Celebrating Workforce Development at CONEXPO
BY Sandy Lender
Celebrate workforce development with RAP, AP, RGI at CONEXPO
Access to skilled labor and the worker shortage in general has been a persistent top-rated concern for construction and manufacturing companies in the United States since prior to the pandemic. Mike Mauzy, sales manager of Reliable Asphalt Products, Inc., Shelbyville, Kentucky, shared the truth contractors are living in the field: labor shortages are impeding progress throughout all construction sectors. Recruiting qualified candidates to our sector has become a key initiative for many of the national—and state—trade associations.
What the industry also faces is the loss of key individuals taking with them vital institutional knowledge. Mauzy spoke of the predicament. “Retiring long-tenured industry professionals are leaving a knowledge void that is nearly impossible to replace.” In his travels and consulting, he sees this compounding labor/retirement obstacle adding to the swaths of construction companies advertising for new hires.
Rogers Group’s Richard Warren and his granddaughter Lacey Ray Wilson are more proof this is a family industry. Wilson has joined the Tuscumbia location of Rogers Group.
We can stress the importance of bringing new workers to the asphalt community while also recognizing the value of what we have in place. At this year’s CONEXPO-CON/AGG tradeshow at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Reliable Asphalt Products will host a workforce development signing ceremony on the stage in its booth in the central hall—booth C32804—to do just that.
The original equipment manufacturer (OEM), alongside AsphaltPro Magazine, will welcome the Rogers Group Inc. (RGI), Nashville, Tennessee, to highlight and honor a new worker joining our industry, a current worker who is being promoted within the industry, and a retiring worker who has shared some of his institutional knowledge for our March edition.
Founded in 1908, RGI, is the largest privately owned construction aggregates company in the United States. RGI provides crushed stone, sand, gravel, and asphalt for infrastructure projects across multiple states, with a focus on quality, safety, and community engagement.
Three Pillars of Workforce Development
There are many facets of workforce development; the three that Reliable Asphalt Products and RGI will focus on during the workforce development signing ceremony are
- new hire,
- career promotion and,
- retirement
The new hire being signed during the ceremony will be announced closer to the big day. The worker being advanced is this month’s Women of Asphalt feature and newly promoted Assistant Corporate Asphalt Plants Manager Brianna Overstreet. The worker retiring after 49 years in the asphalt industry is also from the plants division: Richard Warren.
As Mauzy pointed out, bringing new workers to our industry in time to let them train alongside our veteran workers is key to our industry’s survival.
“Finding qualified industry newcomers to learn as much as possible from long-tenured industry veterans before they retire is the priority,” Mauzy said. “Retaining and training existing employees throughout their careers is a key workforce development component. Lastly, recognizing employees’ accomplishments throughout all career phases not only yields retention dividends, but it also is the right thing to do and communicates respect and appreciation. Recognizing retiring professionals is respectful, while at the same time, creates a culture of appreciation.”
“We’re hosting this signing ceremony for Rogers Group on our stage in our booth to applaud one of their new hires, one of their promoted employees, and a manager retiring after five decades of service,” said Reliable Asphalt Products CEO Charles Grote. “We’re proud to be partners with Rogers Group to facilitate their business and to celebrate their people.”
Reliable Asphalt Products invites members of the industry and press to join company executives at its booth C32804 in the central hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Wednesday, March 4, at 9:30 a.m. The company will share the booth’s stage to stress the importance of welcoming new members to our industry while validating and honoring the advancing and retiring members of our industry.