm, I'm excited to be here with you, Quinn. So before we dive into today's discussion, I just want to tell you a little bit about the unique perspective that we bring. We are specifically focused on staffing and recruiting, right?
And so we're very involved in the labor market conversation on a daily basis. Our recruiters are talking to people in the industry and you know, whether it be HVAC building engineers on a daily basis. So we really have a good insight into the industry and as one of the leading work for workforce solution providers.
We're in a unique position. We're we're talking to people on a daily basis. The labor market is changing fast and companies are being challenged to rethink how they attract and retain talent.
Quinn Heimann: Yeah, definitely.
Jason Wetherford: Quinn, what are some challenges that companies are facing when it comes to recruiting and retaining talent?
Quinn Heimann: I love that you start [00:03:00] me off with a really easy question.
Jason Wetherford: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Quinn Heimann: No, I think it's, it's no secret that we have a shortage of skilled labor, right? That's something we've been talking about for quite a while.
And I'm a big like facts person, right? I like statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics actually just recently released some data that showed that the market had a pretty significant slowdown in August. With only about 22,000 jobs the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, which while that is still historically low, it is indicative of some tightening conditions.
And so really, Jason, to remain competitive companies have to go beyond compensation and benefits now.
Jason Wetherford: It's not, it's not just about paying
Quinn Heimann: no
Jason Wetherford: it's. not just about pay You know, here's, here's a dollar more an hour, here's $2 more an hour. Right. You, we need you to stay.
Quinn Heimann: Yeah. And specifically like that's where we need to look at offering opportunities for skills development.
That's really what signals a long-term commitment, right. From a company to an employee. It strengthens the [00:04:00] organization also with your sustainability. And so training and upskilling we're seeing is now not only improve, improving employee retention and satisfaction, but it also has benefits for the company as well.
Jason Wetherford: Right.
Quinn Heimann: And we know that a lot of that can help drive productivity, which is, you know, a key indicator for companies right now.
Jason Wetherford: Right. Companies, companies making an investment in their workforce. Exactly. That, that goes a long way.
Quinn Heimann: Huge.
Jason Wetherford: Absolutely. How do you recommend companies approach succession planning when a large portion of their skilled workforce is nearing retirement?
Quinn Heimann: Yeah. That's what we are, we refer to as the skills gap, right? And again, something that has been talked about for quite a while, but for, for us, what I think is interesting is it's not just something that's happening in the facilities and maintenance industry, right? Every single industry is now starting to struggle from this.
And so now is the time to invest in some of those upskilling strategies. And when I'm talking about those strategies, I'm talking about things like tailored training programs, apprenticeship programs, mentorship [00:05:00] programs, community partnerships can be super significant. And working through how do you customize some of these training initiatives or programs to address the specific challenges and responsibilities that your teams have.
And being able to build some of that to address those will then not only boost the competency and performance, but also will boost your employee retention as well. Some different ways to look at doing that, right. Hands-on workshops, I talked about mentorship programs, those are hands-on ways to help build confidence and with like an apprenticeship or mentorship program.
We have seen what a powerful tool that is in workforce development. So we have several key customers I know you're aware of, yeah. That we've partnered with on building some of these programs and have seen the returns, you know, without naming names of customers, one of the largest online retailers, they put a really big focus on building out a program specifically in the maintenance space. To help upskill to help transfer some of that [00:06:00] knowledge. And it's working really well. There's another privately held healthcare facility out in California.
Same thing. They actually brought in a trainer to help with the knowledge transfer through a mentorship program with a lot of their maintenance staff. And that hospital not only has extremely good retention, but they are now not in a spot where they're suffering from a retirement skills gap.
Right. And then the other thing you know, I will say is you don't have to tackle this whole upskilling thing alone. So partnering with staffing agencies, trade schools, I mentioned some community organizations. These are other pathways that you can, you know, utilize. And I know you're, you're familiar with some of the organizations that we've partnered with.
Jason Wetherford: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We've recently partnered with Skills USA which if you're not familiar with Skills, USAI highly recommend getting, getting involved. It's a tremendous organization. We, we talk a lot about, we've, you know, we've talked about the skills gap for years and years now, and.
It's, it's a lot of doom and [00:07:00] gloom. Yeah. It's a lot of like, what are we gonna do in the future? And to go to Skills USA and see some of the things that these students are doing is unbelievable. It just gives you renewed hope for the future to see these, these kids that are doing electrical work, they're doing plumbing work, they're framing houses, they're rebuilding engines, they're doing hvac.
It's, and, and. It's just mind blowing what they're, what they're capable of. And to, to know that the future is bright in skilled trades through our partnership with skills uSA is fantastic. So, we're really proud of our involvement with Skills USA and then we also collaborate with another organization called Tooling U.
It's a nonprofit professional association that offers training, courses, certifications career path tailored resources. For the manufacturing and maintenance sectors. Empowering workers with the skills they need to succeed and grow. So,
Quinn Heimann: yeah, we use tooling UA lot to upskill our active workers [00:08:00] for our services team.
Jason Wetherford: Yeah.
Quinn Heimann: And we've seen a lot of lift from that. I also have to say Skills, USA, you know, one of the ways that we've gotten involved with them is probably providing scholarships to help get more kids through the program. And it's been really beneficial because, you know, then we see these kids go through these programs that have the skills that then we can, you know, look at deploying in the workforce.
And there are so many companies that have gotten involved there with the national conference and it's, it's really great to see for sure,
Jason Wetherford: for, for us. It's great to, it's great to see it because, you know, our customers come to us and say, okay, you guys are talking about the skills gap you're talking about.
People retiring and how are they gonna get replaced? How are we gonna replace our workforce? Well, we're actually making an investment in that future. Yeah. So it feels good for us to be able to say we're making that investment in the future in in the skilled trades workforce. We talked a little bit about it earlier.
I mean, we've talked quite a bit about it already, but. What are some other things that job seekers are demanding of their employer?
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Quinn Heimann: Yeah, so I'm gonna take it back to the data. You know, Aerotek, again, like you said, we see the things from both the employees side and an employer's [00:10:00] side. And we do a job seeker survey and that job seeker survey goes out to thousands and thousands of candidates that are either actively seeking or are considered passive, might be interested if the right opportunity came up.
And we just got the results back from that recent survey. And one thing that I think is really important is the opportunity to learn new skills is actually tied with the second most important thing on that list. So the number one is always, it's always pay, right?
Jason Wetherford: What's the, what's the first thing?
Yeah,
Quinn Heimann: the first thing, what's is always gonna be pay. But the, the the second was opportunity to learn new skills and job security. And that is a change from what we have seen in the past. The other thing is 73% of the folks that responded. Said that they actually expect employers to provide opportunities for them to learn new skills.
And 26% of the thousands that were surveyed said they had left a job recently because they felt there was a lack of skill development or some sort of progression for them.
Jason Wetherford: It's No, it's no [00:11:00] long. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, but it's no longer just a nice to have it Correct. It's a nice to have additional training at at my job.
Right. It's like required or else you're gonna lose employees.
Quinn Heimann: Yeah, it's, I mean it really is kind of the ticket to compete in the labor market at this point. Yeah. You know, and so again, I just go back to, you don't have to kind of recreate the wheel. You can look at online classes or platforms or ways to partner, but if you're not doing something in that space, you are falling behind competitively.
The last thing I will say specifically around this, within the facilities and maintenance industry, in that survey for people who were working in facilities and maintenance that responded, they actually stated that adding skills was the most important motivator for accepting a new job.
And that was the most or the kind of the highest response we had of any industry. So facilities and maintenance specifically, they're saying we, we wanna be able to add new skills. We wanna be able to continue to grow and develop. Right. Which brings me to what we haven't talked about technology,
Jason Wetherford: right?
Quinn Heimann: Automation right. [00:12:00] How is that shaping the workforce right now?
Jason Wetherford: Well, it, it goes back to training opportunities for employees. I mean, technology's evolving at a rapid pace. One thing that we're seeing on our side is a request from our clients for experience with smart building systems.
Quinn Heimann: Mm-hmm.
Jason Wetherford: And there are a lot of people that have been in the workforce for a long time that maybe have not had that exposure
Quinn Heimann: Right.
Jason Wetherford: To that level of technology, and therefore they, they might be getting left behind. Yeah. So, it's, I mean, it's not like. I think a comment that, you know, people talk about AI and and technology and it's coming quick and we gotta prepare for it. Well, it's here now, and it, we need to address it, right? Yeah.
We need to address it with our, with our workforce.
Quinn Heimann: You know, I was sharing earlier, I have a customer that reached out. They just built a new portion of their facility. They're expanding. And that new facility is highly automated and they have a very, very [00:13:00] robust team, but nobody on that team is familiar with what is happening in that new facility.
And so, they are trying to solve for that issue. As the companies that you know implemented everything are starting to slowly pull back. They're trying to figure out, hey, how do we bring in talent that knows this, that understands it? And it's, it's an ongoing conversation. And, you know, on top of that, it's, if you're gonna bring those people in, then how do you get your team up to speed as well?
Right? Right. And, and you know, it's that back and forth of, of what really needs to be happening.
Jason Wetherford: The answer can't always be just bring in other people. Right. Or bring in new people to, to handle that. You've got an existing workforce. You need to, they need to be trained. Right. They need to be shown. How they given the tools to exactly.
Be able to handle that.
Quinn Heimann: Yep. It's kind of that two-pronged approach.
Jason Wetherford: Absolutely. Yeah. So implementing training programs, you know, digital literacy, emerging tools it empowers, empowers the employees
Yes.
Jason Wetherford: And, and will ultimately affect retention. Yes. You're gonna keep, you're gonna [00:14:00] keep people because they're not gonna be jumping ship to go somewhere else where they're gonna be getting the training and the investment.
Quinn Heimann: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And I will say too, I think that to your point, like you get that return on your investment then, right. When they stick, stick around. Absolutely. So,
Jason Wetherford: absolutely. What are, what are some of the biggest risks? I mean, we, we've touched on it, but what are some of the biggest risks companies face if they don't address the talent gap proactively?
And I say proactively, it's not, again, it's not proactively anymore. Yeah. It's now,
Quinn Heimann: yeah. I, I, that is such an interesting question because it isn't proactive anymore. If you're not doing it, you are, you're behind. I think that what we are seeing right now is companies that fail to address talent shortages are dealing with like, you know, having the risk of critical initiatives, key objectives being missed.
They're also not having any sort of proactive approach to their workforce. And then as a result, they're falling behind competitors. Right. Right. Like I just said, it's, [00:15:00] if you're not doing it, you are behind at this point,
Jason Wetherford: losing employees
Quinn Heimann: and Yeah. And so, losing employees, or you might keep the ones that you have, but once they, you know, age out or retire, you're, you're going to be, you know, yeah.
Way behind where you need to be right now. And then operational inefficiencies. There's a lot of that that we're seeing as well for, you know, companies or folks that are not being proactive in this space.
Jason Wetherford: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, this has been great, Quinn. You know, great talking to you. What are some key points that you think we should leave everybody with?
Quinn Heimann: Yeah, I think we've talked about a lot. My biggest thing that I would just say is get curious if you don't know what your company is currently doing. If you're not sure where to start in this space, how to get involved, what organizations get curious, have conversations. You know, every organization that we mentioned they're, they're willing to talk anytime you pick up the phone.
And I think that that's, that's been the biggest piece is like, it's not proactive anymore, right? It's here, it's happening. We're hearing it from the workforce. And so we've gotta just be really curious about it.
Jason Wetherford: Awesome.
Quinn Heimann: Yeah.
Jason Wetherford: [00:16:00] Thank you.
Quinn Heimann: Well, thanks everybody. It was great being here with you. Thanks for listening.
Jason Wetherford: Thank you.
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