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Hello, everyone, welcome to another episode of COPOD. I'm your host, Caroline,
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and today I'm joined by Alison Walters. She is the
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president of Workifi Staffing. Alison, how are you doing?
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Hi?
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Thank you Caroline for the introduction. I'm doing well today.
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It's a rainy day here in Arizona, which is rare
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for us.
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I know it's actually raining in California too, So clearly
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our good weather states are not getting the good weather
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right now.
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Well we need it right now, so it's welcomed.
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Yes, I mean, rain for me is always welcome over
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hot weather anytime.
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Exactly awesome.
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Well, let me just give everyone a little bit of
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a brief intro into what workify Staffing is so. Workifi
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Staffing is revolutionizing how construction businesses find skilled talent. By
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combining decades of industry experience with a cutting edge, data
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driven recruitment process. Serving commercial, industrial, and renewable energy sectors,
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Workified delivers efficiency, accuracy, and true alignment with client needs
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and culture. Their proven solutions have helped leading companies accelerate
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project timelines, retain top talent, and positions them as a
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trusted partner in building America's most complex projects. Did I
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hit the nail on the head there, Allison.
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Just summarize that perfectly well done.
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Awesome. I've had a lot of time to look into
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you guys, and I truly, you know, just from conversations
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with you guys and everything I've found online as well,
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truly impress. But what you guys are doing, thank you.
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Well, we were working hard and what we were doing
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right now and what we're putting together, and so I
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appreciate that.
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Awesome. Well, we'll get into a little bit more of
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that in a second here, but I really want to
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start this off by hearing your story, hearing your journey.
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Who is Alison?
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Okay, Well, let's jump into it. First of all, I
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never knew that I would see myself being the president
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of my own staffing company.
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Thirty years ago.
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When I was in my thirties, I was a single
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mom with two small kids and needed to make an
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earning and I had always been in some role of sales.
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And I had a good friend that was in the
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staffing industry, and he encouraged me to get into the
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skilled trade staffing industry, and so I joined years ago
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in my thirties and started out as a sales rep.
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For one of the largest.
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Staffing companies, one of the top three largest staffing companies,
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and it was tough. I was a female and a
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male driven industry, and my job was to hit as
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many job sites as I could in a week. As
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a matter of fact, back in the day, we had
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to write down all our job sites that we went
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to and who we spoke to, and actually fax them
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over to our leadership so we could prove that we
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were hitting job sites. So back in those days, I
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was hitting about sixty job sites a week. Was very
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hard in the beginning because you can imagine that many
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years ago, there were not a lot of women in construction,
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and there were when I was walking on job sites,
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I did not encounter any women on a job site.
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There were no trades people. The women were in the
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job site trailers. They weren't in leadership roles on a
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job site. So it was very scary for me to
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go into a male dominated industry back in my thirties,
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and I had to learn a lot of tough life
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lessons and grow a lot of grow a lot of
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grit and thick skin so that when I met these
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guys back then, they had the big belt buckles and
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the boots, and you know, it was it was scary
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for me, but I was very determined to succeed in
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a male dominated industry and I knew that I could
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do it if I learned about the construction industry and
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immersed myself into what the contractors are dealing with.
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Yeah, and it's it's definitely a little intimidating, especially you know,
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thinking back then, especially walking onto a job site as
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probably the only woman there. It's intimidating. As heck.
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I used to sit in the car and I used
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to you know, you know, prep myself up, like I
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can do this, I can do this, let's go.
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And it was all different.
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I had hard hat, I had safety gear on, I
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had a safety vest, I had boots, and I'd walk
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around and you know, a lot of looks.
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A lot of cat calls. The job site.
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Back in the day, there were girly calendars.
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Hanging on the walls.
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And I sometimes would walk in and there might be
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a meeting happening with all the trades leaders and would
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be a table of twenty guys and they would turn
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and look at me at the door, And so you
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really had to have some credibility and know what you're
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talking about in order to gain that trust.
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And so I did that for a long time and
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rose into.
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Higher positions where I became a national sales director where
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I sold not only locally, but now I sold nationally.
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When after the top E and R contractors.
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And met with them regionally and nationally, started to meet
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more leadership type people in their offices. So I kind
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of transitioned from doing all job sites to now I'm
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calling on executives in their corporate buildings, and I really
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just became a true.
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Partner for my clients.
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And I had a lot of success in the early
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days and from the first twenty years of my career.
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Well, and continued now as well with work off I staffing,
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lots of success there too.
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Yet now continuing on and you know, construction has changed
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a lot over the years. The the you know, it's
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not the old boys' school anymore.
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There's a lot more women in the.
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Industry, which is wonderful to see. The job sites are
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so much more polished now. The people are a lot
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friendlier and more accepting to welcome you.
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There's probably better HR departments on those job sites now too.
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There's no more calendars hanging in the job site trailers and.
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So there's it's.
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Evolved back in the day. So that's really great to see.
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And I love to see more women in the trades now.
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Yes, and it's so exciting to see that. You know,
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I think a big part of that is people like
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yourself who were around to experience, you know, the treatment
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maybe of what it was like back then. And you know,
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not that all of it was horrible, but you know,
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even one bad experience can you know, sit within you
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and say, you know, this is not what I want
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for future women coming into this field, and I'm going
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to do something about that. So how how have your
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experience has kind of, you know, shaped what you're doing
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at work OFFI staffing, with recruiting new workers and especially
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new women into the industry exactly.
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So you know, I've mentioned a lot of women through
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the years, and you know, when I first started out
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in my career, I was one of a team of
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salespeople of ten and I was the only female on
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that team of men, and so obviously that drove me
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to want to be successful because I would want to
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beat the other guys on my team. And now there's
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maybe four or five women on the sales team that
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are coming in and selling skilled trades. Back in the day,
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I don't think that it was something that a woman.
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Looked to do. But now I think that is what
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we have to continue to do.
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And what's now more mainstream is we're really talking to
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kids at a younger age, say.
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In high school or middle school.
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The kids that don't have a path to college or
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don't want to spend four years going to a university.
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Now there's other options for them. They can go to
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trade schools and they can get in to construction, and
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it's not a stigma anymore. You know, we used to
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call it the blue collar worker, and we tried to
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get away from that because nobody wants to be, you know,
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a blue collar worker, but a skilled trades professional. You know,
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there's capacity to earn six figures.
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Or more in this industry.
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And so I think that that is something that we're
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always doing, is promoting the trades younger and younger down
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I have a lot of friends that call me and say,
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you know, my child doesn't want to go to college
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and they're talking about trades, and so they're getting that
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education at the high school level. They're getting that feedback
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that there is another avenue and then I can introduce
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them to.
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Maybe a partner that we work.
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With that has an apprenticeship program, and I can help
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them get into an electrical apprenticeship program. And so I'm
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starting to see that a lot more, which is so wonderful.
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I remember back in the day.
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When I belonged to the ABC and was on a
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national committee, we really promoted at the lower level of
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the high school. It's just for that adoption that there
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is something else than college, and now that seems to
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be more mainstream.
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It seems to be.
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Like that's evolving now because we do need more trades people,
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especially you know they you know they the forty one
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percent of the skilled trades people that we have now
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are going to retire in the next.
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Four to five years.
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That's a huge you know, aging population and the skilled
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trades and the labor shortage is real. It's not something
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that is a base it's it's not something that it's
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a baseline now, and so we have to know that
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we need to get ahead of the curve.
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Yeah, and that actually brings me exactly to my next
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point in talking about the workforce shortage. And you know,
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I think a lot of that comes from, of course,
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you know, the aging workforce, but also you know, we're
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dealing with this new challenge of this new generation that
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we've never seen before, you know, a generation that is
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so embedded within technology, which is something that you know
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up into a field up until a few years ago,
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and the construction industry was you know, even far fetched.
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So dealing with you know, bringing in and attracting this
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new generation with technology, you know, with burning down these
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harmful stereotypes of what construction is, who belongs. I think
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that's all so important.
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It's so important.
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And I think now with the advancement of technology and AI,
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I think the companies that are going to be the
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earlier adapters, which which we are, we're doing that that's
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at the core of Workify, and we want to align
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ourselves with partners that also believing technology and AI because
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it's going to be the future, and the early adapters
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are going to be the ones that succeed. And I
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think that you know, you know, for example, there's all
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these data centers.
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Going up, and they're going up in the middle of.
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Nowhere, and how are we going to attract these trades
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peoples to these remote areas to do the work that
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we need to get the data centers done. And so
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I think also that companies that have a national reach
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and do work real workforce planning, and who are real
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trusted partners with their customers and understanding their businesses, their
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business and their challenges.
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I think, you know, we're going to have to be.
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Adapters of moving workforce across regions and mobilizing travelers and
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utilizing the pool of workers wherever they are in the
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states that they are to where the projects are. And
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I think that our customers are definitely realizing that they
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might not be able to get a crew of one
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hundred people in the local area that they need. But
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together with us and our technology and our workforce planning,
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we can mobilize you know, a workforce you know, near
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where they need it to be and travel them in
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and then move that workforce across the country. And so
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we're seeing you know a lot of that happening, and
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our contractors are adapting to the traveling workforce a lot more.
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But we're also going to have to continue to educate
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those kids to come up in the trades.
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Yeah, yeah, and you know, talking a little bit more
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about you know, the strategy behind this. You know, how
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are you implementing complex workforce strategies for top contractors and
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what you know makes the work OFFI staffing approach so
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unique compared to everyone else.
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Right, And and that's a good question. And so it
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really begins with a true partnership and we do a
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deep dive discovery into.
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What our customers needs are.
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We find out how they're how they're handling their workforce,
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and how they're forecasting their workforce. Because you workforce always
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comes in peaks and valleys, and you're only as good
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as when you need the workforce that they're available. And
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what is really great about partnering with the staffing company
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is we can manage that EBB and flow for you
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and we can pay real productivity, real productive hours to
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our workforce. Say like your project gets delayed by two
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or three weeks and you're working with us, We're able
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to deploy that workforce someplace else for two or three weeks,
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so you're not paying for those hours worked where they're
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sitting around, maybe you're waiting for equipment or you're waiting
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for product. We're able to keep our workers working and
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then with forecast management be able to bring them to
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you when when you need them. And I think also
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one of the things that we're really aligning ourselves with
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is AI when it comes to recruiting. And so you know,
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in the old days, the recruiters, you know, we would
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have ten recruiters to an office filling all these jobs
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because we had to call these people and who did we.
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Know in our database and who did they know?
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And how do I verify that you have your certificates
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or your OSHA training and that those documents weren't anywhere
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they weren't really accessible to trades people. And you know,
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now you know, we're we're working with companies where we
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can digitally put together the credentials, yes with builder facts,
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and we can put together the credentials of our workforce
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where they'll have it from job to job. And so
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then it doesn't take away the recruiter, It just lets
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the AI part do that forward working where maybe it
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took days to collect that all that paperwork, and now
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it takes you know, hours or minutes, and then our
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recruiters can work on the human side and see, you know,
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what the person is like, what is their strengths, you know,
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what kind of job site do they like to work
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on do they like to work on big solar projects?
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Do they like to work more on the commercial side.
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So we'll always need recruiters, but with the assistance of
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AI and technology, it's just really shortened things up and
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we can recruit on the evening, on the weekend, we
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can recruit in Spanish in their native language, reply to them,
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collect all their documents, and you know, it's done in
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a fraction of the time it would take a human
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to do that.
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Yeah, it's so incredible all the different possibilities that AI
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can give to construction specifically, like even just you know,
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the staffing side, the the payroll side, the pre con
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you know, there's so many different ways that AI plays
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in here, and it kind of plays on my favorite
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phrase that you know, AI is not going to take
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your job, but you are going to get replaced by
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someone who knows how to use the AI.
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Exactly exactly, and so early adapters are going to be
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the ones that are the most successful. And so that's
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really at the crux of why I wanted to start
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Workify was I just saw the industry changing and the
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big the big five staffing companies are amazing and they
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have a lot of tools and resources, but they don't
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pivot quickly. And I just saw the future coming with
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technology and AI, and I wanted to get all the
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best people that I knew in the industry together who
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had that same vision and wanted to make a real difference,
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not only for our customers, but for the trades people too.
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I mean, that's why we do what we do, right.
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We love them, We want to improve their lives. That's
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why we're all here, That's why.
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We do it.
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Yes, we want the worker experience to be top notch.
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We want them to be part of our customer's team.
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We want them to be part of their safety. We
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want them to work safe and return safely to their families.
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I mean, that's all important.
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And you know, and I just saw the future of
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that coming, and I just got the best people in
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the street that we have worked together for many, many years,
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and now we're able to hear and partner with like
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minded companies that want to do the same thing.
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Yeah, and it's so incredible when you can build that,
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you know, community, as a leader, build that community of
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like minded individuals, especially innovative, it just makes the world
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of difference.
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It makes the world a difference and it's fun. And
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you know, I always said, you know, I want to
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have fun at work. If I'm going to put in,
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you know, all the hours that I am working, I
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want to work around people that I love, that people
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that they love doing what they're doing, and that we
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have fun doing it. And I think that the innovation
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allows for creative thinking and thinking outside the box and
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we don't have to be structured to.
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One way of doing it.
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If there's a better way of doing it out there, quicker, faster,
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then we want to adopt to that.
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Yeah, and you know you're talking about all of these
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like innovative thinking, amazing, you know, new ideas. So what
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are you most excited about in the upcoming years when
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it comes to you know, technology AI? What gets you excited?
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You know, I was talking to one of my clients
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yesterday about safety and how safety is evolving, and it's
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evolving in a really big way. And you know, now
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there are they're equipping equipping Camra cameras that are going
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to roam the job site when they're moving heavy equipment,
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and the cameras are able to assist in how they
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move the heavy equipment, which will prevent less you know,
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injuries from happening. And so we're seeing you know, safety
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really get tightened up on a job site. Also, prefab
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prefab is a huge thing now. Contractors are using a
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lot of prefab for steel in the AI where they're
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constructing it out you know, outside of where the job
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site is, and they're bringing it in and it takes
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it takes less trades people because the trades people have
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already assembled it in the prefab.
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But it's safer because.
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They're just bringing it in and you know, tilting it
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up and it's safer that way. Also, we see robotics insite.
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Yes, that's where I was going to go at that.
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Now we're seeing you know, I have a customer that's
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an early adapter of you know, robotics, and so they're
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doing you know, different things where it you know, might
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be more dangerous for a trade person to do it.
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Now they can line up these you know robots and
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they can do it safer. And so, you know, I
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think that the future is wide open, and I feel
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like it's exciting to see all the things that we
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can implement into the trades. I love that that means
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better safety for our workforce because you know, at the
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end of the day, that's the main goal is to
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get our people home safe. So I see that happening,
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and I see, you know, data and workforce management is
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really going to be key because customers want insight into
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productive manpower hours, into retention, into you know, all sorts
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of things that happen on the job site. And I
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think that, you know, what we're doing is really investing
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in in data and workforce management so that we can
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get that information to our clients in real time and
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we can provide that information to them so that they
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feel comfortable with that they're going to have the manpower
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they need on the job site when they need it.
381
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Yeah, And I think, you know, all this technology it
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also really plays in you know, how we get so
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excited about it. We need to translate that to the
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next generation because I feel like they get bits and pieces,
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but like if we could just you know, immerse them
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in all of this and really get them excited, that
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would be cool and that would kind of, you know,
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hopefully push some more of them to join our industry.
389
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I think so, because I think the next generation is
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you know, really into AI, really into computers, does fast
391
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does things faster than we did years ago. I know,
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my kids can get on an Excel spreadsheet and do
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one thing and it would take me ten minutes. And
394
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so I think that that future, with the robotics and
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with you know, prefab and pre con and how you're
396
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talking to architects earlier on in the design of a project,
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I think that that is more exciting than just the old,
398
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you know, school way.
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Of how construction used to be.
400
00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:40.000
Now it's much more you know, evolving into the future.
401
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:43.359
And I am hoping that that attracts more kids to
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00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.319
come into the trades people, because really we're creating the
403
00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:50.839
next generation of skilled holds. We are.
404
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.440
And I think another thing it also helps to do
405
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is it also helps to squash some of those you know,
406
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preconceived ideas or stereotypes about construction. You know, it was either,
407
00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:06.559
you know, the choice between college or construction. You go
408
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:11.880
to construction if you're not smart enough for college. I
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don't know about you, but all of the skilled trades
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00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.720
people that I have met can do things and equations
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that I could never even dream of.
412
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Oh yeah, they can measure things to the exact and
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they are smart and they understand building and you know,
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green building is you know, that's everywhere now and I
415
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think that kids like that keeping the environment clean.
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And I think also.
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The opportunity to make a good wage. And when you're
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a skilled trades person, you can live anywhere.
419
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:49.039
So if your.
420
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Family moves someplace, you know that you're needed. I mean
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you're needed in every state across the country is in
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need for your job. You will always have, you know,
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jobs security and so uh. You know, I visited the
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Issue School of Construction and it's amazing. I mean, if
425
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.799
I didn't have that when I went to a Issue,
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they didn't have that School of construction. And now I
427
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.240
see all these kids walking around, you know, learning about
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different aspects of construction, whether it be in the trades
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00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:24.640
or in leadership, and I think it's wonderful that we've
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we've come that far.
431
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Yeah, and they're building in their department I think is
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bigger than my building and my department was at my
433
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:36.880
college way back when. And seeing that grow and it's
434
00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:42.559
a gorgeous building, The Deli Web School of Construction gorgeous.
435
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:45.720
I had the pleasure of going there back in September.
436
00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.119
So cool. And the amount of opportunities that are out
437
00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:54.680
there for these students, for these young kids to learn
438
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about construction, to get their you know, get their feet wet,
439
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:01.960
and just learning about it so much more than Yeah,
440
00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.599
even when I was back in high school and all
441
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:07.640
of that stuff. I'm not going to date myself and
442
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.000
say how long, But even back then, we didn't have
443
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any of.
444
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:12.839
That not n.
445
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.640
No, we didn't have any of that.
446
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And you know, I remember, you know, in the thirties,
447
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:21.920
if I was out someplace and someone would say what
448
00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:23.960
do you do? And I would say, you know, I'm
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00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:27.240
in the skilled trades industry. You know, it's kind of
450
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:32.319
like a blank stare, and you know, it wasn't really a.
451
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.480
Conversation starter. I kind of just like, oh, okay, next.
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Now now construction is everywhere and people are talking about it,
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you know, all the time, and it's so much more
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adopted now. And another thing that I do my personal
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time is I belonged to an organization called East Valley
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Women's League. And one of the things that we do
457
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.519
is we give out scholarships to women. And not only
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do we about scholarships to a four year school, but
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00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.880
we give out scholarships to a trade school, we give
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00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.720
out a community college where somebody can go to a
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trade school. And so I think it's really important that
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we see both ends of it. And I like that
463
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:19.680
we do that, and that we not only want to
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00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:21.880
reward somebody for going to college, but we want to
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reward that other person that wants to go into a
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skilled trade.
467
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.839
Yeah. And I think, you know, especially for the kids,
468
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I think one of the things top of mind is
469
00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:35.039
job security. And I think that's another thing with construction,
470
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:38.319
just adding even more layers on top of here of
471
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:43.119
why this is attractive. Job security is so important to them,
472
00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:44.720
and that's really top of mind.
473
00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:47.519
And I think you have that when you go into
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00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:48.279
skilled trades.
475
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:52.000
Might not be at the same job site every time,
476
00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:52.920
but there is.
477
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:55.359
Always work for you. That's right.
478
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.200
We have to move around, but the ones that move
479
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.880
around to make a lot of money. Mm hmmm.
480
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.960
Awesome. Well, we're getting kind of to the end here
481
00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:10.480
and we've kind of gone through all of my little questions.
482
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:10.640
That I have.
483
00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.720
But Allison, is there anything else that you want to
484
00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:17.200
maybe shed some light on spend some time chatting about here.
485
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:20.599
I think we touched on a lot of stuff.
486
00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:23.319
I think that, you know, I just want to say that,
487
00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:25.279
you know, I really believe that the.
488
00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:28.440
Next generation is staffing will.
489
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:32.960
Be defined by firms that can continue like authentic relationships
490
00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:37.720
and proven strategies and experience with cutting endo technology. And
491
00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:42.119
so that's what really excites me and keeps me energized
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00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.519
for the next twenty years to come and to continue
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our path at work afy.
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You know, and in my opinion, work AFI has all
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of those qualities and all of those elements. And if
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you guys are interested in learning more about Workify learning
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more about Alison, I will put all the links down
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here in the description so you can check out more.
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And if you're also on the hunt for any skilled
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trades work you know where to go. Thank you Caroline
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of course, well Allison, thank you so much for being
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here with us today.
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Welcome.
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It was a pleasure, awesome and we will see all
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of you guys next time on the next episode of Coeopod.
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Thank you,
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Hello, everyone, welcome to another episode of COPOD. I'm your host, Caroline,
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and today I'm joined by Alison Walters. She is the
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president of Workifi Staffing. Alison, how are you doing?
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Hi?
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Thank you Caroline for the introduction. I'm doing well today.
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It's a rainy day here in Arizona, which is rare
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for us.
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I know it's actually raining in California too, So clearly
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our good weather states are not getting the good weather
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right now.
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Well we need it right now, so it's welcomed.
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Yes, I mean, rain for me is always welcome over
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hot weather anytime.
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Exactly awesome.
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Well, let me just give everyone a little bit of
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a brief intro into what workify Staffing is so. Workifi
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Staffing is revolutionizing how construction businesses find skilled talent. By
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combining decades of industry experience with a cutting edge, data
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driven recruitment process. Serving commercial, industrial, and renewable energy sectors,
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Workified delivers efficiency, accuracy, and true alignment with client needs
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and culture. Their proven solutions have helped leading companies accelerate
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project timelines, retain top talent, and positions them as a
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trusted partner in building America's most complex projects. Did I
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hit the nail on the head there, Allison.
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Just summarize that perfectly well done.
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Awesome. I've had a lot of time to look into
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you guys, and I truly, you know, just from conversations
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with you guys and everything I've found online as well,
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truly impress. But what you guys are doing, thank you.
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Well, we were working hard and what we were doing
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right now and what we're putting together, and so I
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appreciate that.
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Awesome. Well, we'll get into a little bit more of
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that in a second here, but I really want to
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start this off by hearing your story, hearing your journey.
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Who is Alison?
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Okay, Well, let's jump into it. First of all, I
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never knew that I would see myself being the president
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of my own staffing company.
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Thirty years ago.
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When I was in my thirties, I was a single
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mom with two small kids and needed to make an
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earning and I had always been in some role of sales.
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And I had a good friend that was in the
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staffing industry, and he encouraged me to get into the
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skilled trade staffing industry, and so I joined years ago
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in my thirties and started out as a sales rep.
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For one of the largest.
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Staffing companies, one of the top three largest staffing companies,
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and it was tough. I was a female and a
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male driven industry, and my job was to hit as
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many job sites as I could in a week. As
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a matter of fact, back in the day, we had
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to write down all our job sites that we went
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to and who we spoke to, and actually fax them
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over to our leadership so we could prove that we
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were hitting job sites. So back in those days, I
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was hitting about sixty job sites a week. Was very
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hard in the beginning because you can imagine that many
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years ago, there were not a lot of women in construction,
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and there were when I was walking on job sites,
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I did not encounter any women on a job site.
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There were no trades people. The women were in the
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job site trailers. They weren't in leadership roles on a
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job site. So it was very scary for me to
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go into a male dominated industry back in my thirties,
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and I had to learn a lot of tough life
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lessons and grow a lot of grow a lot of
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grit and thick skin so that when I met these
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guys back then, they had the big belt buckles and
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the boots, and you know, it was it was scary
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for me, but I was very determined to succeed in
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a male dominated industry and I knew that I could
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do it if I learned about the construction industry and
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immersed myself into what the contractors are dealing with.
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Yeah, and it's it's definitely a little intimidating, especially you know,
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thinking back then, especially walking onto a job site as
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probably the only woman there. It's intimidating. As heck.
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I used to sit in the car and I used
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to you know, you know, prep myself up, like I
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can do this, I can do this, let's go.
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And it was all different.
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I had hard hat, I had safety gear on, I
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had a safety vest, I had boots, and I'd walk
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around and you know, a lot of looks.
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A lot of cat calls. The job site.
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Back in the day, there were girly calendars.
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Hanging on the walls.
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And I sometimes would walk in and there might be
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a meeting happening with all the trades leaders and would
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be a table of twenty guys and they would turn
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and look at me at the door, And so you
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really had to have some credibility and know what you're
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talking about in order to gain that trust.
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And so I did that for a long time and
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rose into.
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Higher positions where I became a national sales director where
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I sold not only locally, but now I sold nationally.
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When after the top E and R contractors.
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And met with them regionally and nationally, started to meet
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more leadership type people in their offices. So I kind
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of transitioned from doing all job sites to now I'm
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calling on executives in their corporate buildings, and I really
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just became a true.
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Partner for my clients.
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And I had a lot of success in the early
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days and from the first twenty years of my career.
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Well, and continued now as well with work off I staffing,
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lots of success there too.
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Yet now continuing on and you know, construction has changed
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a lot over the years. The the you know, it's
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not the old boys' school anymore.
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There's a lot more women in the.
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Industry, which is wonderful to see. The job sites are
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so much more polished now. The people are a lot
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friendlier and more accepting to welcome you.
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There's probably better HR departments on those job sites now too.
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There's no more calendars hanging in the job site trailers and.
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So there's it's.
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Evolved back in the day. So that's really great to see.
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And I love to see more women in the trades now.
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Yes, and it's so exciting to see that. You know,
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I think a big part of that is people like
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yourself who were around to experience, you know, the treatment
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maybe of what it was like back then. And you know,
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not that all of it was horrible, but you know,
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even one bad experience can you know, sit within you
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and say, you know, this is not what I want
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for future women coming into this field, and I'm going
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to do something about that. So how how have your
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experience has kind of, you know, shaped what you're doing
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at work OFFI staffing, with recruiting new workers and especially
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new women into the industry exactly.
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So you know, I've mentioned a lot of women through
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the years, and you know, when I first started out
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in my career, I was one of a team of
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salespeople of ten and I was the only female on
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that team of men, and so obviously that drove me
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to want to be successful because I would want to
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beat the other guys on my team. And now there's
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maybe four or five women on the sales team that
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are coming in and selling skilled trades. Back in the day,
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I don't think that it was something that a woman.
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Looked to do. But now I think that is what
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we have to continue to do.
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And what's now more mainstream is we're really talking to
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kids at a younger age, say.
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In high school or middle school.
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The kids that don't have a path to college or
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don't want to spend four years going to a university.
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Now there's other options for them. They can go to
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trade schools and they can get in to construction, and
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it's not a stigma anymore. You know, we used to
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call it the blue collar worker, and we tried to
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get away from that because nobody wants to be, you know,
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a blue collar worker, but a skilled trades professional. You know,
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there's capacity to earn six figures.
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Or more in this industry.
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And so I think that that is something that we're
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always doing, is promoting the trades younger and younger down
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I have a lot of friends that call me and say,
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you know, my child doesn't want to go to college
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and they're talking about trades, and so they're getting that
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education at the high school level. They're getting that feedback
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that there is another avenue and then I can introduce
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them to.
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Maybe a partner that we work.
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With that has an apprenticeship program, and I can help
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them get into an electrical apprenticeship program. And so I'm
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starting to see that a lot more, which is so wonderful.
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I remember back in the day.
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When I belonged to the ABC and was on a
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national committee, we really promoted at the lower level of
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the high school. It's just for that adoption that there
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is something else than college, and now that seems to
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be more mainstream.
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It seems to be.
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Like that's evolving now because we do need more trades people,
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especially you know they you know they the forty one
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percent of the skilled trades people that we have now
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are going to retire in the next.
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Four to five years.
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That's a huge you know, aging population and the skilled
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trades and the labor shortage is real. It's not something
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that is a base it's it's not something that it's
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a baseline now, and so we have to know that
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we need to get ahead of the curve.
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Yeah, and that actually brings me exactly to my next
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point in talking about the workforce shortage. And you know,
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I think a lot of that comes from, of course,
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you know, the aging workforce, but also you know, we're
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dealing with this new challenge of this new generation that
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we've never seen before, you know, a generation that is
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so embedded within technology, which is something that you know
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up into a field up until a few years ago,
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and the construction industry was you know, even far fetched.
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So dealing with you know, bringing in and attracting this
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new generation with technology, you know, with burning down these
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harmful stereotypes of what construction is, who belongs. I think
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that's all so important.
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It's so important.
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And I think now with the advancement of technology and AI,
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I think the companies that are going to be the
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earlier adapters, which which we are, we're doing that that's
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at the core of Workify, and we want to align
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ourselves with partners that also believing technology and AI because
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it's going to be the future, and the early adapters
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are going to be the ones that succeed. And I
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think that you know, you know, for example, there's all
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these data centers.
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Going up, and they're going up in the middle of.
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Nowhere, and how are we going to attract these trades
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peoples to these remote areas to do the work that
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we need to get the data centers done. And so
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I think also that companies that have a national reach
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and do work real workforce planning, and who are real
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trusted partners with their customers and understanding their businesses, their
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business and their challenges.
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I think, you know, we're going to have to be.
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Adapters of moving workforce across regions and mobilizing travelers and
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utilizing the pool of workers wherever they are in the
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states that they are to where the projects are. And
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I think that our customers are definitely realizing that they
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might not be able to get a crew of one
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hundred people in the local area that they need. But
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together with us and our technology and our workforce planning,
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we can mobilize you know, a workforce you know, near
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where they need it to be and travel them in
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and then move that workforce across the country. And so
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we're seeing you know a lot of that happening, and
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our contractors are adapting to the traveling workforce a lot more.
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But we're also going to have to continue to educate
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those kids to come up in the trades.
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Yeah, yeah, and you know, talking a little bit more
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about you know, the strategy behind this. You know, how
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are you implementing complex workforce strategies for top contractors and
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what you know makes the work OFFI staffing approach so
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unique compared to everyone else.
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Right, And and that's a good question. And so it
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really begins with a true partnership and we do a
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deep dive discovery into.
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What our customers needs are.
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We find out how they're how they're handling their workforce,
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and how they're forecasting their workforce. Because you workforce always
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comes in peaks and valleys, and you're only as good
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as when you need the workforce that they're available. And
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what is really great about partnering with the staffing company
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is we can manage that EBB and flow for you
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and we can pay real productivity, real productive hours to
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our workforce. Say like your project gets delayed by two
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or three weeks and you're working with us, We're able
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to deploy that workforce someplace else for two or three weeks,
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so you're not paying for those hours worked where they're
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sitting around, maybe you're waiting for equipment or you're waiting
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for product. We're able to keep our workers working and
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then with forecast management be able to bring them to
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you when when you need them. And I think also
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one of the things that we're really aligning ourselves with
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is AI when it comes to recruiting. And so you know,
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in the old days, the recruiters, you know, we would
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have ten recruiters to an office filling all these jobs
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because we had to call these people and who did we.
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Know in our database and who did they know?
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And how do I verify that you have your certificates
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or your OSHA training and that those documents weren't anywhere
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they weren't really accessible to trades people. And you know,
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now you know, we're we're working with companies where we
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can digitally put together the credentials, yes with builder facts,
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and we can put together the credentials of our workforce
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where they'll have it from job to job. And so
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then it doesn't take away the recruiter, It just lets
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the AI part do that forward working where maybe it
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took days to collect that all that paperwork, and now
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it takes you know, hours or minutes, and then our
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recruiters can work on the human side and see, you know,
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what the person is like, what is their strengths, you know,
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what kind of job site do they like to work
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on do they like to work on big solar projects?
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Do they like to work more on the commercial side.
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So we'll always need recruiters, but with the assistance of
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AI and technology, it's just really shortened things up and
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we can recruit on the evening, on the weekend, we
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can recruit in Spanish in their native language, reply to them,
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collect all their documents, and you know, it's done in
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a fraction of the time it would take a human
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to do that.
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Yeah, it's so incredible all the different possibilities that AI
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can give to construction specifically, like even just you know,
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the staffing side, the the payroll side, the pre con
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you know, there's so many different ways that AI plays
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in here, and it kind of plays on my favorite
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phrase that you know, AI is not going to take
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your job, but you are going to get replaced by
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someone who knows how to use the AI.
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Exactly exactly, and so early adapters are going to be
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the ones that are the most successful. And so that's
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really at the crux of why I wanted to start
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Workify was I just saw the industry changing and the
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big the big five staffing companies are amazing and they
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have a lot of tools and resources, but they don't
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pivot quickly. And I just saw the future coming with
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technology and AI, and I wanted to get all the
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best people that I knew in the industry together who
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had that same vision and wanted to make a real difference,
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not only for our customers, but for the trades people too.
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I mean, that's why we do what we do, right.
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We love them, We want to improve their lives. That's
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why we're all here, That's why.
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We do it.
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Yes, we want the worker experience to be top notch.
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We want them to be part of our customer's team.
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We want them to be part of their safety. We
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want them to work safe and return safely to their families.
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I mean, that's all important.
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And you know, and I just saw the future of
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that coming, and I just got the best people in
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the street that we have worked together for many, many years,
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and now we're able to hear and partner with like
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minded companies that want to do the same thing.
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Yeah, and it's so incredible when you can build that,
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you know, community, as a leader, build that community of
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like minded individuals, especially innovative, it just makes the world
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of difference.
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It makes the world a difference and it's fun. And
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you know, I always said, you know, I want to
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have fun at work. If I'm going to put in,
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you know, all the hours that I am working, I
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want to work around people that I love, that people
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that they love doing what they're doing, and that we
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have fun doing it. And I think that the innovation
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allows for creative thinking and thinking outside the box and
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we don't have to be structured to.
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One way of doing it.
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If there's a better way of doing it out there, quicker, faster,
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then we want to adopt to that.
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Yeah, and you know you're talking about all of these
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like innovative thinking, amazing, you know, new ideas. So what
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are you most excited about in the upcoming years when
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it comes to you know, technology AI? What gets you excited?
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You know, I was talking to one of my clients
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yesterday about safety and how safety is evolving, and it's
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evolving in a really big way. And you know, now
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there are they're equipping equipping Camra cameras that are going
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to roam the job site when they're moving heavy equipment,
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and the cameras are able to assist in how they
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move the heavy equipment, which will prevent less you know,
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injuries from happening. And so we're seeing you know, safety
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really get tightened up on a job site. Also, prefab
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prefab is a huge thing now. Contractors are using a
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lot of prefab for steel in the AI where they're
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constructing it out you know, outside of where the job
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site is, and they're bringing it in and it takes
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it takes less trades people because the trades people have
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already assembled it in the prefab.
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But it's safer because.
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They're just bringing it in and you know, tilting it
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up and it's safer that way. Also, we see robotics insite.
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Yes, that's where I was going to go at that.
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Now we're seeing you know, I have a customer that's
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an early adapter of you know, robotics, and so they're
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doing you know, different things where it you know, might
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be more dangerous for a trade person to do it.
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Now they can line up these you know robots and
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they can do it safer. And so, you know, I
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think that the future is wide open, and I feel
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like it's exciting to see all the things that we
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can implement into the trades. I love that that means
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better safety for our workforce because you know, at the
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end of the day, that's the main goal is to
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get our people home safe. So I see that happening,
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and I see, you know, data and workforce management is
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really going to be key because customers want insight into
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productive manpower hours, into retention, into you know, all sorts
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of things that happen on the job site. And I
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think that, you know, what we're doing is really investing
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in in data and workforce management so that we can
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get that information to our clients in real time and
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we can provide that information to them so that they
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feel comfortable with that they're going to have the manpower
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they need on the job site when they need it.
381
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Yeah, And I think, you know, all this technology it
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also really plays in you know, how we get so
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excited about it. We need to translate that to the
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next generation because I feel like they get bits and pieces,
385
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but like if we could just you know, immerse them
386
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in all of this and really get them excited, that
387
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would be cool and that would kind of, you know,
388
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hopefully push some more of them to join our industry.
389
00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.440
I think so, because I think the next generation is
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you know, really into AI, really into computers, does fast
391
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.920
does things faster than we did years ago. I know,
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my kids can get on an Excel spreadsheet and do
393
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one thing and it would take me ten minutes. And
394
00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:21.200
so I think that that future, with the robotics and
395
00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.480
with you know, prefab and pre con and how you're
396
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:28.079
talking to architects earlier on in the design of a project,
397
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I think that that is more exciting than just the old,
398
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you know, school way.
399
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:36.119
Of how construction used to be.
400
00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:40.000
Now it's much more you know, evolving into the future.
401
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:43.359
And I am hoping that that attracts more kids to
402
00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.319
come into the trades people, because really we're creating the
403
00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:50.839
next generation of skilled holds. We are.
404
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.440
And I think another thing it also helps to do
405
00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:58.279
is it also helps to squash some of those you know,
406
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:02.759
preconceived ideas or stereotypes about construction. You know, it was either,
407
00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:06.559
you know, the choice between college or construction. You go
408
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:11.880
to construction if you're not smart enough for college. I
409
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:14.400
don't know about you, but all of the skilled trades
410
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.720
people that I have met can do things and equations
411
00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:20.559
that I could never even dream of.
412
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.759
Oh yeah, they can measure things to the exact and
413
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they are smart and they understand building and you know,
414
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:35.440
green building is you know, that's everywhere now and I
415
00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:39.119
think that kids like that keeping the environment clean.
416
00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:42.000
And I think also.
417
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The opportunity to make a good wage. And when you're
418
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a skilled trades person, you can live anywhere.
419
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:49.039
So if your.
420
00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:53.119
Family moves someplace, you know that you're needed. I mean
421
00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:56.480
you're needed in every state across the country is in
422
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need for your job. You will always have, you know,
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jobs security and so uh. You know, I visited the
424
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:09.160
Issue School of Construction and it's amazing. I mean, if
425
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.799
I didn't have that when I went to a Issue,
426
00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:15.480
they didn't have that School of construction. And now I
427
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.240
see all these kids walking around, you know, learning about
428
00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:22.079
different aspects of construction, whether it be in the trades
429
00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:24.640
or in leadership, and I think it's wonderful that we've
430
00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:25.880
we've come that far.
431
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:30.160
Yeah, and they're building in their department I think is
432
00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:33.640
bigger than my building and my department was at my
433
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:36.880
college way back when. And seeing that grow and it's
434
00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:42.559
a gorgeous building, The Deli Web School of Construction gorgeous.
435
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:45.720
I had the pleasure of going there back in September.
436
00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.119
So cool. And the amount of opportunities that are out
437
00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:54.680
there for these students, for these young kids to learn
438
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:57.839
about construction, to get their you know, get their feet wet,
439
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:01.960
and just learning about it so much more than Yeah,
440
00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.599
even when I was back in high school and all
441
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:07.640
of that stuff. I'm not going to date myself and
442
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.000
say how long, But even back then, we didn't have
443
00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:11.799
any of.
444
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:12.839
That not n.
445
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.640
No, we didn't have any of that.
446
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.720
And you know, I remember, you know, in the thirties,
447
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:21.920
if I was out someplace and someone would say what
448
00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:23.960
do you do? And I would say, you know, I'm
449
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:27.240
in the skilled trades industry. You know, it's kind of
450
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:32.319
like a blank stare, and you know, it wasn't really a.
451
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.480
Conversation starter. I kind of just like, oh, okay, next.
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00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:43.519
Now now construction is everywhere and people are talking about it,
453
00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:46.240
you know, all the time, and it's so much more
454
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adopted now. And another thing that I do my personal
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time is I belonged to an organization called East Valley
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Women's League. And one of the things that we do
457
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.519
is we give out scholarships to women. And not only
458
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.200
do we about scholarships to a four year school, but
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00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.880
we give out scholarships to a trade school, we give
460
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.720
out a community college where somebody can go to a
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00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:12.400
trade school. And so I think it's really important that
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we see both ends of it. And I like that
463
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:19.680
we do that, and that we not only want to
464
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:21.880
reward somebody for going to college, but we want to
465
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reward that other person that wants to go into a
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00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:25.480
skilled trade.
467
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.839
Yeah. And I think, you know, especially for the kids,
468
00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:30.759
I think one of the things top of mind is
469
00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:35.039
job security. And I think that's another thing with construction,
470
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:38.319
just adding even more layers on top of here of
471
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:43.119
why this is attractive. Job security is so important to them,
472
00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:44.720
and that's really top of mind.
473
00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:47.519
And I think you have that when you go into
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00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:48.279
skilled trades.
475
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:52.000
Might not be at the same job site every time,
476
00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:52.920
but there is.
477
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:55.359
Always work for you. That's right.
478
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.200
We have to move around, but the ones that move
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around to make a lot of money. Mm hmmm.
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Awesome. Well, we're getting kind of to the end here
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and we've kind of gone through all of my little questions.
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That I have.
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But Allison, is there anything else that you want to
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maybe shed some light on spend some time chatting about here.
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I think we touched on a lot of stuff.
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I think that, you know, I just want to say that,
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you know, I really believe that the.
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Next generation is staffing will.
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Be defined by firms that can continue like authentic relationships
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and proven strategies and experience with cutting endo technology. And
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so that's what really excites me and keeps me energized
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for the next twenty years to come and to continue
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our path at work afy.
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You know, and in my opinion, work AFI has all
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of those qualities and all of those elements. And if
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you guys are interested in learning more about Workify learning
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more about Alison, I will put all the links down
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here in the description so you can check out more.
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And if you're also on the hunt for any skilled
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trades work you know where to go. Thank you Caroline
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of course, well Allison, thank you so much for being
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here with us today.
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Welcome.
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It was a pleasure, awesome and we will see all
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of you guys next time on the next episode of Coeopod.
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Thank you,
