Is Your Business Prepared to Attract a Future Workforce?

The propane industry — like every other industry — is facing a shortage of knowledgeable and skilled workers. With 78 million baby boomers projected to retire by 2025, a number of factors are contributing to a workforce shortage situation, including new priorities of the millennial generation, a focus on every student being advised to get a college degree, changes in labor market demand, and a shifting focus of the education and workforce system.

Research tells us that industry will need at least 4.7 million new workers with post-secondary certificates and that we will fall short of that goal by three million workers. Research also tells us that millennials are more diverse than any other generation, and their approach to learning and work is unlike what’s been seen in previous generations. Millennials live in a digitally-enriched, high-tech environment and expect the same environment in the workplace. This generation also looks for social value when making decisions about where to work. What does this mean for the propane industry? It means every business in the industry is competing for the time and attention of prospective workers. It means the propane industry needs to rethink how it recruits, hires, and trains its workforce. It also means the industry must reach out to students in high school and begin communicating the value and benefits of working in the propane industry. It means the propane industry must think and act differently than it has in the past and it must do so now.

In her presentation on Recruitment, Training, and Retention: Planning and Preparing Your Future Workforce at the 2018 Southeastern Convention & International Propane Expo, Janet Bray explored the issues and opportunities that impact the propane industry as it faces challenges with an aging workforce and the retention of new employees. Bray, chief strategist and founder of Bray Strategies, brings a unique perspective and vision to best practices for connecting education and industry for a relevant, skilled workforce. With her 40-year tenure in the association management profession, Bray has provided leadership to a variety of associations in strategic planning, education program development, outreach to related professions and publics, and creation of innovative programs and services.

For more than 11 years, Bray served as the executive director of the Association for Career and Technical Education, a not-for-profit association representing over 30,000 professionals across the United States. She currently provides expertise to numerous associations including the Industry Workforce Needs Council, National Restaurant Association Education Foundation, Manufacturing Skills Standards Institute, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Career Readiness Institute, Pathways to Prosperity project, National Association of Workforce Boards, and Department of Labor.

She represents the career and technical education and workforce profession on a number of boards and advisory groups, including the Home Builders Institute Board of Trustees, Manufacturing Skills Standards Council, National Coalition of Certification Centers, Physicians Assistants Foundation, HVACR Education Foundation, and ANSI Certificate Program Accreditation Committee.

Bray served as the program coordinator for the Apprenticeship Forward Conference and is working with the hospitality, automotive, and propane industries to develop registered apprenticeship programs. She has authored or co-authored several articles including Developing Human Capital: Meeting the Growing Global Need for a Skilled and Educated Workforce, and the Trends in National Policy chapter in Career Pathways, Education with a Purpose, by Dan Hull. In addition, Bray is a co-author of the 2015 white paper, Transforming Career Counseling: Bridging School to Career in the Workforce of the Future. —Andrea Young