Multiple Strategies Underway To Recruit Propane Industry Workforce

Trade organizations and individual propane marketers need to spread the word that there are jobs available in the propane industry—good jobs and lots of them. So said several attendees at a meeting of NPGA’s workforce development task force held Sept. 30 during the association’s 2018 Fall board of directors meeting and related committee meetings. NPGA, the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), state associations, and individual marketers are pursuing several strategies that were mentioned at the meeting.

“In a tight labor market, we have to work to make this industry be seen as an employment destination,” said Alex Gresham, director of human development at Blossman Gas (Ocean Springs, Miss.). “We have plenty of jobs that won’t be outsourced overseas and whether someone is just starting out or established in their transportation careers, there are opportunities for continued professional growth and stability within our industry.”

Among the ideas and projects mentioned at the meeting were the following:

Blossman Gas provided a backdrop and talent from locations in North Carolina for a PERC-funded video project recently. Other areas of the country are to be captured soon in videos that will show all the benefits of working in our industry. These “day in the life” videos will show younger people who have worked in positions such as route drivers, transport drivers, service technicians, and customer service representatives. Gresham added that the videos will highlight what their experiences have been like while progressing in their jobs, such as ongoing education, making a difference in their communities, and providing for their families.

Eric Kuster, director, safety and certification at NPGA, offered an update on the industry’s work on developing a registered apprenticeship program. The goal is to develop a program approved by the Department of Labor that will be “plug-and-play,” with all the details of the program contained in a packet. This will enable marketers to take it to their state office of apprenticeship for approval as well as work with state workforce development boards to request funds to support training. He said the industry is planning to have a formal submission to the Department of Labor by the first of the year. Registered apprenticeship programs are initially being developed for transport drivers, delivery drivers, and service technicians, but other job classifications can be added.

Marketers should offer roles for new employees who want to become drivers, rather than just telling job seekers to come back when they are 21 and have their CDL, said Chris Earhart, president of Dixie Gas & Oil (Verona, Va.). “We need a way to get people right out of high school, something that doesn’t require a CDL, but where they can be valuable to the company.”

Another way to get the word out about opportunities available in the propane industry is to work with local schools, said Judy Taranovich, president and owner of Proctor Gas (Proctor, Vt.). “I’m not as concerned about training as I am about finding people to train,” she said. “I don’t want to take them from other companies.” To teach young people about propane, she presents a Propane Kids Day at a local elementary school each year (BPN, August 2018).

Taranovich also works to inform other groups. She recently spoke with a group that hosted an event called a “sophomore summit,” where they bring sophomores in from area high schools and present different local job opportunities. When Taranovich asked if the group said anything about CDL drivers, she was told they didn’t, because they wanted to present jobs that offered sustainable wages for the area. “When I told her [in our area] these types of jobs would start at $18 to $20 an hour plus benefits, depending on experience, and go up from there, she had no idea.”

Propane marketers should advertise what the jobs pay, said Jesse Lord, cofounder of Vets 2 Techs. Currently, most do not. “The two things people want to know about a job are the location and the salary—that’s what they put into job searches,” Lord said. “How are you going to hire people if you don’t advertise what it pays?” Vets 2 Techs, an organization that helps veterans find careers in the oil and propane industry, hosts job listings at vets2techs.com. As of the time of the task force meeting, 194 veterans had been hired through the Vets 2 Techs website for jobs in the oil, propane, transportation, HVAC, and financial industries. —Steve Relyea