The construction industry is the backbone of our cities and infrastructure. It builds our transportation, office buildings, roads, and homes. Whether we realize it or not, communities rely on the construction industry each and every day. But the jobs of past generations built on hard manual labour, long hours, and hand-shake deals are on their way out. Roles are changing — and so is the environment.

The industry now has an urgent challenge: attracting and retaining a workforce that can meet the complexity and demand of today’s projects. It hasn’t been the top priority it needs to be, and we’re feeling the burn.

But it’s not just about building a pipeline of future leaders. For many in the industry, climbing up isn’t the only path forward. We need people who are able and willing to adapt, learn, and grow, and we need to create new opportunities for them. You might think these are future problems, but they’re not. They’re problems of today and the same old solutions won’t cut it. We can’t hire our way out of this problem — it requires a fresh, strategic approach to upskilling, reskilling, training, and employee engagement.

Education, exposure, and experience lead to more engagement

All workers need the opportunity to grow. Some may have leadership goals, but many don’t. We often put so much focus on the need to grow leaders that we fail many of our workers. We can still help them forge their paths to success.