A Training Story

By Heidi J. Ellsworth, RCS President. 

Learn how training can make a difference not just to the company but to the employees. 

RoofersCoffeeShop® is a proud member of National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) One Voice. We are part of the NRCA meetings and are able to learn a tremendous amount of what is happening with NRCA initiatives. One of the leading initiatives is Training for Roof Application Careers 

(TRAC) It is a full training program that gives employees both new to the industry and those with experience an opportunity to get necessary training for success. 

Amy Staska, VP of Education at National Roofing Contractors Association and leader of NRCA University, has worked with a team of training professionals to develop the TRAC program. It is now used across the industry as the premier training program. 

There are still many who may think that a formal training program and a training director are not important, but the proof of success has become clear as roofing companies are finding that training is making a difference in production, culture, employee retention and recruitment. Amy shared a fun example of how training can make a difference not just to the company but specifically to the employees. I wanted to share it with our RoofersCoffeeShop audience. 

The Story of Thomas and Danny 

By Amy Staska 

Thomas and Danny are cousins who happened to get jobs and start working at separate roofing companies at the same time. 

After their first day, they met up for a few beers. Thomas is tired and pretty jazzed about his new job. He loves working outside and feels the satisfaction of putting in a hard day’s work. Danny frowns and explains, a little dejectedly, that all he did was hang out inside the office. He got a company handbook, met a bunch of people, took in some safety videos and was told to start an online training program. “I did not get a job at a roofing company just to sit at some computer all day,” he complained. 

Over the weekend at a family BBQ, they talk again about their work and their companies. 

Thomas is still pretty glad to be at his company, though he had a few run-ins with crew members when they told him to move ISO and he didn’t know what that was, and then the lead man told him to go down to the truck and get a welder. Thomas figured he would know it when he saw it, but he didn’t, and he had to go back empty handed, and they really razzed him for it – they called him Tom-ASS the rest of the week and they seemed pretty pissed about it. He overheard his foreman complaining about “idiot newbies” who just get in the way and slow things down. But he’s sure it’ll be better next week. “It’s the school of hard knocks, right? I let it roll off,” he winks to Danny, knowing he, of all people, would understand. 

Danny said he finished his online program and liked it alright. He was able to explain to Thomas what ISO and welders are…though, Thomas had already learned the hard way and didn’t really appreciate it. 

After those first few days of online training, Danny explained he spent the rest of the week doing half days on a job site – moving stuff around and throwing debris into dumpsters, just like Thomas – and half days meeting with the company’s trainer. He explained that it felt super awkward at first because it sucks not knowing anything, but it turned out the trainer was pretty good at putting him at ease, explaining that he knows Danny is new at this – and the point of the training is to get him prepared to be helpful and be able to learn quicker on the job. “Oh yeah,” Danny said, “I had lunch with the company president on my second day! Crazy, huh?” 

Several weeks passed and the cousins ran into each other at a family party.  

“Same ol, same ol, am I right?” said Thomas, chuckling. [He flexed his biceps and said] “at least I’m getting a good workout!” Still known as Tom-ASS, or just ASS for short, Thomas had settled into his routine as a laborer. Danny did the same – “you’re not kidding; it’s HARD work and long days – I think my hands are permanently shaped like wheelbarrow handles – and man, is it HOT!”  

Danny asked Thomas what kind of training he was doing and how long it would take him to work his way up at his company. Thomas just looked at him like he had a screw loose – “I don’t know that crap, man; I’m just doin’ my job. What do you even mean??” 

Danny had been meeting once a week with his company’s trainer for an hour or so. The trainer showed Danny a list of skills he wanted Danny to try – some in the shop and some on the job. Once the whole list was done, Danny would get a 50-cent pay raise. Danny wanted to work through the list quicker, but the trainer was busy with other guys – new and more experienced guys who needed new or better skills. Danny knew once he mastered a few skills, he would shadow someone on the crew and actually start trying some of them out on the roof. The trainer told him it would be a while before he’d be able to work full time as an installer, but maybe next season if he worked hard enough and demonstrated not only the skills but also the drive to do things well. The trainer even explained that once Danny starts installing, he can work his way towards becoming certified. Danny told Thomas he doesn’t really know what that means yet, but he knows one of the guys on his crew recently got certified and it was a big deal at the company! 

As they parted ways, Thomas was pretty messed up about what Danny was saying. Their experiences were so different. Danny started at the same time as Thomas, but he knew so much more. They were doing the same work, for the most part, but Danny was being equipped with skills as well as an understanding of how the company worked and how he could get ahead.  

A week later Danny answered his phone when Thomas called.  

“Hey Danny, do you think you could get me a job at your company? After our Toolbox Talk Monday, I asked the superintendent about training and raises and stuff…and he chewed me a new one. He told me I’d get trained when they were good and ready to train me! He said they needed to figure out whether I was worth it first. So, that feels pretty shitty, and I guess I don’t want to be ‘worth it’ for this place, especially when it seems like you didn’t have to prove anything to get respect.” 

A story of fiction but all too real. If you are interested in upping your training program, and in turn recruitment and retention, check out the NRCA directory and get your TRAC program here. 

Learn more about NRCA in their RoofersCoffeeShop Directory or visit www.nrca.net.