Bridging the Skills Gap in Manufacturing and Construction with Pinnacle Series

The Manufacturing and Construction industries share a common challenge—one that is causing drastic delays in project timelines, introducing errors into production streams, and feeding discontent and turnover among the workforce.

The culprit is the skills gap: the distance between the demand for skilled labor, and the number of qualified workers available to fill it. Over the past decade, the retirement of many experienced workers and the introduction of sophisticated new technology have caused the skills gap to widen, especially in industries that have struggled to attract new workers.

Most recently, the heavy investment in large-scale infrastructure projects combined with a rising manufacturing demand have intensified the pressure on businesses within the Manufacturing and Construction sectors to identify and retain qualified candidates.

In Manufacturing, the skills gap is expected to grow to 2.1 million jobs by 2030, with 54% of manufacturers saying that their greatest recruitment challenge lies in finding candidates with the right skills.

In Construction, the industry currently needs to attract over 300,000 workers to meet demand, with 61% of industry managers reporting delays due to labor shortages.

Training as a Solution

Under these competitive conditions, training offers a proactive and sustainable path forward. Businesses that invest in training not only build a more resilient internal workforce, they also improve employee satisfaction and reduce turnover.

While 6 in 10 manufacturers have reported introducing advanced technologies to compensate for labor shortages, 63% have also reported reskilling employees to address the same. Meanwhile, half of all construction workers agree that their firm needs digital technology skills to be successful.

Workers also see training as a valuable benefit. 65% of workers rank upskilling opportunities as “very important” when applying for a new job, while 71% report improved job satisfaction after training.

Training isn’t just about onboarding entry-level workers—it’s also about developing the talent pipeline. Of the jobs manufacturing and construction firms are struggling to fill, mid-level management positions for foremen, supervisors, engineers, and CAD managers rank among the most difficult to recruit qualified workers for.

Resolving the Three Pain Points

Eagle Point has transformed employee development at businesses within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Manufacturing industries by focusing on three pain points that are directly tied to the knowledge gap: stymied and piecemeal training initiatives that fail to prepare workers, loss of tribal knowledge when employees leave or retire, and disrupted productivity as a result of staff shortages.

In response, Eagle Point’s Pinnacle Series platform supports three key benefits: continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and increased productivity.

1. Continuous Learning.

One of the biggest barriers to learning is access. Onsite training forms a core component of many training plans, but scheduling time for workers to attend is logistically difficult, and workers retain training better when they are able to immediately put their new skills to use.

Pinnacle Series dovetails with in-person learning to deliver a much-needed applied learning component. With libraries of training content covering all the main industry software, employees have all the learning materials they need at their fingertips, wherever and whenever they want them.

2. Knowledge Sharing.

While sourcing qualified workers and training new hires is one challenge, siloed knowledge is its own risk. Internal processes that are compartmentalized can then be lost when the people responsible for that inside knowledge retire or leave the company.

Lack of knowledge access can also lead to internal bottlenecks, or increased errors when untrained workers try to find their own way toward a solution.

Custom content tools within Pinnacle Series allow businesses to tailor existing content to meet their internal standards—or develop brand new materials to document their own best practices.

3. Increased Productivity.

Our expert courses make trusted answers easy to find. Instead of wasting hours searching YouTube for tutorials, employees can search our catalog for reliable, up-to-date instruction.

For frequently repeated processes, our workflow function keeps all key information at hand, so that workers never miss a step.

And for workers who are eager to dive into new material, our knowledge assessment tool pinpoints training gaps so that they don’t waste any time repeating training they’ve already mastered.

In fact, our knowledge assessment tool offers an added benefit to your HR and recruitment efforts: by integrating it with your interview process, you can identify the best-qualified candidates, make more informed hiring decisions, and begin onboarding new workers on day one with a personalized learning plan.

We are Your Differentiating Factor.

Industry trends are only part of the story. Businesses across the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Manufacturing sectors still have plenty of leeway to buck the trend and establish themselves as an outlier.

Training—enabled by expert content, robust LMS features, individualized learning pathways, and sophisticated knowledge assessment tools—is the path forward.

Pinnacle Series brings all that and more to the table. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help your AEC&M business retain employees and shrink the skills gap and request a demo of our software.

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