In industries like construction, training is of the utmost importance to ensure workers know how to use the tools to get the job done—and do it in a way that is both efficient and safe. Training is also important to upskill and reskill employees—something that is becoming a greater priority as the future of work continues to evolve. And, yet only 69% of construction people say their company has given them the job-skill training to upskill or reskill to advance their career.
To be clear, 69% of construction workers is only slightly larger than the 67% of people across all industries who say their company has given them the job-skill training to upskill or reskill to advance their career, according to our report Who Is the Worker of Tomorrow.
Looking at this by generation we see only 63% of those aged 18-24 receive such training, while only 59% of those aged 45-54 and 45% of those over 55 said the same. The group that seems to get the most training is those between the ages of 25-40, where a whopping 74% said they receive job-skill training.
This comes at a time when technology is constantly evolving, requiring new skillsets to be taught frequently. The good news is there are several new tech resources to help enable such training for construction workers.
Consider the example of Simformotion, which offers heavy equipment simulator training solutions. The company recently announced the launch of the new Cat Simulators Collaborative Worksite Training package, which allows up to nine learners to operate dozers, excavators, and articulated trucks simultaneously in the same virtual environment. This could be used in a school program or a corporate heavy equipment operator training program. With a VR (virtual reality) headset, users can experience a larger view of the environment.
How cool is that? The objective of something like this is to create a virtual construction environment and have workers gain experience loading trucks, moving materials, cleaning up, and more.
The benefits here are myriad. For one, it is done in a safer environment, and it can be taught from anywhere such as a classroom or an office. This type of training also often tends to be cost effective, as companies don’t need to take a costly machine out of production or account for weather conditions. Training can be done anytime, anywhere. At the end of the day, this type of innovation gives an opportunity to do such training in new and different ways.
This is the type of innovation we need to spur the future of work in construction and to get workers excited about these types of jobs. In this case, the Collaborative Worksite Training package is available in multiple languages and includes a method for recording and reporting the results of each learner’s simulation session, which means performance can be compared to Caterpillar benchmarks.
Of course, this is only one example. There are many different types of training solutions—virtual or not—available to construction companies to train workers on new technologies and processes. Perhaps the most important part is that the training itself is taking place. We know people, process, and technology need to work together in tandem to see the outcomes the construction industry needs. So, I must ask, what steps are you taking to train the people around you or within your company?
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