It’s difficult to find a roofing contractor who doesn’t moan and groan about the shortage of good, qualified workers. It’s a real crisis in many areas of the country. For the past few months, nationwide unemployment hovered below 5 percent. Economists consider 4 percent full employment. If you calculate the number of people on unemployment for six months or more — which some may consider basically people with unemployable skills, we’re actually under the magic 4 percent figure for full employment. Yet many roofing companies operate the same way they did in the 1960’s and wonder why they have employment challenges. While there’s no magic wand that can be waved to find the perfect employee, much can be done to improve many roofers’ efforts.
I recently had the opportunity to teach a foreman class as part of the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association Convention in Columbus, Ohio. It was an all-day session, so I had time to integrate exercises and interaction within the class. I paired participants into teams of two and asked a simple question — what a hard-working, new employee who knew nothing about roofing should know at the end of 30 days on the job? It was amazing to watch the group struggle with the question. It quickly became obvious that the majority of the companies represented in the room had no 30-day review system or process for onboarding a new employee.