Developing the Next-Generation Workforce…

Recognizing the importance of engaging younger members, the Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association’s (PAPGA) board of directors has established a GeneratioNext Committee.

Mark Delehanty of Independence Propane (Green Lane), an early initiator of the idea, noted that attracting quality employees has been an ongoing industry problem for several years. “As our workforce gets older, there is a lot of experience falling off and not being replaced,” he said, adding the problem applies to all types of propane industry employees, including drivers, technicians, office staff, and management. Keeping PAPGA relevant is the second goal of the committee. As more senior propane company employees retire, fewer people are stepping in to take their places as association board and committee members.

“Another component of GeneratioNext is getting the youths that are out there in the member companies involved in the association and giving them kind of a pathway into the leadership of the association,” Delehanty explained. Propane marketer Mike George of E.F. Laudenslager (Orefield) is co-chair of the committee.

The idea took shape while Delehanty was PAPGA president from 2012 to 2014 and accelerated when he was immediate past president. The inaugural meeting took place in the summer of 2015.

Delehanty, who is 40, explained that he was in his early 30s when discussions about this type of group began. “We didn’t officially kick-off GeneratioNext as a committee until a year ago, although discussions about these concerns started much earlier than that,” he noted. “Then I had the idea to come up with a committee to attract fresh faces, being a fresh face myself at the time.”

GeneratioNext is intended for propane industry members who are hesitant or don’t know how to get involved with the state association. “There’s a shyness factor, I guess. They don’t want to step up and say, ‘I want to be involved’ because they don’t know what the path is. We hope to create a pathway for someone who may be a little shy or apprehensive about expressing an interest to be involved and making it easier for them.”

Another component of GeneratioNext is PA Propane Pinnacle Partners, or P4. The inaugural meeting took place on Oct. 12 and is similar to the National Propane Gas Association’s (NPGA) Benchmarking Council, except geared more toward employees and less toward upper management, whose companies may not be able to afford to send them to NPGA’s Benchmarking Council meetings.

Delehanty’s efforts have already begun to work. As of early October, 23 members signed up to attend the inaugural meeting. Due to limited seating, the GeneratioNext committee members were invited prior to opening the invitation up to all PAPGA members, which includes marketers and associate members.

PAPGA executive director Shelby Bell said, “PA Propane Pinnacle Partners, or P4, is an excellent member benefit and a great way to gain wisdom and knowledge from peers.”

Topics to be discussed at the meetings are also an important component of P4. In addition to discussions on the GeneratioNext committee vision, initial topics on the agenda include routing software, tank monitoring, degree day usage, and methods for hiring new employees and the best types of media on which to post job openings.

Those topics will be under discussion with the goal of exposing attendees to ideas other than what they see every day at their own companies.

“People get tunnel vision in the way their particular company or operations does a certain thing,” Delehanty said. “Maybe we’re talking about a service manager or dispatcher that would not necessarily fit into the mold of what the Benchmarking Council does. It seems topics there are at a higher level.” PA Propane Pinnacle Partners provides an opportunity for a dispatcher to meet another dispatcher, or an office person who does collections.

“This is the next tier, which is the future of the industry,” Delehanty added. “The person who is the dispatcher today will be the general manager in five to 10 years. GeneratioNext and P4 provide opportunities to get involved in the association, meet their peers, and gain knowledge.”

In the future, as attendance increases and topics become more company-specific, P4 will be structured similar to the Benchmarking Council, where meetings will be set up so participants will not have to worry about sharing sensitive information with their competitors.