Construction Law
Tips for Training Adult Workers Part 1
The construction industry is aging, and although contractors are actively seeking ways to attract young, skilled workers to the project site, these efforts have been largely unfruitful to this point. As a result, contractors must contend with a workforce composed of established workers who have been working in construction for years. Unfortunately, new innovations in the world of construction require these aging workers to pick up new skills if they want to stay relevant.
In this two-part series, the Fort Lauderdale construction lawyers at Cotney Attorneys & Consultants will discuss important tips for training adult workers. Your workforce might be composed of experienced construction professionals, but it’s important to understand how to train them to continue serving the industry as efficiently and effectively as possible if you want to continue your success in the long term.
Understanding the Needs of Adult Workers
Maximizing the efficacy of your training programs is imperative if you want to meet your project deadlines and deliver the best possible product to the owner. If you embrace sound training practices and follow a strict set of principles that cater to the demographics of your workforce, you can greatly increase their productivity and therefore your profits.
Focus on utilizing proven adult-centric learning techniques to help your team develop new skills. This should form the core of your training regimen. One example of an effective training methodology is peer-to-peer training that uses activity-based learning principles to improve comprehension. Peer-to-peer training allows you to develop your best workers into leaders while simultaneously strengthening the bond between workers. This type of training tends to be more effective than computer-based training (CBT). Although CBT is convenient, its overall effectiveness is debatable, so if you plan to utilize it, be sure to incorporate it into your activity-based learning.
When the time comes to develop your training plan, try to utilize activity-based learning for around two-thirds of your allotted training hours. In addition, encourage instructors to speak plainly to meet the needs of workers with varying learning abilities and educational backgrounds.
Meeting the Needs of Adult Workers
Before you implement new safety and health training procedures, perform a needs assessment to ensure that you are addressing existing, pertinent problems. A needs assessment can help you gain valuable insights about your workers’ knowledge, experience, learning styles, and more. Training is more valuable when it is tailored to the needs of your workers and your projects, so this assessment is critical if you want to capitalize on the opportunity to improve productivity.
Once your workers have completed training, evaluate them to see if the training has produced the desired results. This evaluation can help you assess whether or not your current training methodologies are comprehensive and cost effective. In part two, we will discuss other considerations for training adult workers.
If you would like to speak with a Fort Lauderdale construction lawyer, please contact us today.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.