The demand for workers in the highway construction field is growing at a rate that far outpaces the supply of available workers. A 2021 survey by the Associated General Contractors of America found nearly 90% of construction firms have a hard time finding qualified workers.
As Baby Boomers retire, departments of transportation across the country are looking to hire in previously untapped populations, such as women and racial minorities.
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is taking an additional step to understand how best to recruit and retain candidates from these backgrounds. And Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow, a clinical associate professor of business law and management at the Kelley School of Business Indianapolis, has earned a grant to create a roadmap for this work.
“A couple years ago, the government passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law providing $550 billion in funding for state departments of transportation to improve roads, bridges, and mass transit. However, the state departments and construction companies were having a difficult time attracting and hiring enough highway construction workers, particularly women and minorities, to do the work,” Charlotte said. “Yet, based on the demographics and workforce needs, there is tremendous opportunity to fill the ranks of the transportation industry with a fully diverse workforce.”
The two-year, $114,000 grant from INDOT funds Charlotte’s research to develop comprehensive training and a toolkit for recruitment and retention of women and racial minorities in the heavy highway industry. Leaning on her expertise in management and her interest in enhancing jobs for women and minorities where they’re underrepresented, Charlotte began this work by doing a national scan of what resources are available to these populations. She found that various states have rolled out similar toolkits to recruit, train, and retain women and minority workers. She’s also been studying the barriers to industry entry these populations face.
“Especially for women, the barriers aren’t always obvious, but they’re real. Project managers must travel to job sites morning, day, and evening, and that may cause issues in childcare and challenges in employee retention,” Charlotte said. “Hiring practices can also be a challenge because people in this industry often hire who they know, and it’s a male-dominated field. For some Latina candidates, there may be a language barrier with the hiring managers. Ultimately, a lot of women and racial minorities simply don’t know these jobs exist.”
Building public awareness
Public awareness is a huge key to this work. Not only do many populations of workers not know about highway construction jobs, but they often think these careers are limited to working as a flagger alongside the road or other boots-on-the-ground work.
This issue is clear to women professionals in the industry, who’ve climbed the ladder of the heavy highway construction field. Merideth Hughes, a senior plant accountant for Milestone Contractors, and Amy Henningfield, contracts and compliance manager at Superior Construction, volunteer their time to a group called Women IN Roads. They visit schools to help girls and educators understand the lucrative and fulfilling professional roles available to them within the construction industry.
“The barrier for women is definitely the stereotype that construction isn’t a viable career for them,” Amy said. “Merideth and I are getting in front of girls in middle and high schools to expose them to potential careers in heavy civil construction, and it’s really taking off. Plus, more and more educators are realizing that construction is a great career path for women.”
Amy discovered construction when she was a young, single mother in her early 20s. She worked her way up to a leadership role, having returned to college to earn a bachelor’s degree and an MBA. Merideth found her way to construction accounting after leaving a career in banking. They both love their jobs, their teams, and what they feel women uniquely contribute to the workforce.
“The men I work with want us here. They know we can sometimes be more detail oriented and think outside the box,” Merideth said. “There is a place for us here.”
Both women feel passionately that women can pursue an excellent career path in construction, where there’s even greater potential earning power for women.
“The wage gap between men and women is much smaller in the construction industry. Women in other industries are making anywhere from 60 to 80% of what men are, but in construction, women make 95% of what men do,” Merideth said. “The research Charlotte is doing is very important because it shows the growing need for these workers, and it also puts pressure on the industry to prioritize hiring these workers.”
“It’s evident we have this talented resource in women,” Amy added. “We need to make it an area of focus: We need to find, train, and retain women. We need to let them lead and let them grow.”
Building a construction talent pipeline
Charlotte is meeting with groups like Women IN Roads and other organizations to understand the need for construction workers and the barriers to hiring them. In high schools, for instance, Charlotte says construction firms often meet resistance to recruiting women and minority students because educators don’t see the field as a viable career option. While construction firms are eager to hire minority candidates, there’s simply a lack of awareness in these communities that construction jobs are available and lucrative.
“One of the things I look forward to showcasing is that some really successful heavy highway construction firms are led by racial minorities. This is a possible career path for entrepreneurs,” Charlotte said. “Professional positions in construction pay extremely well, and because of the infrastructure bill, they’re in demand. Oftentimes, when you see a construction project is delayed, one of the biggest reasons is because there aren’t enough workers, even in management positions.”
Women IN Roads is part of Work IN Roads, an organization created by trade organization Indiana Constructors, Inc. and led by Talent Development Director Eric Fisher. Work IN Roads is in 17 Indiana schools with plans to expand. Eric works closely with Merideth and Amy and other industry professionals to increase awareness about these roles early in a student’s education.
“Our primary goal is to make sure all students, including women in high school, understand we are looking for people to perform construction jobs—from skilled trades all the way to professional services, including engineering, surveying, estimating, and inspection. We want to expose them to everything in the industry while they’re in high school,” Eric said. “There are so many different opportunities for people to work in construction right now. We need to be focused on showing and demonstrating these career pathways for minority partners to find these jobs.”
Next steps in research
In the next phase of her research, Charlotte plans to work with INDOT to develop tools to better publicize these jobs to potential job candidates through job training organizations and universities. She also wants to connect organizations like Women IN Roads with other groups doing similar awareness work, so they can create connections and make referrals among their members. Ultimately, Charlotte will create a toolkit that will be rolled out to INDOT hiring managers offering best practices in recruitment, onboarding, and retention of women and minority candidates.
“There’s also a need for our business students to discover the opportunities for high-paying and worthwhile jobs as construction project managers, supply chain managers, finance managers, and human resource professionals within the construction industry,” Charlotte said. “I hope this opens up awareness of construction management careers for our business students.”
Leave a Reply