Workforce development: It's consistently among the top challenges voiced by most, if not all, business owners in the p-h-c industry. With PHCC, members can conquer the challenge, leveraging what's exclusively available to them.

These include: Educational programs, recruiting tools, professional partnerships, advocacy efforts and other targeted resources to build your business now — and become "The Employer of Choice!"

Take a look below at how you can attract, inspire and grow a team that is driven to achieve long-lasting results!

Ready-to-go resources

Need quick access to targeted recruiting resources? Want to put your hands on best practices from fellow contractors? Looking for tools to attract the younger generation to our industry? Find what you need here:

• Online Workforce Development Center, with customizable ads, posters, presentations, talking points and other materials that you can use today.
• P-H-C Careers Website, connecting those exploring the trades with training resources, scholarship information, videos and PHCC chapter links.
• Targeted PHCC publications, training opportunities, events and communities on the PHCC and PHCC Educational Foundation websites.

Training for today's workers ... and for the next generation

You want to build a better workforce — whether it's strengthening the skills of those loyal to your company today or attracting those who will represent your business moving forward. PHCC and the PHCC Educational Foundation have your education and training needs covered, with:

• Regular live webinars on today's top business and employee topics.
• Apprentice Contests — including the PHCC Educational Foundation's National Plumbing and HVAC Contests and the SkillsUSA National Championships — to showcase the talents and skills of the industry's future workers.
• "Do It Yourself" Apprentice Resources for those looking to start their own apprentice programs.
• Several workforce educational sessions — plus a "Women, Workforce and Wisdom" breakfast sponsored by the PHCC National Auxiliary and the PHCC Educational Foundation — at PHCCCONNECT2019.
• Pre-Apprentice Training, giving prospective apprentices an opportunity to learn about the p-h-c trade before beginning a longer-term apprentice program.
• Apprenticeship and Technician Training, with everything from courses and textbooks to instructor resources and assessment tests.

Technician and Management Training, where you can enhance your business management skills and stay ahead of evolving trends.

Powerful alliances
There's strength in numbers! That's why PHCC collaborates with several other industry organizations to increase our influence on key workforce issues. Most recently, PHCC joined the Skilled Trades Coalition to help problem-solve in areas of skilled trades advocacy, workforce gap awareness, trade school curricula and funding.

PHCC and the PHCC Educational Foundation also represent the p-h-c contractors' interests on groups like these: the Association of Career & Technical Education, the Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus, the Partnership for Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Accreditation and an industry Workforce Development Coalition. 

Advocacy ... on your behalf
It's exciting to see positive action on workforce development — such as passage of the $1.2 billion Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act — trickle down from Washington, D.C., to local areas throughout our country. PHCC is proud to be part of the process, which includes:

• Strategic visits with key decision-makers — on Capitol Hill, at the White House and within our regulatory agencies — to get our message out about what is needed to address the p-h-c industry's crucial workforce shortage.
• Regular input to the Department of Labor's Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, stressing that current apprenticeship standards must remain in place.
• Engagement with policy makers at the Department of Labor and Congress to push for greater flexibility in apprentice-to-journeyman supervision ratios.

Recent signing of the White House's Pledge to America's Workers, committing to leverage our PHCC Educational Foundation curriculum and our chapter partners to train up to 75,000 apprentices over the next five years.