Read Two New Papers from the New Horizons Foundation

The New Horizons Foundation has produced two new papers designed to help contractors understand best practices for hiring and development within the skilled labor force.

Onboarding Trade Workers for Accelerated Engagement and Productivity
"I received better onboarding at Jack in the Box than I did as a union employee." That comment from an HVAC contractor president frames the problem this report sets out to fix. With 60 percent of construction injuries occurring in a worker's first year and effective onboarding linked to 52 percent higher retention and 60 percent higher productivity, the first 90 days are among the highest-leverage periods a contractor has. Yet most firms still treat onboarding as paperwork on Day 1 and hope for the best on Day 2.

Built around SHRM's 5 Cs framework (Compliance, Clarification, Culture, Connection, and Check-Back), this New Horizons Foundation report walks through a full 90-day onboarding arc with real contractor examples, ten strategic questions to answer before redesigning the process, a practical technology stack, and a stripped-down playbook for small contractors with limited time and budget. The message is straightforward: onboarding doesn't need to be complicated or expensive, but it does need to be intentional.

Mentoring: Developing Trade Workers’ Talent and Engagement
Across SMACNA shops and job sites, most mentoring still happens the way it always has: organic, informal, and dependent on whoever happens to take a new worker under their wing. This New Horizons Foundation report makes the case that contractors are leaving real money on the table by stopping there. Drawing on practical examples from contractors across the country, it shows how structured mentoring builds the foreperson and superintendent pipeline, reduces costly mistakes, and helps contractors keep the people they most want to keep.

Inside you'll find a side-by-side comparison of formal mentoring, informal mentoring, and knowledge transfer, a seven-step implementation roadmap, debunked myths about who makes a good mentor, and a toolkit of low-cost shortcuts. Whether you run a small shop or a multi-state operation, this is a field guide for turning mentoring from a happy accident into a competitive advantage.