During Construction Inclusion Week (CIW), Hensel Phelps is joining the industry in recognizing the importance of workforce development and the role contractors can play in creating accessible pathways into construction careers.
Attracting and retaining a skilled workforce requires addressing the barriers that can prevent someone from entering the industry, providing the training and resources needed to succeed and creating opportunities for people to build long-term careers once they arrive.
Guided by its core values, Hensel Phelps works with employees, trade partners and community organizations to support those pathways in ways that reflect local needs. By empowering its people to share their experience, invest in others and create opportunities, Hensel Phelps aims to help strengthen the future of the construction industry.
Removing Barriers to Construction Careers in Southern California
In Southern California, the Hensel Phelps Employment Opportunity Program (EOP) is creating a direct pathway into the construction workforce for people who face significant barriers to employment.
EOP began in 2021 after Hensel Phelps recognized an opportunity to use its position as a contractor and employer to make construction careers more accessible. Traditional apprenticeship-readiness programs can provide valuable preparation, but many require an eight–to-12-week unpaid commitment, creating a significant hurdle for someone already navigating challenges related to housing, transportation or financial stability. Hensel Phelps developed a different path.
Inside the Employment Opportunity Program
Today, EOP works with several community-based organizations that identify prospective candidates facing barriers to employment, understand their circumstances and prepare them for the expectations of construction employment. Candidates selected to advance participate in the Laborers Union’s five-day entry assessment. Those who successfully complete the assessment can move toward employment without first completing a longer apprenticeship-readiness program. Over the past five years, Hensel Phelps has interviewed 23 EOP candidates and placed six into employment.
The partnership does not stop at recruitment. Community organizations and Hensel Phelps teams have helped address practical barriers ranging from union initiation dues and transportation to clothing and employment verification needed to secure housing. Project teams have also intentionally identified work opportunities for employees who may initially face restrictions on where they can work, creating a place to begin while they continue progressing in their careers.
Connecting Nashville’s Workforce with Opportunity
When Hensel Phelps began expanding its construction presence in Nashville, the team faced a challenge familiar across the industry: a busy construction market, strong competition for skilled workers and too few people entering the trades. Hensel Phelps’ workforce strategy focused not only on finding workers for individual projects but also supporting the broader pipeline of people entering construction. That effort led Hensel Phelps to Nashville-based 4:13 Strong in 2018.
About 4:13 Strong
4:13 Strong operates a residential workforce development program for men that combines vocational education with life skills and employment preparation. The organization currently describes its program as a six-to-eight-month experience designed to provide participants with stable housing, work readiness, marketable skills and support as they prepare for employment.
Hensel Phelps originally identified the organization while developing a broader workforce development strategy around its work at Nashville International Airport. The resulting plan focused on increasing construction career awareness, connecting workforce organizations with actual employment needs and giving participants exposure to real jobsites and industry professionals.
Jobsite Tours and Employment Opportunities
Hensel Phelps partners with 4:13 Strong to host participants on jobsites, where employees introduce them to the realities of construction and the range of careers available within it. Hensel Phelps employees explain their work firsthand, giving participants exposure that classroom training alone cannot provide.
Hensel Phelps has also helped connect participants directly with trade partners seeking employees. Rather than requiring a company to hire a specific individual, the approach brings qualified candidates and employers together and allows those employment conversations to happen naturally.
Introducing Students to Construction Through ACE Mentorship
Developing the future construction workforce starts years before someone enters the job market. For many students, that begins with exposure to the industry and gaining a clearer understanding of the careers available within it. The ACE Mentor Program of America connects high school students with practicing professionals in architecture, construction and engineering, giving them hands-on exposure to careers they may not otherwise encounter.
Hensel Phelps has supported ACE nationally through sponsorship and employees across the nation who volunteer their time as mentors. The company also participates in ACE Day of Action, which takes place this year on October 16, encouraging professionals to offer their mentorship and raising awareness of opportunities for students in the built environment.
The workforce development programs in Southern California and Nashville are helping people navigate the transition into construction. ACE works farther upstream, helping young people understand that those careers exist and giving them access to professionals who can show them what the industry looks like from the inside. Together, these efforts address different points along the same workforce pipeline.
Extending the Impact of Construction Inclusion Week
There is no single solution to construction’s workforce challenge. Through the Hensel Phelps Employment Opportunity Program and partnerships with organizations like 4:13 Strong, Hensel Phelps is helping connect people with training, resources and employment opportunities. Support for the ACE Mentor Program extends that effort earlier, helping students discover careers in architecture, construction and engineering before they enter the workforce.
That is also why Construction Inclusion Week matters beyond five days in October. Strengthening the construction workforce is an ongoing responsibility that requires contractors, trade partners, educators, community organizations and industry professionals to work together. Helping someone discover the industry, prepare for an opportunity, step onto a jobsite and continue growing once they get there can have an impact well beyond filling a single position.
Through these efforts, Hensel Phelps is helping develop people, strengthen communities and build the workforce that will shape the future of the construction industry. Learn more about how Hensel Phelps works with trade partners through its Supplier Diversity program, or explore career opportunities with Hensel Phelps and help build what comes next.
