Bridging the skills gap through training and development

Guest editorial
By Amy Hirsh Robinson, Interchange Group Principal

A recent Manpower Group Talent Shortage Survey reported some of the hardest jobs for employers to fill are skilled trade workers, engineers, technicians, drivers, machine operators and sales representatives. These jobs are critical to the success of the work truck industry, which faces a steady — and largely unmet — demand for skilled talent.

To bridge the skills gap and meet the demand for a strong technical workforce, companies in the commercial vehicle community must take matters into their own hands by training and developing their own staff.

Six training and development best practices

1. Engage upstream. Many employers complain about the status of U.S. workforce development programs but wait for the finished product at the end of the education pipeline. Successful companies engage in the process upstream by developing partnerships with community schools in their areas of operation. They get involved with local community colleges, technical schools, high schools and middle schools to shape curriculum, donate equipment to schools so students learn what is needed, serve as trainers and build awareness of career opportunities available.
2. Hire with development in mind. Companies should not expect to find the perfect candidate fully loaded with the right skills, education and experience. Instead, they should hire, expecting to train and develop new employees. Businesses that worry less about the current position opening and more about finding workers with the right general skills and critical competencies (e.g., willingness to learn, maturity) who can learn quickly and grow with the company will develop a competitive advantage.
3. Invest in high-touch onboarding. Effective, high-touch employee onboarding mitigates the costly threat of attrition and prepares people for success. Effective companies onboard new hires with structured schedules that teach employees about the job and organization, rotate them with subject matter experts, and provide appropriate training and development at key phases of the onboarding process (first week, first month, first 90 days, first six months, etc.). 
4. Use a multi-pronged approach. Training is no longer one-size-fits-all. To successfully bridge the skills gap, work truck industry employers must leverage all forms of learning using a multi-pronged approach. Deploying a variety of development methods to train employees will increase learning retention and employee engagement. Examples include job shadowing and rotations, mentoring, coaching, and a mixture of classroom, virtual and on-the-job training.
5. Collaborate with other companies. To close the skills gap, organizations should not be afraid to share with other employers in the industry. For example, some companies are setting up open-access training programs to ensure more people have the skills they need in specific geographic regions. Large manufacturers, medium-sized businesses and small business startups are coming together successfully to collaborate on training programs collectively benefiting the industry.
6. Incentivize seasoned workforce to transfer knowledge. The work truck industry is facing knowledge loss due to pending retirement of its baby boomer workforce. Employers will need to incentivize seasoned staff to share their knowledge with younger workers in a productive way. Examples include offering phased or flexible retirement programs that allow employers to continue tapping into the institutional knowledge of their employees for extended periods of time. Providing bonuses or pay bumps to seasoned employees who take on the additional responsibility of formally training and/or mentoring younger staff is another effective knowledge transfer incentive.

Building and maintaining a pipeline of employees with the skills needed to keep production, service and leadership at top efficiency require a sincere investment in developing and retaining skilled talent across time. Companies that embrace these best practices will bridge the skills gaps in their own organizations and contribute to talent prospects for the entire industry.

In February, I presented an NTEA webinar on this important topic — the second in a series of four sessions on workforce development. For more in-depth insight into best practices and key trends in technical and leadership training, I encourage you to access the presentation slides, webinar recording, and Training and Development Action Plan (an outline of practical steps employers can take to implement successful training and development programs in their own companies) at ntea.com. Member login is required.