For several years, we have been hearing about the shortage of qualified technicians throughout our industry. During that period, I have smiled and said, “We have not had those problems with our company nor has it been a big problem here in the St. Louis area.” However, with an extremely warm summer, an increasing amount of industrial pipefitting work, and the fact that so many technicians left the industry during the economic downturn that started in 2008, for the first time, we are seeing more demand for labor than there is supply available.
Our company theory has always been to pay our employees fairly, acknowledge their good performance, and treat them like family. The definition and understanding of “paying them fairly” has been an issue this summer.