Retain more Entry-Level Workers with the OHBA Job Ready Program

As an employer, a strong retention strategy is one of the most effective tools you can use to strengthen the foundation of your team. When you prioritize retention, you not only save time on recruitment and onboarding later, but invest in the future of your team as well. The OHBA Job Ready Program’s focus on retaining your entry-level workers has the potential to significantly improve your promotion rates over time.

Why employers struggle to retain entry-level workers

Employees may leave a workplace for a number of reasons:

• Seeking higher compensation elsewhere
• Don’t see an advancement path with their current employer
• Don’t value their work because they can’t envision how it connects to the organization’s mission
• Aren’t interested or motivated by the work or working environment

But just as the OHBA Job Ready Program helps shorten your recruiting and onboarding timelines, it also provides support to retain your new team members and ensure successful work placements.

Retaining entry-level employees in residential construction

To enhance retention potential on your team, we provide additional ongoing 1-1 support for your new employee depending on their needs. Each employee meets weekly with their program career advisor during their work placement so that they can get their questions answered and to map out what a potential career in construction could look like for them. This weekly support also extends to mental health services through program therapists if needed.

This weekly meeting serves a few purposes:

• Provides a safe space to ask career and workplace questions
• Helps participants plan for a career in residential construction
• Increases employee engagement in the work placement
• Provides professional development at no cost to you

Combined with the training they’ve already received, these weekly meetings increase overall employee engagement and limit absenteeism on your job site. If you transition your OHBA Job Ready Program employees to full-time after their work placement, they’ll also have the added benefit of ongoing support from the program as long as they need it.

According to Rahim Charania, Construction Program Coordinator and Pre Employment Trainer with Job Ready partner The Career Foundation, the team is prepared to help participants work through whatever they’re dealing with: “We try to make sure that the team that we build has some lived experience and has faced some sort of barriers throughout their lives. That way, we can relate to the participants we are helping.”

The role of the employer in retention

According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends Report, retention rates in the construction industry rise from 50 to 70% when employers and employees work together to achieve internal promotions and career mobility. When employers play an active role in charting a career path for their workers, it’s more likely that employees will stay to see that path come to fruition. OHBA Job Ready Program employers see the most success with their new employees when they build upon the 1-1 support from the program long after the initial 3-month work placement.

Take it from Brian Cook of Air Sealing Professionals, a Job Ready Employer: “As a small company, scaling is one of the things we always worry about. As you grow, you have to hand over the reins to the next generation of leaders in your organization and we always feared we had a gap. Now we have two young leaders through the OHBA Job Ready Program — it’s helped us scale in a big way.”

Hire Job Ready Entry-Level Workers

If you’re ready to invest in the future of your team, hire eager learners through the OHBA Job Ready Program. When you reach out to us through our website you’ll be contacted by a program representative who can provide you with more details. If you’re curious about the program in general, sign up for an employer info session.