In sports, teams have more people than job openings, so they’re able to develop their best players through a farm system. Being a professional roofer doesn’t have the same appeal, so Burns & Scalo Roofing has taken a nontraditional approach to a traditional problem.
“Professional sports teams have more supply than demand, but in business that’s not the case, especially in service industry businesses,” says Jack Scalo, president and CEO of Burns & Scalo. “We can’t find the people that want to do these jobs. They’re just not out there, and we have to get creative to solve a big problem.”
Scalo says finding hourly workers is getting harder, and you can’t put your head in the sand.
“The days are over when you can put an ad in the paper and just get experienced people to respond,” he says.
It becomes an impediment to growth, which has been the case for the $40 million company that employs about 300 people.
Burns & Scalo has tried multiple approaches. One that has worked is the government’s seasonal work visa program, H-2B.
Scalo says the 30 H-2B employees are some of the company’s best workers, but his concern is sustainability. The government could terminate the program or red tape could tie up workers.
This past year, the company hit on another solution that — although the success is in its infancy — looks like it could be an answer.
Building a bench
Burns & Scalo has created a six-week training program at its headquarters with help from the Energy Innovation Center and outside funding.
The instructors are retired employees who understand the industry and Burns & Scalo in particular. And the company’s HR Director Julie Booth works with nonprofits, which funnel through the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, to create a supply of pre-qualified students.
“The idea was really challenging my HR director to figure out how to put a program together that could provide a pipeline of people that could be a sustainable program that would start to push our workforce from the bottom up,” Scalo says.
In 2015, 40 people graduated, and Burns & Scalo hired 26 of those. That barely moved the needle, but Scalo is hopeful if they add 20 to 25 people for two, three or four years, it will make a real difference as they fill open positions, upgrade the existing workforce and promote from within.
“There’s no such thing as having too many good people,” he says. “In every company there are some people who could be upgraded, if there were better options. The more people we get to look at, that come through this program, the better we are.”
Talking turkey
But these candidates aren’t without their challenges, too, so they’ll need to keep making tweaks to the curriculum.
The training now teaches safety early on, and students wear personal protective equipment all day, every day, just like they would at a worksite. They’ve also moved as many of the classes onto the rooftop of the Burns & Scalo headquarters as they can.
“We need these guys to realize that we don’t install roofs inside a building,” Scalo says. “We have to deal with the wind, the sun, the rain and the temperatures.”
Burns & Scalo has its highest turnover with new employees who find the work harder and dirtier than expected.
“The beauty of this is that we basically get to date for six weeks before we get engaged. It’s like a dating game,” he says. “We get to see if they’re the right fit. And if they are not, then it’s best for both of us to not get started.”
The company finds out if somebody can show up, be on time, have the right attitude and retain information, traits Scalo says are hard to assess in an interview.
For example, Scalo walked by and saw one trainee sleeping as the instructor went over a PowerPoint. He made an example and told that trainee to leave.
He said to them: “If we didn’t have the need to hire you, we wouldn’t be doing this training. So please understand that you need to be putting your best foot forward here, if you really want to get hired. If you don’t, leave now. You won’t hurt our feelings. You’re taking up a slot that maybe someone else should be in.”
Scalo says don’t sugar coat it, and a good deal is only a good deal if it works for both parties.
He knows that the quality of trainees will vary from class to class, but recruiting should never stop.
“Finding the next good employee is like finding the next good sale. Our sales leads come from all directions, from many different sources,” he says.
“You have to cast a broad net and you have to be recruiting 365 days a year. You can’t just recruit when you need people,” Scalo says. “(Just like) you don’t just sell or chase a sale when you need the next sale.”
