A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry (2015) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 33-88
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From page 33... ...
33 C H A P T E R 3 The researchers conducted the following three major efforts in an examination of recruitment and retention efforts in the rail industry: • Focus groups with the industry workforce • Survey of the rail industry's operations managers, system engineers, and craftworkers • Structured interviews with business leaders, executives, and human resource departments The information compiled from these three efforts fed into the development of the competency models detailed in a later section. Focus Groups on Railroad Recruitment, Training, and Retention in Craftworkers The research design included a series of targeted focus groups to inform the issues that were explored in a nationwide survey of railroad craftworkers.
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From page 34... ...
34 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry participated in the eight focus groups. Carmen attended only in Houston and dispatchers were represented in Waltham and Chicago.
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From page 35... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 35 on, most were not concerned about a pension but this benefit became desirable once they were working for a few years. The retired firefighter was looking for a second career that would not impact his firefighter pension.
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From page 36... ...
36 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry All agreed that training new people is becoming more difficult because the experienced people are all retiring. The result is that "Babies are training babies." An experienced railroader said, "If somebody shows they are interested in what's going on, I put more into [the on-the-job training]
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 37 hires, they do not tell new employees about this practice. Participants were not against step raises but they thought 5 years was too long.
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From page 38... ...
38 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry • Dispatcher. Training at a large Class I railroad consists of several weeks of classroom training to learn the rules followed by OTJ training.
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From page 39... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 39 • Camaraderie of co-workers. • Some expressed a sense of pride in the work they do.
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40 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry are "ready to go at any time." At one time Harris County reimbursed the railroad for half of the first 90 days' salary for veterans that were hired. All participants reported having a comprehensive job preview that included the work schedule.
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From page 41... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 41 familiarization for MOW personnel. A signalman talked about his foreman assigning a buddy to every new employee.
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42 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Overall Themes • People in New England and Chicago were more likely to come from railroad families in contrast with Houston. • Many have worked in other industries prior to joining a railroad.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 43 3. Job satisfaction was fair for 58% of this group.
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From page 44... ...
44 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Craftworker Demographics Responses were collected for the following demographic information: craftworker labor category, age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, and years worked in the industry. Craftworker Labor Categories.
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From page 45... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 45 Responses on Pre-railroad Employment Experience Respondents were asked several questions pertaining to their opportunities and experiences upon entering the railroad industry. Where warranted, a breakdown of responses to questions by labor category is presented.
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From page 46... ...
46 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry maintenance, newspapers, nuclear technician, plumber, production, real estate, retail/sales, textile industry, and welder. In Figure 13, the prior vocations of respondents are presented by labor category.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 47 Vocations Co un t Figure 13. Prior vocations of participants in the craftworker survey.
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48 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry percentage of respondents who selected them. These survey takers had the option to write in other factors that influenced their decision.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 49 Application Process. In the survey, the craftworkers reported an overall satisfactory experience (68.6%)
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50 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry acquiring seniority rights. Write-in answers given by the respondents are as follows: "Federal Employer's Liability Act"; "forced promotions"; "railroads put customers before employee safety"; "instability of job"; "lack of timely and accurate information"; "chronic health risks"; "the ‘us against them' attitude between trainmen and management"; and "all of the above." See Figure 17 for a histogram of participants' responses.
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From page 51... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 51 with decades of experience is where I actually gained the most knowledge" was strongly endorsed throughout the survey. On-the-Job Training.
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From page 52... ...
52 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry 9.2% of this group, respectively. Insufficient or nonexistent training was endorsed by 40.3% and 5.5%, respectively.
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From page 53... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 53 assigned to a trainer who was out on vacation, and therefore not able to train. Time pressures, poor management cooperation, and inexperienced staff were all contributors to the negative views of the person's training.
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54 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Ways to Increase Satisfaction Pe rc en ta ge Figure 21. Actions suggested by craftworker survey respondents to increase job satisfaction.
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Pe rc en ta ge Career Plans (5–10 Years) Figure 22.
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56 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry No differences were noted in satisfaction levels for career advancements across the different labor categories. The survey results also did not indicate differences in opinion for advancement opportunities across the age categories.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 57 Pe rc en ta ge Ways to Promote Career Advancement Improve communication when new positions become available Hire more from within the railroad 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0 45.0 50.0 Offer more training to employees to expand skill set and knowledge 23.5 40.7 30.9 Figure 25. Changes needed for career advancement according to craftworker survey respondents.
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58 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Table 7. Average stress levels of craftworker survey respondents for a variety of job-related factors.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 59 35.0%30.3% 16.7%17.9% Figure 27. Likelihood of industry recommendation by craftworker survey respondents.
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60 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Results of Rail Engineering and Operations Recruitment and Retention Survey Survey Background An email invitation to participate in the survey was sent to a blind list of "rail industry professionals" on 31 October 2014. It explained that responses would be anonymous and that the goal of the survey was "to better understand the effectiveness of rail industry workforce recruitment and retention activities, .
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 61 Figure 30. Locations of respondents to the rail engineering and operations survey.
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62 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Figure 32. Age by focus area of respondents to the rail engineering and operations survey.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 63 family or friends) , find the work satisfying or extremely satisfying, and would recommend a railroad career.
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64 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry course work, and whether respondents feel they had sufficient access to rail-related courses and seminars: • Respondents with annual income >$115K who are 45 years old or older hold bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees with no formal rail-related course work; they recalled none when asked whether there had been sufficient access to rail-related courses. • Respondents with annual income <$115K who are 25 to 44 years old hold bachelor's degrees with no formal rail-related course work; the majority of respondents recalled there having been none, or a small number, of rail-related courses or seminars.
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From page 65... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 65 • Respondents with annual income <$80K who are 25 to 44 years old had no formal training period (greatest obstacle was lack of time) , found OTJ training was most effective, participated in NE and EP training, and feel they had sufficient preparation for safe and satisfactory work.
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From page 66... ...
66 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Results of the Retention and Recruitment Survey for Operations For respondents who identified operations as the focus of their current responsibility, Figure 35 categorizes their education, age, and experience by annual income and employer type. From this data and other survey responses, the research team developed profiles of respondents in the following areas: • Industry image, recruitment, and employee satisfaction • Education and access to rail-related courses • Getting onboard with a rail career • OTJ training and continuing education • Employee satisfaction and retention • Education, professional participation, and 5- to 10-year plans Industry Image, Recruitment, and Employee Satisfaction -- Operations.
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From page 67... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 67 employment opportunities, current job satisfaction, and whether they recommend that others consider working in the industry: • Respondents with annual income >$115K had a positive image of the industry before starting job search, became interested in opportunities because of suggestions from family or friends who worked in the industry or after an internship, find the work satisfying, and would be likely to recommend a railroad career. • Respondents with annual income <$115K had a positive image of the industry, became interested in opportunities because of suggestions from family or friends, find the work satisfying, and would be very likely to recommend a railroad career.
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From page 68... ...
68 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry satisfactory and started in 2 weeks; and found the most helpful preparation was course work or previous employment. • Respondents with annual income <$56K who are 55 to 62 years old were attracted by the salary, job variety/options, job security, or interest in trains/railroading; found the application process to be excellent and likely started in 1 to 3 months.
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From page 69... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 69 Education, Professional Participation, and 5- to 10-Year Plans -- Operations. The data shown in Figure 35 and other responses to the survey allowed the research team to develop the following profiles concerning the respondents' age, education level, rail-related professional membership, years of industry experience, and expectations for the next 5 to 10 years.
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70 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Employee Education and Access to Rail-Related Courses -- Other Positions. The data shown in Figure 36 and other responses to the survey allowed the research team to develop the following profiles concerning the respondents' level of completed education, whether it included rail-related course work, and whether they feel they had sufficient access to rail-related courses and seminars: • Respondents with annual income >$115K who are 63 years old or older have a 4-year or post-graduate degree, which did not include formal rail-related education, although some rail-related courses or seminars may have been offered.
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From page 71... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 71 Getting Onboard with a Rail Career -- Other Positions. The data shown in Figure 36 and other responses to the survey allowed the research team to develop the following profiles concerning why respondents chose rail-related work, their experience with the application process and time-to-start, and what was the most helpful preparation for a career in rail: • Respondents with annual income >$115K who are 63 years old or older were attracted by the salary or job variety/options, found the application process to be excellent and likely started within 2 weeks, and found the most helpful preparation for a rail career was guidance from one or more people in the industry or previous employment.
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From page 72... ...
72 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry suggest these employer initiatives: growth/advancement opportunities, increased pay, and acknowledgment from management for a job well done. • Respondents with annual income <$115K who are 55 to 62 years old were satisfied/ extremely satisfied with their job and satisfied/neutral with opportunities; see rail as a lifelong career; say their priorities are interesting/challenging work, wages, and job security; and suggested these employer initiatives: increased pay, acknowledgment from management for a job well done, and more vacation time.
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From page 73... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 73 • 11 went through the entire survey but provided no responses • 26 selected "none of the above" as their primary focus • 25 provided a partial response and are included in this analysis • 46 completed the survey in its entirety Of these 71 participants, 42 are in engineering (29 completed the survey) and 29 are in operations (17 completed the survey)
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From page 74... ...
74 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Figure 38. Categorization of system engineers' education, age, and experience by annual income and response by employer types.
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Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 75 Figure 39. (Continued)
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From page 76... ...
76 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry – Training should start early, depending on whether the state has well-trained trainers. Depending on location, the technical institute has to be contacted and related classes on train control, traction power, track work, etc.
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From page 77... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 77 Figure 40. Categorization of operations respondents' education, age, and experience by annual income and employer types.
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78 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Figure 41. (Continued)
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From page 79... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 79 Comments and Training Recommendations from Operations Respondents • Operations Support Systems – As organizations become more complex, generalized instruction in areas other than one's own normal sphere of activities seems more valuable. – Fleet management.
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From page 80... ...
80 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry 1U = Understand -- infer, interpret, compare, summarize, or explain 2A = Apply -- execute or implement a defined ini a ve 3A = Analyze -- assess data, problems, or systems based on exis ng criteria 4C = Create -- maintain, adapt, or generate in support of ongoing efforts 5E = Evaluate -- use self-selected criteria to design, develop, or define new ini a ves or criteria NA = Not Applicable . response categories co lo r s ca le Lighter grays indicate the categories -- 1U, 2A, 3A, 4C, 5E, and NA -- that received fewer responses.
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From page 81... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 81 • Safety Culture – Regional railroads can still "get our arms around the railroad" and get closer to stakeholders (owners, employees, patrons, general public) than the Class I counterparts who seem too compartmentalized and driven by an obsession with reducing costs with no concept of the effect on future (or current)
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From page 82... ...
82 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry and the willingness to be able to commit to working an unpredictable schedule. HR departments explain the attractiveness of this quality by pointing to the fact that the railroad is a 24/7 operation and that it takes "a special sort of individual to adapt to that type of working environment." Leadership and decision-making skills are also of the utmost importance when considering if candidates would be a good fit in the railroad industry workforce.
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From page 83... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 83 railroad, "they are well prepared to deal with whatever may come their way, in many different environmental conditions." Rules and safety are vital to both careers. "Both the military and the railroads live and breathe rules and safety every day, as it is truly the only way to ensure being able to leave work and go home safely." Both fields use heavy machinery and both must understand the importance of how to use them properly and safely because one slip up could be quite costly.
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From page 84... ...
84 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Education and Training Education and Training Methods An interview conducted with the director of training for a Class I railroad offered insight into the education and training methods employed by railroads. From this interview, the researchers gleaned that educating and/or training employees is mostly up to the discretion of the individual railroad employers.
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From page 85... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 85 Canadian National has a different approach to training in that it has training centers located throughout its system, as opposed to in one centralized location. Jim Kvedaras, spokesman for Canadian National, states that safety training is a huge focus of theirs.
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From page 86... ...
86 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry Retention Challenges Several challenges came up in discussions with HR professionals about maintaining workforce capacity in the railroad industry. Most important is the issue of unpredictable schedules.
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From page 87... ...
Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Practices, Strategies, and Challenges 87 (see Appendix D) , ensuring the inquiry is relevant, reliable, and unbiased by the standards of working railroad subject matter experts as well as consistent with research protocols.
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From page 88... ...
88 A Guide to Building and Retaining Workforce Capacity for the Railroad Industry economics, business, and psychology were also reported. Post-graduate degrees followed in early to mid-career, most often as part of interviewees' rail-related professional development.
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