Benefits of Building an Apprenticeship Program within your Business

Finding and retaining talent is a constant challenge for companies that require highly specialized skill sets. These challenges can be particularly acute in the Building and Infrastructure Industries. Workforce shortages – often referred to as the national “Skills Gap” – hamper growth because companies can’t effectively staff new contracts while continuing to service their existing clients. This presents major obstacles for business owners wanting to growth their businesses.  The shortage of this technical workforce has become increasingly pronounced in the last 20 years, as more young people of working age have focused on going to college vs. learning a trade or skill, resulting in a talent shortfall for Engineering & Construction companies.

Engineering, plumbing, electrical, HVAC and other specialty construction businesses have started taking matters into their own hands by investing in a future workforce through internal apprenticeship programs. These opportunities help streamline their talent pipeline, and address skills lacked by new employees.  Apprenticeship programs have become increasingly popular because of the overall benefits they bring to specialty trade businesses, such as:

• Reducing Turnover by increasing employee loyalty
• Transferring Knowledge of best practices
• Lowering training costs for new employees
• Increasing commitment to community Investment
• Improving overall productivity and efficiency
• Producing greater employee engagement by using an “Earn while you Learn” model
• Building future leaders for an organization

1. Identify specific positions you need to fill within your organization, and the skill sets needed to fill those roles.
2. Contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) or your State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) to begin the registration process and assess the suitability of your program.
3. Connect with partners to help build your program: educational institutions, workforce development boards and industry associations.
4. Develop core components of the program, such as eligibility requirements, specific skill sets to emphasize, length of program, and instruction toward any needed certifications, to name a few.
5. Develop apprenticeship standards and safety protocols.
6. Recruit and onboard eligible applicants.
7. Register your program with necessary state and federal agencies.
8. Launch and manage the program.

1. Cost: evaluate your initial investment needed to launch the program as well as the ongoing management costs.
2. Legal: Ensure your program adheres to all relevant labor laws and regulations including those related to safety, wages, equal employment opportunities and apprenticeship protections.
3. Management: Ensure you have the proper internal business structure and personnel in place to manage the program and provide continued guidance.

Arranging and launching an apprenticeship program can be an effective way of building your organization’s workforce and can have added benefits beyond simply increasing manpower. You can change your company’s culture, build stronger brand recognition, and generate new word of mouth when customers learn you’re providing opportunities to the next generation of skilled workers. And you’ll have a leg up on adding highly skilled talent to your team, because you’ll have been nurturing that talent from Day One!