Olivia Deahl
Marketing Manager
Hibbs ElectroMechanical, Inc.
All of us in the industry are struggling with workforce issues. The complaints seem to be consistent across the board. We can’t find people that want to work, or if we can find people to work, we can’t find enough of them fast enough to meet demand. Not only are we feeling the effects of labor shortage, but we are also feeling the effects of how our current workforce isn’t getting any younger. We need people to teach our team's tribal knowledge to, and the urgency is real. The leadership team at Hibbs has made it a priority to confront these issues and find a proactive solution, just like we do for our customers. The answer: be involved.
It is important for us to market to our potential workforce as much as we market to potential customers. This means taking an active role in educating the youth in our community about the opportunities Hibbs has to offer. Most recently, one of our teammates visited South Hopkins Middle School and spent time with seven class periods. The program was designed to show students their career options within Hopkins County, Kentucky. Our representative showed students a virtual tour of our facility and spoke with them about what we do at Hibbs, the customers we serve, and how we support our community. The coolest part of this experience was a few of the students shared that their parents currently work at Hibbs or have worked at Hibbs before. This recognition and engagement is exactly what we are looking to achieve.
In addition to our visit at the middle school, we have also invited high school students from Central High School to visit our facility in participation with their Focus on the Future program. These students have indicated interest in our industry and will spend the day with Hibbs teammates, including our Production Manager, Ron Duvall, and Machine Shop Manager, Steve Hallum. They will be introduced to all positions within our company, from prep technicians and mechanics to winders and machinists. Most importantly, they will be exposed to our culture and how each teammate is responsible for everyone returning safely home to their family at the end of the day. Our goal is for them to have a positive experience, pursue their passion and become a future member of our team.
Investing a few hours of our day could lead to decades-long mutually beneficial relationships, and we have already started seeing a return on these investments. We have hosted several interns the past couple of years. Our President, Ryan Senter, visited the University of Kentucky campus in Paducah, Kentucky, after being invited by our community’s Workforce Board. After this visit, three engineering students expressed interest in working at Hibbs. They spent an entire summer with us and one is returning next summer. We have also had two high school interns for the past few summers who came to us through current teammates. Although we are all likely guilty of taking the capabilities we perform on a daily basis for granted because it’s our job, you never know the impression you could make on a young mind. Students will not have the opportunity to receive the same hands-on experience our facilities can offer from within their classrooms.
We have laid out examples of our involvement to say it is our responsibility to solve our own workforce issues, and we must begin investing in our future workforce at the age in which students start becoming interested in their future career. Figure out what programs your school system is offering that you can be a part of, utilize your existing local resources and community partners and network through your current teammates. If you are going to try to “win over” new employees through sign-on bonuses, there will always be someone else willing to pay them one more dollar than you are. Let’s remember the philosophy that people may not remember the job title you held or how much money you made, but they will remember how you made them feel. The same applies to our future workforce. This might be the first time someone has ever cared to ask these students what they’re passionate about and how they want to better themselves, but we have to assure them it won’t be the last, at least not at Hibbs.
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