Workforce Development Committee Invites All to Its ConcreteWorks Sessions

he Workforce Development Committee will offer four sessions during NRMCA’s virtual ConcreteWorks Convention, October 7-8. Each provides a terrific opportunity for human resources and workplace development staff who do not travel to conventions to hear their ready mixed concrete peers discuss critical issues that directly impact their work. Here are brief overviews of each session:

• Separation Policies and Best Practices - Wednesday, October 7, 2:45 - 3:45 p.m. Eastern time. The committee task group named Practices will conduct a panel discussion that includes severance pay policies and practices for terminated employees for reasons other than cause; severance policies and practices that went well and those that could be done differently; communicating with retained employees, their reactions and acknowledging employee reactions and success attracting and rehiring released employees, including post-hire policies for already-paid severance.

• 2020 Employment Law Trends: Risk Mitigation in a Whirling Dervish COVID Environment - Wednesday, October 7, 4 - 5 p.m. Eastern time. Tony Martin, an employment attorney and managing shareholder with Ogletree Deakins, will take a sharp look at the challenges employers and employees face in the coronavirus business environment. With most states declaring construction an “essential business,” concrete producers’ operations are currently continuing at a brisk pace – what legal risks might companies encounter from employees who become ill by being exposed at work; need to not work to care for an ill family member or deal with children learning from home or lack of child care.

• Keep Your Drivers! Strategies to Increase Retention and Raise Employee Engagement - Thursday, October 8, 1 - 2 p.m.Eastern time. How many times has a mixer driver told you he/she left “for a better opportunity”? What does that even mean? Have you peeled back to determine why others are so loyal? The committee's Strategies task group panel will share its approaches to increase mixer driver retention. They include strategies to help front line supervisors be more impactful, tactics to increase engagement and programs that address the “personal needs” of employees. Come hear more.

• Federal Apprentice Programs – Are They for Your Company? - Thursday, October 8, 2:15 - 3:15 p.m.Eastern time. The committee's Partnership task group has studied federal apprentice programs, especially military release CDL initiatives. They're hard to miss when almost $1 billion has been invested in the apprenticeship system over the past five years with remarkable results. Industries across the board, from IT and health care to transportation and advanced manufacturing have doubled in size as they tapped into the source. Yet few in the ready mixed concrete industry do so. Hear from FASTPORT, the U.S. Department of Labor’s intermediary for Transportation and Logistics.  Brad Bently and Dave Harrison have placed more than 13,000 people into apprenticeable occupations in trucking, warehousing and railroad sectors. Learn if a work-based apprentice training model supports your business.

Click here to register and have access for 30 days post ConcreteWorks to all CW sessions. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org.