The author of the article lays blame with the employers themselves. The problem is that companies don’t train anymore. They expect to hire fully skilled and experienced workers at lower than market wages. It notes that apprenticeship programs have largely disappeared, along with internal management training programs.

Why aren’t companies training? The article states that apprenticeship programs require too much cooperation among employers and bigger investments in training infrastructure than the companies are willing to provide. They also don’t want to make the investment in training a worker that someone else might hire away.

The author suggests that companies bring back some aspects of the apprentice training system. Namely, pay the employee less while the company provides the training. Also, look more for people who could (rather than already can) do the job and bring them up to speed. The best place to find those workers is to promote from within the company.

While it may seem old-fashioned to some, the construction industry has been employing this model for decades — especially in the union segment of the industry. The union labor agreement is the catalyst for employer cooperation and joint funding of training programs. Anyone who has seen the incredible training centers built by NECA-IBEW apprentice training committees around the country can attest to our industry’s substantial investment in a training infrastructure.

Our system not only trains new entrants into the workforce but also provides upgrade training to current employees. And because the training costs are shared for a common pool of workers, individual employers are less concerned about investing in training for a worker they may later lose.

Companies and industries in need of more highly skilled workers could learn something from union electrical contractors. Maybe we’re doing something right after all.

There were many new things about NECA 2011 San Diego. The conference hosted the first-ever NECA Energy Forum, an event that saw a capacity crowd and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback.  It would have been impossible for anyone sitting in the audience to miss one speaker after another reinforcing the same positive message: Emerging technologies represent the direction in which our industry is moving and represent a tremendous opportunity for any contractor willing to tackle a new way of doing business.

In addition to the Energy Forum, NECA also unveiled NECAWORKS™, an energy economic modeling tool. The web-based screening tool provides NECA members with the fundamental tools and resources to capture renewable and energy efficiency project opportunities by determining the Benefit/Cost Ratio. Since transitioning to a new way of doing business is never easy, even with the help of impressive tools like NECAWORKS, NECA went the extra mile in San Diego to describe the importance of business development.

IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill spent much of his time as a guest at the podium for NECA’s 2011 Board of Governors meeting detailing the IBEW’s new emphasis on business development and expressing his strong belief in its importance in recapturing lost market share and gaining new market share.  NECA President and President/CEO of Valley Electric Consolidated, Inc. Rex Ferry also stated the importance of business development for electrical contractors during his keynote address at the conference’s opening general session. Ferry spoke of how there was a new paradigm at work and that NECA members could no longer afford to sit around waiting for bids, but how they needed to proactively engage in business development to capture work.  He talked about how VEC, Inc. was doing just that.

NECA also successfully convened the first meeting of a new business development task force chaired by Daniel G. Schaeffer, NECA District 7 Vice President and President of Schaeffer Electric Company, as well as two meetings on the topic of business development. The first was an internal meeting of the business development working group for NECA and Labor-Management Cooperation Committee (LMCC) business developers, NECA chapter managers and staff working on business development, and IBEW business managers and staff working on business development. I was honored to host the meeting, and I had a great team of panelists: Jim Ayrer, IBEW International; Darlene Besst, Northern California Chapter; Jim Curran, St. Louis Chapter & IBEW Local 1, LMCC; Terry Hatch, Washington, Statewide LMCC; Bernie Kotlier, California, Statewide LMCC; Ken MacDougall, Penn-Del-Jersey Chapter; Thomas Martinez, Los Angeles Chapter & Local 11, LMCC; Jennifer Mefford, SE Michigan Chapter & Local 58, LMCC; and Karen Prescott, San Diego County Chapter.  Together, we updated the audience on our local and national initiatives and described the wide range of activities that constitute business development. James Willson, NECA Los Angeles County chapter manager, also spoke passionately at the event, as did President Ferry, reiterating his belief in the importance of business development.  The audience also deserves thanks for their interest, their questions and thoughtful interactions with the panelists.

The second business development meeting was held as a convention management seminar. Karen Prescott started off the meeting with introductions. I followed with a recap of the prior day’s meeting and emphasized the wide range of activities a successful business development program can consider.  Next, Jennifer Mefford gave an impressive presentation on the nuts and bolts of business development and how to get started when it seems like you don’t know where to begin. Bernie Kotlier closed with specific game changing examples, including the California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program (CALCTP), the Electric Vehicles Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP), and the Sustainable Sales Placement Program which is focused on retraining highly successful sales people on the art of selling sustainable services and placing these individuals at member contractor firms.

NECA will hold its next meeting on business development at the Association Executive Institute (AEI) in at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV on Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012.  You can also expect to hear more from me on our business development blog, along with guest blogs authored by my business development peers from throughout the country. They are doing some amazing work, and they are growing in numbers. I wish all of them could have spoken at this year’s conference, but you will hear more from them shortly.

I would like to close by giving thanks to all that help raised awareness of the importance of business development at this year’s conference. Emerging energy technologies and business development truly represent a paradigm shift for our industry and NECA will do everything in its power to help members prepare.

See recent energy solutions projects from NECA Members >> Learn more about NECA’s business and new market development strategy >>

Since I’ve lived in the D.C. area most of my life, it’s rare that I get to be a tourist in my own town. But this past Friday, I took at field trip to the Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon, where 20 university-led student teams from around the world, were given two years to design, build and operate an affordable energy-efficient single-family home powered by the sun.

The DOE developed 10 contests for grading team submissions to determine their successfulness in the real world. The “off-grid” homes were graded on: affordability, attractiveness, in-and-outdoor environmental conditions, practical living spaces, power production for home appliances, lighting, and the ability to produce hot water.

The unfortunate timing of this event landed it during a week with barely any sun, which made the competition extremely hard. Go figure, the Solar Decathlon, without any sun! I immediately noticed just how much these homes depended on natural or ambient light. When asked why the insides of the homes appeared dark and dreary, over and over I heard students patiently answer, “Well, it is pretty cloudy today.”

The University of Maryland team didn’t require cloudy excuses; their home was well lit and nicely landscaped. The WaterShed home was designed to promote a sustainable lifestyle, while protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through a holistic approach.

UMD Students tackled this obstacle by incorporating a modular constructed wetland to filter and recycle rain and graywater, a green roof improves energy efficiency and slows runoff, and an edible wall garden system and composter to encourage organic living practices.  WaterShed is a split-living design, with angled “butterfly” roofs that direct rainfall into the constructed wetland. Separate public and private living areas are connected by the bathroom and water axis. Having grown up in Maryland, I was particularly interested in this house, and after taking the tour I wasn’t at all surprised they took home this year’s top prize – Go Terps!

While touring new technologies and listening to students’ worldly interpretations of the “green market” is fun, it’s also my job. Since I work for electrical contractors, I know how our members are closely following these new markets. Energy efficiency upgrades and renewable power installations are becoming the bread and butter for some electrical contractors. The innovative strategies I saw at the Solar Decathlon will directly influence the future of commercial, industrial and residential electrical construction.

It’s imperative that we keep a close watch on these new technologies and develops training that keeps up with market innovation and customer demand. NECA works with the DOE and the NFPA to ensure that these new markets are implemented in a safe, effective and knowledgeable manner. The reassurance of hiring a qualified electrical contractor is what sets NECA contractors apart.

So, what’s my actual reason for loving Maryland’s award-winning WaterShed home? It closely follows my personal ambitions, by promoting a clean, renewable, organic and healthy lifestyle, right in my backyard. That, and crab cakes.

View all of my photos from the event on Flickr >>

Just before you were leaving town on your August vacation and much-needed family quality time, Congress passed legislation that would prevent the United States from defaulting on its credit obligations and created a 12-person House-Senate Super Committee (“Committee”) to consider additional deficit reductions.  The Committee has to submit a report of its recommendations by November 23 and Congress will be limited to vote up-or-down on the plan by December 23.  If Congress fails to act on the Committee’s recommendations, automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion will occur in domestic spending and defense.

Many believe the odds are stacked against the Super Committee agreeing on a package of spending cuts, let alone Congress concurring, without amending, the Super Committee’s recommendations.

However, if the naysayers are incorrect, and the Super Committee is effective at producing deficit reductions, it could very well change the way Washington does business and the way legislation is enacted.  By design, the Super Committee possesses enormous power as it supersedes the process by which legislation normally becomes law.  Legislation receives a hearing and markup in the committee of jurisdiction; however, a decent argument offers that tax and revenue legislation that has long fallen under the scope of the Ways and Means Committee now falls under the jurisdiction of the Super Committee.

While the relevant committees cannot be ignored, and thankfully, there are several tax-writers on the Super Committee, NECA, for the immediate future, must focus its advocacy on the Super Committee’s members.  Legislation to repeal the 3% withholding tax, incentives for electric vehicles and associated infrastructure and energy efficient investments for building owners could all be in play before the Super Committee.  NECA will need to respond with strategies to be fast, focused, and flexible, as it is now forced to advocate for beneficial provisions before a Committee with some of whom have, little, if any direct tax-writing experience or direct knowledge of the benefits created by those tax incentives.

Those arguing for greater transparency in the political process will undoubtedly lose out in this closed environment as the details of the reduction package will be restricted to the Committee’s members and House/Senate leadership.  However, those seeking action in Washington may benefit from potential streamlined decision-making as the Committee’s recommendations cannot be amended or modified; members will be limited to an up-or-down vote on the recommendations.

In conclusion, one can argue that drastic times call for drastic measures.  It is conceivable that if this process is successful in producing a bipartisan solution at reducing the deficit, it may well serve as a model for future budget deliberations.  If this sounds like a cop out, and it probably is, it’s too soon tell whether this political model will work, but keep your calendar clear on November 23, the date when the Super Committee’s recommendations are due to Congress.

My job at NECA is communications for both our members and the public, which has me going through different sources to see what’s working for other shops. I thought members of the NECA Women’s Peer Group (and their male colleagues) would appreciate this blog post from Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, one the most successful, independent PR agencies around. Edelman recently wrote about his goal to put women in at least half of the senior positions at the company by 2016. He also mentions that he plans to pass the company on to his three daughters, something many NWPG members can relate to.

“Our goal is simple—50% of those on Strategy Committee, Operating Committee, GCRM and practice leadership will be women by 2016,” Edelman wrote in the post about GWEN, or Global Women Executive Network, the company’s internal task force  exploring how to put more women in its top jobs. “They will have earned the positions; there will not be a quota.”

Edelman acknowledges that the PR industry has no problem attracting women. Some two-thirds of his workforce is female, he writes. But the ranks of women start to thin in leadership roles.

While he says that his company never overtly paid attention to the gender issue, Edelman seems keenly aware of the barriers to women entering the company’s executive suite, including the burdens of childcare and the frustrations of being passed over for plum assignments because moms have to leave early for soccer practice.  He even cites Sheryl Sandberg’s famous “Don’t Leave Before You Leave” essay. Many companies talk in general terms about increasing participation of women in the senior ranks. Few executives come out and set an actual numeric goal.

At the National Association of Women in Construction’s annual meeting in St. Louis two weeks ago, I was frantically trying to cram in all the sessions I could, while letting as many fellow attendees know about our fledgling women’s peer group here at NECA. In the midst of all this, I managed to catch one point made by speaker Tamara Vaughn:

“It’s been said women bring different strengths than men do to an office, and we shouldn’t try to be anything other than who we are. Women tend to be more collaborative and supportive – and that’s a good thing. But until more women are actually in control of businesses, making those senior executive decisions, we are going to have to recognize that we have to utilize some of the same strategies as men do in the office. And quit apologizing for that fact.”

Two very interesting points about women moving into senior leadership at their companies. What do you think about it? How should company CEOs and Boards start talking about getting more women to join their company’s senior ranks?

Special rules under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 apply to multiemployer plans, and they are scheduled to sunset in 2014. While that’s still over three years away, it has generated a lot of activity among policymakers and those interested in shaping the future of these plans.

I recently attended the formation meeting of a new coalition of multiemployer pension plan stakeholders. This group, comprised of both employer plan sponsors and unions, is attempting to draft and promote legislation prior to the 2014 sunset that will fundamentally reform the multiemployer pension plan model. The one thing on which everyone in the room agreed was that the current models for multiemployer pensions aren’t working and aren’t sustainable.

Right now, the choices for multiemployer pension are either defined benefit plans or defined contribution plans (or some variation thereof). Neither is performing very well in today’s financial environment. When interest rates are near zero, pension plan savings don’t benefit from the “miracle” of compound interest. Liabilities mount without offsetting fund increases. In defined benefit plans, the shortfall becomes a burden for contributing employers. In defined contribution plans, the participant bears that responsibility.

If the purpose of these plans is to attract workers to and keep them in an industry, as well as to provide them with retirement security, then they are coming up short no matter which type of plan is being used. A big part of the problem is risk. A big part of the solution will be sharing responsibility for, and managing, that risk.

That’s why we need a new model. Apparently, they exist. Multiemployer pension arrangements exist in other countries that aren’t at the same crossroads faced by U.S. plan sponsors and participants. Currently, our laws don’t allow some of these alternatives. So we may need to blow up the current system and fundamentally rewrite our multiemployer pension laws, as well as make substantial changes to ERISA, the tax code, and labor laws. That’s the task this new coalition has started down the road to accomplish.

For those wanting a quick fix to our pension plan problems, this isn’t it.  But ultimately, this effort promises a more permanent and sustainable solution. Stay tuned.

Building Information Modeling has been around for a while, starting with 2D CAD and continually evolving as better software and hardware became available. But, 2011 might be the so-called tipping point — the point where using BIM on construction projects is the rule, not the exception. Up to now, BIM has been used on big jobs, design-build jobs, or demonstration projects. BIM software and the computers needed to run it is expensive. Not every construction contractor, general or sub, could afford to buy it. The fact that different projects required different software didn’t make it any easier to get into BIM.

BIM requirements are showing up on more traditional delivery systems like design-bid-build. Clash-detection features inherent in BIM allow for the discovery of problems much sooner than they would have been discovered in the field using traditional layout techniques and field engineering. And the better coordination that results from using BIM can mean shorter schedules and fewer claims. Everyone benefits when projects run more smoothly.

But as BIM is required on more projects, some new questions arise. Questions like, “how many iterations should an electrical contractor be expected to perform as part of the base bid?” Or, “at what point does solving the interferences identified by clash detection become redesign?”

The second edition of The National BIM Standard – United States has been released by the buildingSMART alliance for a 30-day public-comment period; it’s scheduled to be published later this year. This version includes best practices and guidelines. NECA is a member of the buildingSMARTalliance, and a NECA member sits on the board.

The current BIM standard doesn’t address the questions posed here, but NECA is actively working with other industry stakeholder to get answers to these questions. I am active in a coalition that includes members from NECA, the Mechanical Contractors Association of American (MCAA) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) to determine how contactors might respond to these questions. The enthusiasm expressed by the participants for this effort is clear, our contractors and the industry will benefit from their efforts.

The industry is just beginning to see the benefits that BIM can provide. And, I believe that when everyone benefits from the advantages provided by BIM, BIM will be used on every project.

The timing was good for the Jobs for America Summit which I attended earlier this week. It made national news because Jeff Immelt, General Electric CEO and chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, addressed the group. The highlight for me, however, was the release of a new small business outlook survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

The survey of small business owners (annual company income of $25 million or less) tracks their attitudes about the impact of the political environment on the business environment and also includes their forecasts for upcoming business and hiring. Most NECA members fit this profile, so I assume it is at least partially reflective of their thoughts and forecasts.

Economists claim that small businesses are the engine for job creation and growth. So what are the hiring forecasts? Nearly 65% said they have no plans to add employees this year and about 15% are reducing their workforce. That means 80% are not hiring and only 20% are creating new jobs.

Why aren’t they hiring? Well, lack of work/orders/sales is the primary reason, but what’s behind the stagnation? The number one reason cited by small business owners is economic uncertainty. And the causes of economic uncertainty are the federal debt and deficit, regulations coming out of Washington, tax rates and tax code changes, and the requirements of the healthcare bill.

While small business owners are by nature an optimistic group, only 39% said that their own business’s best days are ahead of them. And an even more sobering number is that only 20% believe that the country’s best days are ahead.

While the debt and deficit are now the top agenda items for Congress and the White House, it doesn’t seem that our government leaders are doing much to confront the other causes of economic uncertainty. And until the uncertainty is resolved, it doesn’t look like small businesses will grow and create new jobs. Expect another thud next month.

The labor movement in the United States is a strong proponent of “Buy American.” Many NECA-member contractors share that philosophy.  Yet, I often run across the German sports car exception or the French wine exception or other such compromises.

Small businesses are proponents of “free enterprise,” yet we’re not adverse to business licensing or other restricted access to our trade or profession.

My point here is not to be critical but to note that statements of principle are not as clear-cut as we would like them to be.

NECA is currently struggling with its position on business set-asides.  What I’m talking about is federal programs that give special subsidies or preferences to some types of business over others.

NECA has a position against federal procurement set-asides.  The policy adopted by our Board of Governors states that NECA is in favor of the “elimination so far as is practicable of all federal and federally assisted procurement programs or practices which discriminate on the basis of size, race, sex, or business location.” In other words, we believe in open competition on an equal basis.

But what about help for small businesses?  The small business set-aside program has helped a number of our members get their businesses established.  We’ve encouraged government to break up large jobs into smaller packages so our average member can compete against large international constructors.

How about provisions in bid packages that give preferences to local versus traveling contractors?  How do you look at this if you’re one of NECA’s woman-owned enterprises?

See.  It’s not so easy.

How do you view this issue?  Should there be exceptions to the rule and what should they be?  Should we strictly adhere to this position, or is it time to set aside our policy on set-asides?

I have a Droid phone that features some of the Google-based apps. I especially like the GPS-type ones that are great when I travel. I can find restaurants, coffee shops, ATM machines, gas stations, motels and more with a click of a button. Google Goggles is pretty cool, too. I take a picture of the front of a restaurant, and then its menu, rating, and reservation number will appear.

Of course, I have a few games like Angry Bird. I also admit that I check news headlines and sports scores while sitting in the audience at meetings. (But never when Rex Ferry is speaking.)

I wondered what kind of apps we might develop for NECA, and I posed that question to our staff in an e-mail. The responses shot back to me immediately. Apparently, they had been thinking about the subject for a while as well.

Here are some ideas:

- Mobile viewer for necanet.org
- Portal for members, the “NECA” app – a one click source of all things NECA: Receive news, update membership profile, subscribe, purchase pubs, view calendar and register for meetings. It would be a fully customizable app for the membership.
- EEM, on-site “green” job estimates
- eSafetyLine
- MLU, on-site estimating tool
- Take-Action app, receive text alerts and click-to-send Congress/Senate letters on behalf of NECA’s issues
- Marketing tool app, easy resource for chapter managers/field staff. This would have updated NECA marketing materials that they could display on an iPad or phone when trying to recruit potential members.
- ECMag app – similar to NYTimes or Wall Street Journal app to view latest headlines, have text alerts when a topic of interest is referenced.
- Find a Contractor app – basically a mobile version of necaconnection.org.

Mike Thompson thinks that contractors might like an app that alerts them whenever one of their trucks pulls into a Hooters parking lot. I believe they make tracking ones like that for teenagers.

At any rate, I think it’s time we figured out how to develop some NECA apps. Let me know what your favorite apps are and if you have any suggested app solutions.