Human Resources

NLRB Rules on Employee Speech Protections

NLRB case reminds employers that employees have speech protections.

COVID-19 Vaccine Resources for Contractors

 Collectively and quickly responding to this pandemic is the most important immediate issue we face as an industry. The COVID-19 vaccine is a safe and easily implemented tool now at our disposal to battle the pandemic and return to a normal life at home and on the job. The following resources will help contractors to educate employees and encourage a healthy and vaccinated workforce.

Unconscious Bias in Leaders

Being aware of your unconscious bias can increase diversity, membership retention, and innovation. Several steps to mitigating bias can help your organization be as effective as possible.

How Leaders Can Build Enduring Resilience

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

NHF Releases Study on Traits of Top Performing PMs and Field Leaders

The New Horizons Foundation has released a study on the traits of top performing project managers and field leaders.

Human Dimensions Assessment of Top-Performing Personnel

This study from the New Horizons Foundation identified the human dimensions (personality, emotional intelligence, and behavioral traits) of key job roles within SMACNA contractors. The study uncovered a lot about the top 10% of performers among Project Managers and Field Leaders.

UPDATE - Can Employers Require COVID Vaccinations?

In December 2020, COVID-19 vaccines received emergency approval and began being distributed and administered. Since then, many employers have wondered if they can require their employees to be vaccinated despite multiple lawsuits against vaccination mandates. 

Contractor Operations Manual Addition - Monetary and Nonmonetary Compensation Plans

This newest addition to the Contractor Operations Manual details how compensation plans should be directly linked to your company’s strategic business plan.

The Harder Work: Leading Toward a Preferable Future

Without a compelling vision, leaders often feel they are alone and on their own, the only one pedaling while everyone else is along for the ride. It can be crushing and leads to bitterness and resentment toward employees. 

Organizational Adoption of New Technologies: Best Practices for SMACNA Contractors

SMACNA members are eager to adopt new technologies, operational processes, and business strategies. Yet the implementation of organizational change – defined as an intentional, company-level adoption of new practices, technologies, or management approaches – can be extremely difficult. This white paper identifies the top eight most effective technology implementation management practices.

Employees Key to Your DEI Initiatives

Organizations can achieve their desired DEI outcomes by ensuring their diversity and inclusion efforts are aligned and that they have employee buy-in. It’s also critical that DEI initiatives are consistent and transparent, and that everyone recognizes the factors that contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, understands the difference between each, and can identify ways to improve DEI at their organization.

Let's Talk Shop, Episode 16: Diversity and Equity in the Industry

In Episode 16 of Let’s Talk Shop, host Angie Simon, CEO, Western Allied Mechanical, chats with Leah Rambo, Training Director and Fund Administrator at Sheet Metal Workers Local 28, about the diversity requirements required in the building trades in NYC and how they ensure opportunities in the trade remain equitable and competitive.

The Harder Work: Reputation Management and Trust Building

We continue the series on the “harder work” of leadership — important but not urgent responsibilities that are easy to put off, in some cases for decades. In this installment, we’ll examine the responsibility of owners and senior leaders to incessantly enhance their organization’s reputation, refusing to believe it will stand untarnished without constant attention.

ARPA Provides Up to Six Months of Paid COBRA Benefits

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law. ARPA includes a provision that provides certain individuals (called “Assistance Eligible Individuals” or “AEIs”) with a 100% subsidy for COBRA continuation coverage for up to six months.

Do You Know Who You’re Hiring?

You’re looking to bring on a new employee, and your prime candidate looks great on paper — plenty of experience, consistent work history, and ideal professional credentials.  Before making an offer, where appropriate, consider checking their background to help you understand who you’re adding to your team.

Federated Insurance is a Premier Partner

Building What’s Next: Preparing for the Next Decade of Construction

For long-term success, it is important that construction workers, associations, and tech companies work together to build awareness around the opportunity that data and inclusion hold. 

The Hard Work: Developing People

Building a great culture is, in part, the result of making hard decisions about finding, keeping, and developing great people. But too often we let the urgency of our need lower our standards.

Opening Doors for Diversity in Construction

When Fatima Ware finished her apprenticeship in sheet metal construction in 2016, she decided it was time for a change. Not for her, but for the construction business.

Update: Requiring COVID-19 Vaccines

As more COVID-19 vaccines are approved and made available to willing recipients, there will be increased discussion around whether, when and how contractors might require their employees to be vaccinated.

Residential Forum: Leadership & Company Culture

This informative session, led by Jeff Plant of BDR, will help you find out where you can have the most impact on your company culture.

Employee Stock Ownership Plans Come with Both Risks and Rewards

Maybe you’re thinking that your business is not valuable to a third-party buyer. Maybe you don’t want to deal with the sales process, or perhaps you don’t have the next generation to pass it to. So, what are your options?

Finding Balance Between “Me” and “We”

Whether you are talking about your company’s engagement on a prestigious megaproject or a lone service tech making a routine call, all of us have to manage the tension between individual recognition and collective success.

FFCRA Paid Leave Chart and Poster

Flow chart and poster outlining employee rights regarding paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFRCA).

Showing Up as Your Best Self

The default response for many leaders in our industry is toward action. So when a crisis hits, whether internal or external, investing even more time, even more emotional intensity, even more brute force seems like the obvious move.

Let's Talk Shop, Episode 10: Carol and Ashley Duncan of General Sheet Metal

To celebrate Women in Construction Week, host Angie Simon, SMACNA president and CEO of Western Allied Mechanical, talks with Carol Duncan, CEO, General Sheet Metal, and her daughter Ashley Duncan, mechanical division manager at General Sheet Metal.

The Importance of Identifying Risks and Developing a Strategy

We recently looked at the tendency for senior leaders to stay involved in the details of their organization long after they’ve grown to the point of hiring others. In this issue, we’ll share an analogy and a few takeaways.

Engaging a Workforce in Transition - Keeping Skilled Labor

This short white paper outlines the steps necessary to create a highly engaged workforce that will sustain your organization and manage the transition from one generation to the next.

Who’s Using the Tennis Court?

How do you correct inefficient or controlling leadership behaviors? Self-awareness is the key.

Courage in the Little Things

The grind of decision making can be exhausting. If you kept track of the number of decisions you make every day, you’d probably feel even more tired.

The Roadmap for an Enduring Organization

Why is it that only about 30 percent of privately held companies move beyond the founder and transition to a second generation? One primary reason is that there is no roadmap from “here” to “there.”

An Executive Exit: A Closer Look at the Factors That Drive Successful Executive Transitions

There is significant research on laying the organizational groundwork for transition and identifying and preparing a successor. However, there is no formal set of guidelines for a successor transitioning into the CEO role.

Let's Talk Shop, Episode 4: Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

Joe Isom, vice president (former president), California Sheet Metal is featured in this episode of Let’s Talk Shop. Host Angie Simon, CEO, Western Allied Mechanical, and SMACNA president talks with Joe about his company’s conversion to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

Culture: As Defined by Architectural Sheet Metal Contractors

SMACNA’s architectural sheet metal contractors share their formulas for a thriving company culture.

Accountability and Leadership

Understanding the dynamics of accountability helps a leader create a culture where people learn to take responsibility for their own work — mistakes and all.

Tom Schleifer’s Construction Company Self-Analysis Program

In 2019, Dr. Thomas C. Schleifer developed the Construction Company Self-Analysis Program.This do-it-yourself diagnostic tool offers the equivalent of an independent expert evaluation of every aspect of a construction business.

Saving the Hardest for Last

In a construction-related business of any size, decisions come early and often, particularly when you are the owner.

Developing Leaders Through Feedback

Collectively, companies spend billions of dollars for leader development, utilizing everything from public seminars to executive MBA programs at prestigious universities. While all of these have value, people sometimes overlook one of the simplest tools, available free to everyone—real-time developmental feedback.

Tools for the Hiring, Promotion, and Talent Development of Sheet Metal and Mechanical Contractors

The New Horizons Foundation partnered with lead researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Kansas to understand how personality and aptitude assessments are being used successfully in the construction industry.

Guide to EEO Compliance

SMACNA contractors who work on federal contracts have certain equal employment opportunities (EEO) obligations imposed upon them that may not apply to contractors who do not work on federal contracts.

Collective Bargaining Considerations for Monitoring Technology

An overview of the law under the National Labor Relations Act concerning use of technology to monitor employees and employer property. 

Using a Board of Directors, Peer Groups and Other Resources to Challenge and Enhance Performance

This white paper offers advice and suggestions on the effective use of outside resources to improve performance of HVAC and sheet metal contractors.

Compensation for Time Spent Changing Into or Out of Some Protective Gear

Contractors working under contracts that exclude time for changing of clothes from paid time should review their practices to ensure that the vast majority of the time excluded is spent putting on or taking off “clothes” as defined by the Sandifer decision.