meIn the construction industry, the success or failure of a project can largely depend on the knowledge and competence of front-line supervisors. These people are the backbone of the industry, managing equipment and ensuring safety and efficiency. However, many master builders never receive any formal training for this vital position. Instead, they went from high-performing craft professionals to foremen based on their knowledge and technical skills in the field, not their leadership skills.
With increasing labor shortages and high turnover rates, the time between going from craft professional to foreman can be as short as a day. Without structured training or formal support, many foremen are left in a “sink or swim” scenario, forced into a trial and error approach. This reactive approach leads to missed opportunities for improvement, higher turnover rates and general inefficiencies that delay projects and increase costs.
To put the problem into perspective, a report by the Construction Industry Institute found that almost 70% of construction foremen reported a lack of training in critical areas such as communication and quality. Additionally, research shows that once a craft professional is promoted to foreman, that individual only stays on the job for a year or two, leaving the company without one of its best professionals artisanal and now without any foreman.
All of this leads to the obvious: investing in foremen training and development not only mitigates project risk, but also increases employee retention, providing a clear career path for craft professionals. Unfortunately, even with these types of advantages, contractors cite a lack of time and resources as the main barriers to training.
The National Center for Construction Research and Education (NCCER) is helping to alleviate these barriers by offering a comprehensive service Construction foremen certification program for current and future teachers. This program is easy to implement, completely self-contained and accessible on phones, tablets or desktop computers. This five-course program provides training in the critical areas of leadership, communication, quality, productivity and safety.
Designed by instructional designers to ensure participants are engaged and learning, it includes audio, text, videos, activities, reviews and practice and checks your understanding. Experts in the field from all over the country were included in the development and to the videos to ensure that the program touches on the real-world challenges that current and future foremen do or will face in the workplace every day.
The program concludes with a rigorous assessment to assess student understanding, provide a personalized training plan and lead to Construction Manager Certification. This assessment is also a great tool to evaluate existing foremen and provide a report of their strengths and weaknesses, which can lead to opportunities for skill improvement.
Even the most experienced foremen can benefit from formal training. The complexity of construction projects calls for a wide range of skills, from safety compliance to people management. A structured and standardized training solution like that of NCCER Construction foremen certification program can help fill knowledge gaps and provide a solid foundation for career advancement. For more information, visit nccer.org/foreman.
