The next labor shift

The roofing industry has experienced a major labor shift during the past 25 years, moving from a primarily Anglo-Saxon and African-American workforce to a significant Latino workforce. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], the term "Latino" "refers to persons who identified themselves in the enumeration process as being Spanish, Latino or Hispanic. Persons of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race.")

This labor force shift requires managing communications, language, training, recruiting, cultural relevance changes and more. The companies who "get it" succeed. Those who don't continue to struggle with their abilities to recruit and retain viable labor forces.

And get ready for another major labor shift in the roofing industry. It's coming, and it's coming quickly.

Who they are

The next labor shift will be from first-generation Latinos who came to the U.S. strictly for the purposes of working and supporting their families to second-generation Latinos who grew up in the U.S. Second-generation Latinos are much different from their parents and require a different management approach.

BLS predicts that by 2020, 74 percent of all new labor force growth in the U.S. will be Latino. The growth primarily will be from second-generation Latinos, and most of the growth in the Latino demographic is not coming from other countries. The U.S. is the third-largest country in the world where Spanish is a major language, and Latinos have almost triple the birth rate of the rest of the U.S. and are an average age of more than 10 years younger than the rest of the U.S. population.

Following are 10 distinctions you should consider as the second wave of the Latino labor force in the U.S. begins:

• First-generation Latinos are motivated by supporting their families in the U.S. and in their home countries. This causes them to seek overtime, and they are willing to come early to work and go home as late as possible. Second-generation Latinos are motivated to show their parents their sacrifice was worth it and to create a better life.
• Second-generation Latinos want quality of life. They won't work in the same manner as their parents. This doesn't mean they won't work hard; it means they don't see themselves as being here strictly to work, so you'll need to treat them as true associates. They won't want to work long hours, so you'll need to consider management approaches that are more conducive to attracting and retaining them.
• First-generation Latinos have high levels of respect for (some would say a fear of) their U.S. supervisors and say "sí, señor" to almost everything even if they say something different behind your back. Second-generation Latinos will tell you what they really think, and you'll have to achieve mutual respect with them to succeed.
• First-generation Latinos are Spanish-dominant. Second-generation Latinos are English-dominant or bilingual in Spanish and English. Some second-generation Latinos struggle with Spanish and English, so their language skills should be tested on both fronts, especially if you are using them as conduits for communication or in leadership positions.
• Many times, first-generation Latinos do not accept second-generation Latinos as real Latinos. This can create difficulty in the workplace, especially if a second-generation Latino's Spanish skills are weak. It also creates a lost sense of identity in the second-generation Latino that can cause the person to develop interpersonal relationship habits that are not healthy to the overall mission of the enterprise.
• First-generation Latinos have a deep love for their home countries and though their bodies are here, their hearts are there. Second-generation Latinos respect their heritage but feel fully and completely American and are deeply offended when treated differently.
• There are roughly 55 million Latinos in the U.S. Of these, nearly 40 million are second-generation. If you create your recruiting systems strictly around trying to find a "hard-working Mexican or Central American laborer" as I've heard so many say, you will be paddling upstream and most likely get taken under in the cross-current.
• The masses of first-generation Latinos did not have access to higher levels of education. More than half didn't finish high school. Second-generation Latinos have had access to higher levels of education, and graduation rates are continuing to increase. Many want to be leaders and business owners. They will be motivated by mid- to long-term employment opportunities.
• First-generation Latinos have lower income levels than second-generation Latinos. Many second-generation Latinos enjoy the finer things their parents didn't. They typically live in nicer homes, drive nicer cars and dress like the rest of the people in the U.S. The purchasing power of Latinos in the U.S. is higher than any other minority group. For example, in 2000, Latino purchasing power was $490 billion, according to Statista, New York, an online statistics portal. In 2015, it is $1.5 trillion, effectively tripling in 15 years. By 2017, Latino purchasing power is projected to be $1.7 trillion. By all accounts, this is a significant financial shift of which you must be aware as you structure opportunities for second-generation Latinos.
• First-generation Latinos almost always are married to other Latinos. Second-generation Latinos many times marry outside of their ethnicity, increasing the level of mainstream U.S. culture in their lives.

Get ready

My father is Puerto Rican and was one of 27 children and had an eighth-grade education; my mother was an orphan from Kentucky. I am a Puerto Rican hillbilly! I deeply love the Latino culture and people while having a deep appreciation for U.S. history and heritage. I have lived this whole experience.

I am fully bilingual and bicultural. There are a lot of second-generation Latinos like me who were raised in humble surroundings by parents who were trying to make a better life for their children. I was fortunate to have a father who obligated me against my will to get a good education and am indebted to him to this day. I understand how difficult and complex this can be for families and businesses.

And I am one of many. In 2013, there were 25,482,409 Latinos in the labor force, and of these, 12,825,138 were U.S.-born, according to the Pew Research Center. If you learn to embrace and effectively work with this second wave of Latinos, you'll set your business on a solid foundation for many years to come.

Ricardo González is founder and CEO of Bilingual America, Atlanta.