Opportunities. Mining this largely untapped resource to bridge ... Even high school level vocational institutions and ..
Article reprint from
Outlook
Published: September 2017
R A J A N O N … T EC H SH O RTAG E / A P P R E N T I C E SH I P S
Apprenticeship Opportunities Mining this largely untapped resource to bridge the refrigeration gap
R A J A N O N … T EC H SH O RTAG E / A P P R E N T I C E SH I P S
by D R . R A J A N R A J E N D R A N
credential that validates proficiency in an apprentice-able occupation. Technical schools and colleges play a vital role
Apprenticeship Opportunities Mining this largely untapped resource to bridge the refrigeration gap
M
y colleague Bob Labbett and I have talked at length in these pages about the growing technician shortage facing our industry; it’s what we call the refrigeration gap. Through our E360 Forums, we’ve assembled stakeholders to develop strategies that address this very real challenge. Already, we’ve formed the basis of a solution that focuses on four key areas: awareness, recruitment, training and retention — and we are always looking for creative ways to achieve these objectives. A recent announcement by the Trump administration about doubling the budget of the federal apprenticeship program piqued our curiosity. Not only were we largely unaware of the program, we were intrigued about its potential for addressing our industry’s technician shortage. But we needed to learn more about this program before determining its feasibility. So, we put two summer interns at The Helix to work on researching it with the following goals in mind: 1) Gain a basic understanding of how the program works. 2) Learn how companies, technical schools and students access the program. 3) Uncover which technical colleges and vocational schools are participating. 4) Understand the benefits to the companies and students. 5) See which industries have successfully utilized this program, and replicate their efforts. One of the first things we discovered was that HVACR participation in the program was quite low. While there were more than 200,000 active participants in
The OA is also focused on helping educators build college-to-career pipelines in a variety of occupations through the Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium (RACC). RACC is a national network of post-secondary institutions, employers, unions and associations working to create opportunities for apprentice graduates who may want to further enhance their skills by completing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. Even high school level vocational institutions and career centers can get involved in pre-apprenticeship programs to help students explore career opportunities and become an apprentice while they’re still in high school. To learn more about this opportunity, we reached out to Tony Trapp, apprenticeship coordinator at the Upper Valley Career Center (UVCC) near Emerson’s Sidney, Ohio, location. Trapp said that the UVCC program is registered with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) Apprenticeship
Council — currently known as Apprentice Ohio — which gets its funding from the DOL. The UVCC pre-apprenticeship program is also recognized by the Department of Education’s career and technical education (CTE) program. “We went through the process to become one of two career centers in Ohio to be approved as registered preapprenticeship programs,” said Trapp. “Upon graduation, our students can continue their apprenticeship in a registered apprenticeship program, starting as second-year apprentices,” Trapp added. Under Trapp’s guidance, UVCC has grown the number of participants in the pre-apprenticeship program from 8 to 59 students. He said that the program’s advisory council gives students access to hundreds of business and labor organizations that are RA sponsors or participating members. He also said the program produces high-performing, quality students who then become exemplary employees. The on-the-job experience helps with employee retention by showing apprentices how they can advance within their companies and how their salaries will also grow. The program’s success has even
extended to a neighboring community college, Edison State, which also recently became a Registered Apprenticeship sponsor in Ohio. Turning apprentices into great employees While we were excited to learn more about the potential of the RA program, the relative obscurity of the program and lack of participating sponsors are still barriers to more widespread utilization. By raising awareness of the issue and getting more businesses and institutions involved, we’re hoping to grow the number of HVACR participants from 3,135 today to more than 30,000 in five years. What the UVCC story tells us is that it may take the efforts of local stakeholders to establish a thriving apprenticeship program. But if attracting, training and retaining highly qualified refrigeration technicians is the goal, then becoming a sponsor of an RA program or seeking out participating institutions may be a small price to pay. For more information about the RA program, visit the DOL website or contact the appropriate apprenticeship agency in your state.
What is a Registered Apprentice?
An RA program typically starts with a business sponsor to provide on-the-job training, incorporates technical education and culminates in national accreditation — all while giving the apprentice an opportunity to earn a competitive wage. Source: Department of Labor
Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs in 2016, HVACR only accounted for 3,135 of these. Electricians topped this list with 41,489 active apprentices. We quickly realized that our industry has a runway of opportunity that is largely untapped. Federally funded, state operated After digging through the Department of Labor’s (DOL) apprenticeship section of their website, we uncovered a key fact about the program: “the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) works in conjunction
with independent State Apprenticeship Agencies (SAAs) to administer the program nationally.” What this means is that RA programs are enacted at the state level after meeting the DOL’s OA standards. An individual employer, group of employers, or an industry association can sponsor an RA program, sometimes in partnership with a labor organization. Upon finishing the training program, an apprentice earns a Completion of Registered Apprenticeship certificate — an industry-issued, nationally recognized
Registered Apprenticeship programs are offered by tens of thousands of employers, employer associations and labor-management organizations. The RA program utilizes a proven and structured “earn and learn” model that pairs paid on-the-job training with related technical classroom instruction in numerous career fields. An RA program offers many benefits to apprentices and employers. Apprentice benefits: •S ecure immediate employment opportunities that typically pay higher than average wages and continued career growth • Learn highly sought-after technical and life skillsets • E arn portable credentials from the DOL and recognized by the Department of Education that are nationally and often globally recognized •G ain the opportunity to apply apprenticeship training to twoand four-year college programs Employer benefits: • Helps recruit and develop a highly skilled workforce • Improves productivity and the bottom line
•P rovides opportunities for tax credits and employee tuition benefits in some states • Reduces turnover costs and increases employee retention •C reates industry-driven and flexible training solutions to meet national and local needs Recent data from the DOL indicates a steady increase in participation and sponsorship over the past five years: • I n FY 2016, more than 206,000 individuals nationwide entered the apprenticeship system •N ationwide, there are over 505,000 apprentices currently obtaining the skills they need to succeed while earning the wages they need to build financial security •4 9,000 participants graduated from the apprenticeship system in FY 2016 •T here are more than 21,000 registered apprenticeship programs across the nation •1 ,700 new apprenticeship programs were established nationwide in FY 2016
