Training & Continuing Education Trends in the Electrical Industry

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Beck Ireland, Staff Writer

Why slashing your training budget during an economic downturn may not be the best decision, and how some electrical engineering and contracting firms are resisting the urge to cut spending and ramp up training efforts instead

Despite the slowdown in construction caused by the U.S. economic recession, Jackson, Mich.-based engineering, consulting, and construction management firm Commonwealth Associates is in the second year of a two-year expansion of its training and professional development program. “We're going like gangbusters,” says Dennis DeCosta, P.E., president of Commonwealth Associates. “We've identified a core group of skills that we want to build into our people. The next wave is building in a particular set of technical skills.”

This year, the company's employees will have an average of 80 hours of formal training available to them, which includes license and certification maintenance as well as professional development for each employee at every level of the company. “We're really trying to have a broad-based training and development curriculum that helps all of our employees simply do things better — whether it's an admin learning the latest new software, our accounting department learning an expedited way to automate their side of the business, or project managers leading and directing projects,” DeCosta says.

For Commonwealth Associates, training and development is a long-term investment, one that reaches beyond the current economic situation. “The real payoff is five to 10 years down the road,” DeCosta explains. “Hopefully, that training will allow us to continue to do excellent work in the future and maintain our good reputation so we keep our repeat business.”

Low budget

Fig. 1. When asked if their company’s training budgets were going up, down, or staying the same for 2009, almost half of the respondents said their companies don’t have a training budget.

Contrary to the Commonwealth Associates' plan, a ramped-up training budget is rare during a time of recession. In a recent survey of 300 mechanical, electrical, facilities, utilities, and plumbing professionals conducted by MEP Jobs, an Urbandale, Iowa-based online job board and resume bank for professionals in the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing industries, 15% percent of respondents said their company's training budget has decreased for 2009, while almost half said their employer does not have a training budget (Fig. 1). “Like many areas of business, training initiatives are seeing budget cuts,” says Jeff Dickey-Chasins, VP of marketing for MEP Jobs.

However, cutting training budgets altogether may not be the most prudent action during a recession. (For tips on training on a tight budget, see Recession Training for the Manufacturing Industry). Layoffs and downsizing often put the remaining employees in new situations with additional responsibilities, and they may not have the know-how or natural ability to succeed, which could put your business in even more danger. “When those internal changes take place, there's a significant risk that the people are being placed into positions that they're not capable of satisfactorily performing,” says Manny Avramidis, senior VP, Global Human Resources, American Management Association (AMA), the New York-based management training and professional development organization. “It's critical that you train the people who are left behind because when this is all said and done, it will be those people who get you through these difficult times.”

Additionally, adding new equipment and services to your firm's list of offerings may be a way to build a competitive edge. “As contractors start dealing with new technologies or exposing new people to new technologies, some training is going to have to continue,” says Bob Baird, VP for training and development for the national IEC program based in Alexandria, Va.

Furthermore, the slowdown in projects may provide the time and opportunity for additional classes and seminars or even a mentoring program now that the schedules of the more experienced workers have eased up a bit. “There's certainly no better time to regroup the troops and train them when they have some time from a slowdown on the business side,” Avramidis says.

Finding time for its most trusted workers to take time off for training is one of the biggest challenges of Commonwealth Associates' intense training program. “We keep our best people pretty busy, so trying to break them loose from projects to do teaching can be difficult,” DeCosta says.

Therefore, taking advantage of a slowdown by offering training is one way to keep your workers busy when there isn't a job site to go to. “It's allowing them time to come to training guilt-free,” says Reina Mora-Blackwelder, executive director of the Florida West Coast chapter of the Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC), Clearwater, Fla. “It's a wonderful opportunity for them to come.”

Required reading

In tough times, it seems that the firms still allotting time and money to training focus on fundamentals. “During this time, people are usually only trained in their technical skills,” Avramidis says.

Accordingly, required continuing education and license and certification maintenance are at the forefront of most curricula. “I can easily say that with the uncertain economy, people are being cautious,” Baird says. “But there are ongoing state requirements in many locations for continuing education in order for people to maintain their licenses. In those cases, people have to have that training.”

In Connecticut, for example, the state requires all license holders with a Connecticut license to have seven hours of education annually in order to renew their license.

Recently, the Georgia IEC chapter has concentrated its curriculum on specific state requirements, such as license renewal, Soil and Erosion Certification, and OSHA 10 and 30. The state recently adopted the 2008 National Electrical Code (NEC), which went into effect on January 1, so the organization is providing classes on those changes. In addition, the chapter is making a concentrated effort to provide training that may have an effect on its members' bottom lines, preparing classes on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and on a new lien law, which will go into effect in March.

“We're really trying to stay close to what's important to operating their business,” says Niel Dawson, executive director for IEC's Atlanta and Georgia chapters. “Now is the time to hone your workers' skills if you want them to be more productive. Margins are tighter than ever, and there's more competition, meaning your workers have to be more productive than ever. You need to keep that productivity up.”

Out of pocket

According to Dawson, the recession has had more of a depressing effect on higher-end training, such as foremen and management training, than on general workforce training. “On the higher end, you have fewer people to draw from — it's not as tactically oriented,” he explains. “The cost to bring in a trainer for that level of training is usually $6,000 for the day. If I only get 20 people, then you divide 20 into $6,000 and that's $300, which hasn't paid for the travel of the trainer or any of our overhead. Sometimes, we will run a class at cost, but that still means the class has to be $300 — and that's pricey.”

Continue on Page 2