The Myth of "Social Benefits"

At many of the meetings that I have attended for these discussions, one of the most disturbing things I keep hearing is "those contractors are getting huge amounts of money for these projects, therefore they should do more for their community."

This is perhaps one of the most insulting things I have heard in many years. The accusation against our industry that we do not give back to our community, that we are not part of our community, is not just insulting but reprehensible. 

It is damaging that the groups of soapbox activists are gaining the ear of politicians to try and implement social policy on to the construction industry with the belief that this will fix the many injustices and problems that plague us today.

It is amazing that these organizations and people who have never designed, engineered or built anything in their entire lives feel that they are justified in dictating to us how we hire and build, and carry out our professional duties as constructors.

It seems some of them didn't get the memo! Our industry has been trying for many years now to attract new people to our industry. This is been an ongoing effort by every sector. In case these people have missed the news, we have a shortage of trained professionals and tradespeople.

They have sought to exploit this for their own purposes by convincing politicians to create complicated and questionable policies and programs to inflict on the construction industry and pretend that it is actually working. Propaganda regarding some of these has been very easy to find but when you look at who is putting out those reports, it is not those of us entrusted with trying to make it work, rather it is the bureaucrats and talking heads trying to justify that what they have done is actually working.

It is very clear that these people do not respect our industry nor do they recognize it is a true profession that requires skilled people to carry out the work that we do. We have tried for years, if not decades, to convince guidance teachers and schools to promote the construction industry as something other than the last resort. To assume that we can simply pluck people from the street and throw them in the construction industry without the necessary training is not only dangerous, it is foolhardy and puts people's lives at risk. Yet these same people believe that the construction industry can simply hire people and put them to work overnight.

Our industry, in every sector, has been working for years to attract new people to our industry to fill this gap. It was not us who shut down all the trade schools, shop classes and economic classes in the schools. It was not us who promoted the professions of teacher and lawyer and doctor - all needed - and treated our industry as the career of last resort.

Guidance teachers that we have talked to for years were just not interested, so after years of neglect, we are faced with a massive shortage of workers and we are doing everything in our power to attract them.
We have high paying, well-supported jobs at every level in our industry and we are doing everything to fill those jobs. We do not need a group of self-centered non-professional construction experts to tell us how to get that done. What we need are politicians who understand the need and what has to be done to prepare people to enter our industry.

Here are the realities of trying to implement a system in this country without putting the proper framework in place. Here is what we know to be the truth when it comes to such programs.

• There are no "success stories" from the contractor side. Establishing targeted hiring requirements actually goes against the tried-and-true approach of hiring the best person for the job. It forces contractors to establish a two-tiered hiring and employment process, which creates a lot of problems in the workplace. 
• These types of requirements only work on very large dollar value projects that take more than a year to complete. Small projects with completion dates less than one year are not suited for hiring, training, and employing someone as a requirement of contract. 
• However this process is developed the owners/politicians must account for these requirements through a provisional allowance in the contract. This evens the playing field and ensures that low-bid contracts are not won or lost on a contractor “playing games” with this requirement.
• Non-compliance penalties for this contract requirement do not work. They will only serve to increase the risk, and therefore the price, on public sector contracts.
• For the last decade, contractors across the industry and province have been on a hiring blitz. Despite millions spent on promotional materials and marketing campaigns, substantial increases in wages, and benefits and bonuses added into the employment process, the industry as a whole has not been able to close the skilled trade’s employment gap. The industry will hire anyone interested in a job, as long as they come trained and willing to work. Including a requirement in a contract will not make this situation any easier to accomplish.
• Finally, this is not a one-way street. If owners/politicians are serious about this, then they need to set up all of the front-end infrastructure to support this program BEFORE it is put in as a contract requirement money needs to be spent by the buyers of design/construction services and they need to be as accountable as the contractors in seeing this program succeed, otherwise it will fail. 

The “successful” programs in the US and Europe follow the above noted recommendations and those are

1. Mega projects only;
2. Significant training dollars being spent by the owner/public buyer to prepare potential candidates;
3. Provisional allowance items in contracts to ensure everyone is operating off an even playing field; and
4. NO PENALTIES. It's best efforts only. 

All of this speaks to the desire of the industry at all levels to attract people and provide good paying jobs and benefits for people from all walks of life who have a desire to work in our industry.

We are proud to be working with some like-minded owners and municipalities who understand this and simply are not prepared to implement one-sided ill-thought-out programs that will fail.

We are working hard to submit ideas methods and programs to the current government to replace the ill-fated College of Trades. We are involved, we are our community, and we will succeed where these soapbox activists’ tactics will fail.