Exploring Women's Role in Welding: Recruitment & Training Practices
Investigate recruitment and training practices for women in welding through surveys, focus groups, and industry analysis. Evaluate current methods and propose tailored approaches to enhance recruitment and training for women in the welding industry.
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Presentation Transcript
Women in Welding Investigating Recruitment and Training Practices for Women 9/14/2021 Jamal Gibson - NNS Project Lead Data Category B 1
Todays Presentation Project Goals Project Approach What We ve Accomplished Conclusion Questions 2
Project Goals Evaluate current recruiting practices for welding Determine how to tailor those practices to improve recruitment for women. Evaluate recruiting programs that are adapted for recruiting women Incorporate those techniques in recruiting women. Assess existing training programs for welding Determine how to modify those programs to improve training rates for women. Assess industry training that is specific to women Integrate that training to improve training for women 3
Project Approach Deploy Online Surveys Survey s seek to understand perception of shipbuilding population of welding and challenges that women face with welding Using survey results, plan to create focus group questions Seven questions were generated based on survey data In-person focus groups will be held at NNS for in-depth discussion of responses Virtual focus groups will be held in partnership with the Virginia Manufacturers Association These focus groups will bring together industry representatives to discuss industry standards for recruitment and retention of women welders Additional research effort will be placed on training and recruitment practices 4
What weve accomplished Three surveys have been deployed One survey will seek responses from internal NNS population (including salaried and hourly workers) 136 responses from survey results compiled in the next slides One survey will seek responses from companies that hire/perform welding as their core business 27 responses from employer survey results yet to be compiled One survey was conducted by the American Welding Society to focus on expert analysis of industry 175 responses from survey 5
What weve accomplished Four focus groups were conducted at NNS Total of 26 participants All women participants who are welders or held welding positions and moved to welding adjacent fields Held two focus groups in partnership with VMA Partnered with the Virginia Manufacturers Association to conduct the focus group Two focus groups were held with over 50 participants 6
NNS Focus Groups Believe welding is a good career for women Believe there are not enough women in leadership roles in the trades Can be a contributing factor as to why there is lack of management support for women in welding Think some form of harassment is prevalent. Welding is still perceived as a male-dominated trade, however, some advancements have been made over the years to counter this type of behavior Lack of daycare is a major deterrent and discourages women from entering the field 7
NNS Focus Groups Provided mixed comments about welding as a high wage career. Most believe lack of education and marketing are major factors Most believe more qualifications equates to a higher salary women should have more opportunities to obtain additional qualifications. A concerted effort should be made to provide more training for inexperienced welders Some indicated that the program/project you work on coupled with the type of leadership (leaders who are committed to growth and development) makes a difference Think that the environment including weather conditions and perception of a male-dominate industry are constraints for women entering the welding field 8
Recommendations Industry/Government needs to provide better accommodations for childcare potentially 24 hr. care for night/weekend workers Expand maternity and paternity leave policy to help families with young children Provide more women friendly tools and equipment Promote and hire more women in trade-related leadership positions Hire recruiters who have been welders previously Establish mentoring programs for welders to learn from more experienced individuals 9
Conclusion There is a skills gap coming for manufacturing careers in the next ten years With women being severely underrepresented in manufacturing, they can potentially take up those positions Our goal is to evaluate existing recruitment and training practices to offer suggestions that will improve recruitment and retention of women in welding Our original project approach had to adapt to COVID to perform all tasks online The project has completed all major tasks, with results shown earlier Final report has been completed and project has been closed 10
Resources Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ Manufacturing Institute STEP Ahead LEAD Toolkit: http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/~/media/90750E 79CC8549BCB2CE7C7BA08AF852.ashx Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte Research: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/manufacturing/arti cles/women-in-manufacturing-industrial-products-and- services.html FABTECH: https://www.fabtechexpo.com/blog/2018/07/10/women- who-weld-lighting-the-way-out-of-poverty 12
