Employees' commitments to craftsmanship, safety, customer service and winning sales strategies ultimately determine a business's level of success. And the most effective way to build employee commitment is to provide employees with proper training for the skills required to do their jobs.
In the roofing industry, new roof system application technologies, evolving regulatory standards and language barriers arising from a diversifying work force have increased the potential for employees' performances to fail to meet expectations. This can create performance gaps that can decrease productivity, morale and company profits. However, effective employee training will help close those gaps.
Although some roofing contractors believe formal employee training is cost-prohibitive, there are valid business reasons why employees should be well-trained.
Roof system changes
Numerous changes in roof system technology, materials and application techniques have occurred during the past 30 years. During the 1960s, for example, if a commercial building owner requested a built-up roof (BUR) system be installed on his building, a roofing worker only needed basic skills to install the system. Currently, proper roof system applications require diverse knowledge and high-level skills, including abilities to operate complex tools and equipment. The best way to ensure a roofing worker will know how to perform his job safely and effectively is through proper training.
In the past, application training typically took place on the job. After a brief demonstration, a new employee was expected to perform a task without further instruction. If the new employee did not correctly repeat the task, he often was reprimanded, denied pay or fired. This baptism-by-fire instruction style can create serious performance gaps because it does not provide adequate experience to build competency, lacks consistent technical accuracy and prolongs the time a worker needs to master a skill.
There are better ways to teach employees proper roof system application techniques. Providing consistent classroom or in-house training, seminar participation and on-the-job demonstrations can deliver the most effective means to build competent employee performances.
Michele Baker, human resources manager for Hamlin Roofing Co. Inc., Garner, N.C., notes: "Hands-on training has helped us a lot. We have two mock roof systems in our plant, and we do a lot of training with new guys before they go to work. Our program works wonderfully."
In addition, effective training strategies can accomplish fewer customer callbacks and lost-time injuries, which result in cost and time savings and lower insurance premiums.
There are many industry efforts to promote roof application training, such as those offered by unions, manufacturers, distributors, and regional or state associations. Some of these efforts have shortcomings because they tend to be proprietary and underresourced, assume workers have fundamental knowledge of roof application theory, and lack nationwide penetration and instructional consistency. But most of the information available is useful to workers. NRCA also offers various training materials and seminars.
Regulations
Because of the roofing industry's regulatory climate, you and your employees are responsible for meeting health and safety standards, adhering to environmental regulations and complying with building codes.
An important regulatory issue that continues to evolve is employee safety. Mandatory employee safety training was first introduced when the U.S. Department of Labor implemented the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970.
To meet current safety requirements, training for fall protection, fire safety, personal protective equipment, and other issues for new and seasoned employees should be ongoing. A roofing contractor can fulfill these requirements by implementing a self-designed training curriculum or hiring authorized safety training providers.
Building codes also continually change and vary significantly from one region to another. Codes often dictate the kinds of roof systems allowed on specific buildings, installation techniques and a roof system's surface color.
For example, a loose-laid, ballasted single-ply roof system would not be acceptable on a building located in a hurricane-prone region. A roofing contractor who installs a roof system that does not meet a building code may be required to replace the roof system at his expense. It is a contractor's responsibility to continually keep himself and his employees updated about changes in building codes.
Language
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, minorities currently account for about 29 percent of the population. By 2050, minorities will account for nearly 47 percent of the overall population. Immigrants are fueling this increase, and many Hispanic and European immigrants are joining the roofing industry's work force, which can create language barriers.
Language barriers can produce significant performance gaps, such as improperly installed roof systems, decreased productivity, increased potential for employee injury and low morale.
To avoid language-barrier performance gaps, many roofing contractors have sponsored English-as-a-second-language training programs for their employees. In addition, many training and education programs can be conducted in Spanish, Polish or other languages. Directly addressing language barriers through a proper training strategy can help overcome these potentially costly problems by allowing workers to learn the roofing trade in their native languages.
Saving money
Applying a comprehensive training strategy has the potential to save considerable time and money because it addresses predictable performance gaps, such as language barriers and a lack of skills, before they occur. Training also can help your company perform according to its vision statement and goals, as well as improve its bottom line.
Thirty years ago, NRCA partnered with CNA Insurance Cos., Chicago, to help roofing contractors realize safe work practices should be part of their companies' visions and goals. To implement safe work practices, participating contractors were required to rethink their attitudes about safety and invest in employee training. Aggressive safety training efforts began, and contractors clearly could see measurable returns on their training investments in the form of reduced premiums and lower experience modification rates.
Participating roofing contractors now realize training's potential to increase their companies' bottom lines and typically include training activities as a separate line item when developing their annual operating budgets.
When training is taken seriously, you can focus on training's potential return on investment. However, the expectations of a training strategy first clearly must be set if its returns are going to be measured.
For example, include a line item in your company's annual budget strictly for training. It is important employees see their leadership commit financially if training efforts are to be viewed as sincere.
"We know quality-management training and the results from tracking projects and being proactive about planning have made our work more profitable," says Barbara Dalsin, president of M & S Roofing, Blaine, Minn., and vice president of John A. Dalsin & Son Inc., Minneapolis. "Training for how to plan better or motivate crew members makes it easier for our foremen to get the results they want with fewer problems and stress."
Once a commitment to training is made, the process of building and implementing a training strategy begins. There are several recommended steps to accomplish this, which will be described in part two of this article appearing in the September issue.
Peter Greenbaum is NRCA's manager of education programs, and John Schehl is NRCA's director of training.
Training facts
According to the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), U.S. employers spent about $724 million on employee training during 2000. This figure is split equally between training materials and time away from work attending training classes. ASTD also reports the following:
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