Recruiting and Retaining a Manufacturing Workforce

At the beginning of a panel discussion at the Women in Manufacturing Summit in October 2025, Meredith Lipnick, director of private sector strategy at advocacy nonprofit Moms First, asked the audience a few questions.

She asked attendees to raise their hands if they had ever had to miss all or part of a workday to take a loved one to a doctor’s appointment, had to change their schedule because child care arrangements fell through, felt that their work life was in tension with their home life when arranging care, or all of the above.

About three-quarters of the room raised their hands, Lipnick noted.

Women are underrepresented in the manufacturing industry, comprising about 29% of the workforce, according to a 2022 report by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

That same year, The Manufacturing Institute launched the “35×30” campaign, which aims to close the gender gap by adding about 500,000 women to the industry by 2030. That would increase women’s representation to 35%.

One of the ways the industry could achieve its goal is through flexible work schedules, “attractive” income and benefits, and work-life balance, according to the report.

“If we all work together and uplift these issues, we can really change the conversation from, ‘This is a personal problem for families to solve,’ to ‘This is a systemic issue that the public and private sector can come together to find solutions for,’” Lipnick added.

Child care tax incentive to expand

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, an existing federal child care tax incentive will expand eligibility for expenses, including third-party mediators contracted with child care facilities and facilities jointly owned by companies.

The credit rate for expenditures will rise to 50% and 60% for small businesses.

Tax incentive 45F, included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed over the summer, increased the maximum credit to $500,000. For small businesses, it’s $600,000.

In 2025, the 45F credit allowed businesses to reduce their income tax liability by up to $150,000 a year. The credit accounts for 25% of qualified child care expenses plus 10% of child care resource and referral services costs that the business incurred.

Moms First and Kindercare advocated for the changes to the policy. 

Kimberly Spriggs, partnerships manager at Kindercare, said the company always hears from executives saying they know they need child care, but the biggest barrier is affordability.

“What we hear is, ‘Wow, love it. But we can’t really justify the costs at this point,’” Spriggs said. “So with the 45F child care credit now increasing, where the government is going to pay almost half of the cost, the math is going to work now for our companies.”

With 2026 right around the corner, Spriggs said now’s the time for businesses to start building partnerships in child care.

“Start developing a plan, make sure they know the needs of their workforce and get it moving, because it is a really big financial opportunity for corporations,” Spriggs said.

How child care ‘pays for itself’

According to a 2024 report by Moms First and Boston Consulting Group, inadequate child care has cost employers $13 billion a year in lost productivity. Furthermore, it can cost companies up to twice an employee’s salary to replace a worker.

In 2022, Moms First launched the National Business Coalition for Child Care, which organizes employers to expand workplace policies and advocate for child care as an economic obligation to help change legislation, according to its website.

Since then, the coalition has grown to more than 200 members, including manufacturing companies Intel, L’Oreal, Estée Lauder, Chobani, Micron Technology and Merck.

“We really think that the private sector has a really important role to play, not only because caregiving is so important, but because there’s a real bottom line,” Lipnick said. “There’s a real return on investment.”

Child care improves recruitment and retention

Moms First and BCG’s 2024 report included financial analysis, personal interviews, and survey responses from nearly 1,000 U.S.-based employees at five companies that have child care benefits: Etsy, Fast Retailing, Steamboat Ski Resort, Synchrony and UPS.

The report found that these five companies achieved returns on investment of up to 425%. Additionally, 90% of employers said child care benefits boosted talent recruitment and retention, and 88% agreed that child care benefits increased productivity.

On the employee side, up to 86% of working parents said they’re more likely to stay with their employer and up to 78% reported positive career impacts. Furthermore, working parents avoided up to 16 days of work per year.

“That was really an unlock for us in thinking about why this is so important, not just from a family perspective, but an economic perspective,” Lipnick said.

Sara McLeod, head of global compensation at Whirlpool, said that the company’s recruitment and retention have drastically improved since establishing an on-site child care center at its headquarters in Benton Township, Michigan.

Dubbed The Eddy, a synonym for whirlpool, the center opened in 2019 and is operated in partnership with KinderCare. 

McLeod said Whirlpool employees who have children at The Eddy are more engaged and have an “extremely higher retention rate.” The company also hears a lot from its global talent pool that The Eddy was their final decision maker.

“They knew that was one less thing that they had to think about when they were relocating to Southwest Michigan, [which] was where their children were going to be and how safe they were going to be,” McLeod said. 

The appliance manufacturer often doesn’t see employees leave Whirlpool until their children are done with The Eddy, she added.  

A problem to be solved

For manufacturing plant workers, especially those in facilities across the country, child care isn’t easy to find or afford. Moreover, factory employees work shifts before and after business hours.

Kindercare takes a look at the manufacturing site’s scheduling and assesses the needs as part of developing the plan, followed by a survey to determine the “right kind” of operating hours, Sprigg said.

Whirlpool has 10 manufacturing facilities across the United States, but The Eddy is only at the company’s headquarters. McLeod said Whirlpool is still trying to find a solution, as it loses attendance due to child care issues. In the meantime, the company has discounted rates for Kindercares nationwide that their employees can use.

“But I would say that’s a problem that I think we as women in manufacturing need to solve,” McLeod said.

The manufacturing industry has long bemoaned the decline of its workforce. Yet today’s manufacturing educational pathways look much like they did in the ‘80s, when hiring numbers began declining.

Apprenticeship programs remain scarce, with just 678,000 apprentices registered nationwide (in comparison, Germany’s labor force is less than a third of the U.S.’ yet maintains 1.22 million apprentices). And according to one Dewalt survey, students believe that trade schools are costly and offer limited networking opportunities. 

One underrated option may hold the most promise for workforce growth: the local community college. 

That’s according to a series of reports by The Rutgers Education and Employment Research Center released in October 2025, which examines the “hidden innovative structure” of America’s community colleges. 

Community colleges excel in ways conducive to a successful manufacturing career, said Shalin Jyotishi, founder of the Future of Work & Innovation Economy Initiative at think tank New America.

The schools are accessible, closely plugged into the local manufacturing industry and usually more affordable. For many people, Jyotishi said, a community college is the best way to enroll in a program that offers all the benefits of an apprenticeship.

“An apprenticeship program is the closest possible coupling between education and work experience since the Babylonian times. It’s largely considered the gold standard in workforce education. The problem is, in the U.S., only 2% of our students go through apprenticeship programs,” Jyotishi said.

Apprenticeship coursework is often exclusively aligned with specific occupations and not transferable to four-year universities. Community colleges allow students to enroll in credit-bearing courses, which can open future doors to opportunities in advanced manufacturing and beyond.

What makes community colleges unique

Unlike many higher education institutions, community colleges are able to develop, tailor and put specialized courses in manufacturing on offer at a quick pace. 

Students at Ohio-based Clark State College, for example, can obtain up to 14 manufacturing certificates, which can be applied toward a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Manufacturing Technology Management. 

President Jo Blondin said much of this is created according to the Developing A Curriculum model, which centers industry input.

For instance, the college organized a workshop with a core group of subject matter experts representing Ohio Laser, Resonetics and GE/Unison to develop its most recent certification. This led to the Laser Materials Processing/Photonics certification, which Blondin said is “extremely important for base contractors, both inside and outside the fence.”

Simultaneously, Blondin said, the college’s engineering tech coordinator organized another advisory meeting to “obtain key insights to evolving advanced manufacturing skills desired by industry partners.” This included participants from Amazon, American Pan, Honda, LH Battery, Rittal, Sweet, Topre and Valco.

“If a business comes to us and says, ‘We really need this training,’ we're going to move heaven and earth to make it happen. And I would say that most community colleges that have a strong workforce development focus take that approach,” she said.

Maintaining excellent industry relationships isn’t just a boon for the curriculum, it also allows colleges to offer training with a degree of job placement support. 

While still employed at Honda, Scot McLemore helped develop an apprenticeship program for manufacturing in which students could interview for and do paid work at a local advanced manufacturing employer for three days a week. 

And while there was no guarantee, “it was the intention of both the company and the college for that student to then be employed with that company at the end of that apprenticeship,” said McLemore, who now serves as the vice president of the Office of Talent Strategy at Columbus State Community College. At worst, the student walked away with a network, real-life experience and skills tested in a live manufacturing environment. 

Community colleges also offer something that many apprenticeships do not: following their coursework, students have the flexibility to move away from manufacturing.   

“Some of these students are going to be transfer students that go on for a four-year degree. The others are going to go directly into industry either with their associate’s degree or noncredit learning and completion certificate,” said McLemore, referring to the noncredit bearing coursework that manufacturing training is usually categorized under. 

“Our job here is to serve the individuals in the Columbus area and be the front door to their success,” he said.

That commitment to serving the community is baked into the community college ethos, said Blondin, and it applies across industries.

Just three years ago, Clark State’s nursing program enrolled 350 students. Today, it has 786 students in classes. 

That’s a direct result of increased demand from local hospitals and healthcare providers, said Blondin, adding that demand from manufacturers is also growing.

According to a Rutgers report, community colleges are “filling knowledge and coordination gaps among local manufacturers and acting as ‘innovation brokers’ by linking their programs to the needs of local employers.”

“We do see a general trend for community colleges to be more focused on workforce issues in their local communities,” said Michelle Van Noy, director of the Rutgers Education and Employment Research Center.

One of the reasons that community colleges can mobilize the faculty and resources at their disposal is because they don’t have the kind of “conflict of priorities” that faculty at research universities might have, according to Jyotishi.  

“Faculty are able to work with employers, because that is the sole mission of community colleges. They don't have to balance research with teaching. They just do the teaching,” said Jyotishi, while acknowledging that community colleges are not a monolith.

There’s also the fact that the “noncredit” nature of many manufacturing programs allows “faster time to program creation.” While credit-bearing programs have to move through faculty senates and the accreditation process, their “noncredit” counterparts allow colleges to quickly meet the customized training needs of manufacturers, Jyotishi said. 

“It may not happen in two hours, but in 48 hours, we could get something going,” Blondin said.

The community college-manufacturing pipeline

In the United States, people seeking a manufacturing career have “too many options” when it comes to certifications and credentials, Jyotishi said.

According to Credential Engine, there are more than 1 million unique credentials available in the U.S. across sectors including IT, healthcare, manufacturing and more. This, coupled with the fact that not enough data exists on which certifications lead to better employment outcomes, means students must often make difficult choices with little guarantee of results. 

“In other countries, there's much more sophisticated mechanisms to curate pathways into jobs. For us, it’s the wild west,” Jyotishi said.

Manufacturers can help develop a skilled workforce by teaming up with their local community college on coursework development, or even offering a work-based learning arrangement that benefits both the student and the manufacturing business. 

“I think that everybody — from the CEO to the plant manager to the HR director — should know their counterparts at their local community college, so they can make sure that that's a great relationship,” Blondin said. 

She added that community colleges should stay connected to their local legislators, for whom workforce development is top of mind. 

“When you talk to anybody, of any party, they will say the number one issue, of course, is workforce.” 

Sponsored content

By eSkill

As industrial work goes digital, the line between blue- and white-collar work is blurring fast. Gray-collar is solidifying as the term to describe the hybrid skillsets and responsibilities expected within these roles.

Back in the mid-1900s, the divide between blue- and white-collar work was fairly concrete. Office work stayed in the office. Hands-on industrial work mostly remained hands-on.

The term white-collar came first. Popularized by journalist Upton Sinclair, the tag was used to describe office and clerical workers who wore white dress shirts. By the 1920s, the term appeared widely as office work expanded and could assert itself against a convenient foil — industrial work, which led to the coinage of another, contrasting term: blue-collar, named after the durable blue denim and chambray shirts factory personnel wore.

But as industrial work goes digital, the line between blue and white collar work is blurring fast. A new term is emerging to describe the hybrid skillsets and responsibilities expected within these roles: gray collar.

Manufacturing goes digital

In a New York Times Op-Ed published in March 2026, writer Michael Steinberger refers to jobs combining blue-collar and white-collar responsibilities as “new-collar” roles. The specific terminology may vary, but the consensus on what it means is fairly even across platforms.

The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report cited by Deloitte found that 40% of existing skill requirements in advanced manufacturing would evolve in the following five years. We’re in the midst of that evolution.

Factories are smart now. The manufacturing industry makes up the lion's share of all private-sector R&D spending in the US, at 52%. Modern plants are clean, highly automated, and increasingly software-driven, with cobots, sensors, digital twins, edge AI tools, federated learning applications, and connected machines handling much of the heavy lifting while humans oversee it all from the comfort of cabs and tablet interfaces.

The changing skills needed within the industrial sector are matching pace: a 2024 report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute points out that changing skill requirements and “the rearchitecting of roles” will likely be required as manufacturing progresses toward Industry 4.0. The most sought-after skills in manufacturing are now in software simulation, enterprise information management, and cloud computing.

Yet with the increased adoption of digital tools, soft skills like adaptability and critical thinking have also come to the fore. For example, there’s an emerging need to evaluate outputs from AI tools.

The growth of blue- and gray-collar roles

Over 30% of the fastest-growing jobs in the US are blue-collar roles, with over 1.7 million new job positions projected by 2032, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Reflecting that, 3.8 million net new employees may be needed for manufacturing between 2024 and 2033. Yet even growing salaries for blue-collar roles and the prospect of job stability aren’t attracting skilled applicants — likely because the people with the right training simply don’t exist.

As the industry continues to progress toward Industry 4.0, manufacturers will continue to struggle to fill roles across all skill levels, not just more skilled ones. Over half of the nearly 4 million open positions could remain unfilled.

Unless, of course, manufacturers can hire, train, and retain the increasing numbers of Gen Z and dissatisfied white-collar workers who are looking to industrial roles for fulfillment.

Disillusioned Gen Z & white-collar collars look toward industrial roles

Recent college grads are struggling to find jobs. As worldwide rates of unemployment for young workers reach new highs and entry-level roles begin to disappear, many Gen Zers are looking to pursue the skilled trades.

According to a report from Resume Builder, 42% of Gen Z is currently employed in or pursuing a blue-collar or skilled trade role — including 37% of those with a bachelor’s. Top motivators include avoiding student debt and reducing their own risk of being replaced by AI.

It’s not just Gen Z that’s looking to pursue industrial roles. As AI threatens traditional office work, many white-collar workers want to pursue the always-in-demand, clean, smart factory roles. According to a report from FlexJobs, 62% of white collar workers say they would switch to the skilled trades for more job stability and pay.

Changing skill requirements are prompting companies to employ a skills-based approach that focuses on employees’ abilities and competencies instead of their job titles or formal qualifications, better aligning workers with work that fits their skills and capabilities.

An industrial workforce that survives is one that can assess demand from Gen-Z and former white-collar workers, determine skill gaps (whether in digital skills or more conventional blue-collar domains), and train hires as needed — and as the industrial sector becomes more advanced, an adaptive view toward skills will only become more necessary.

Emerging programs are increasingly going beyond simple vocational training by targeting students early or in underserved communities, offering direct pathways to employment and exposing trainees to advanced tech skills. 

These workforce development programs are a response to the industry labor gap that’s been apparent since before the pandemic years. An oft-cited Deloitte report estimates that up to 1.9 million jobs could remain vacant if current labor trends continue. 

“When a large share of the manufacturing base left the U.S. in over the past few decades, many states and local communities began to deemphasize skills and trade education at the high school level,” said Darrell Edwards, an assistant professor of practice in supply chain management at the University of Tennessee.

Edwards recently co-authored a whitepaper on reshoring with Alan Amling, an assistant professor of practice at the University of Tennessee. Their research explored how businesses are grappling with a push to reshore manufacturing operations in an environment where so many young people were told that a four-year college program was the only path to success.

“One of the unexpected findings in our research was the skills gap in trades — electricians, welders, carpenters, plumbers, masons, etc. If we’re going to bring more manufacturing to the U.S., we need more people in the skilled trades,” said Amling.

That’s in addition to other dominant gaps in employment, including in tech-driven and maintenance roles. 

Thanks to a mix of federal funding, private sector innovation and state-level efforts, prospective workers can now opt into a manufacturing career via multiple training paths.

Flagship events like Manufacturing Month in October are giving businesses another opportunity to attract talent.

They can do this by “reinforcing that this is a sector where you can make a real impact and build a fulfilling career,” said Laura Phillips, vice president of engineering and procurement for window manufacturer Pella Corp. “We get to tell our story, challenge outdated perceptions, and spotlight the career pathways that exist in this industry.”

Vocational training innovations

While there are many ways to close the labor gap, Amling suggests that it will take a mix of government, private and academic programs to make it happen. 

Traditionally, such efforts have been led by public-private networks such as the U.S. government-operated Manufacturing USA, a network of innovation institutes that partners with education organizations to offer training programs, apprenticeships, certification programs, among other offerings. Others include the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a federally-supported national network of centers that helps train and upskill workers. 

Additionally, federal laws — such as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and CHIPS and Science Act — have provided robust sources of funding and impetus for training programs in different sectors.

Companies have also matched these efforts by developing training programs to fit specific hiring needs. 

In 2021, Kellanova’s Jackson, Tennessee, plant partnered with the Tennessee College of Applied Technology to create a curriculum initially focused on training students in electrical and instrumentation skills.

The program is bespoke in the sense that students learn in an advanced on-site training room designed to mirror equipment on the Jackson plant’s factory floor. Graduates leave the 16-month program with foundational E&I skills and have the opportunity to receive low-voltage qualification. To date, Kellanova has hired 50 employees into the E&I training program. 

According to Manuel Lopez-Portillo, Kellanova’s VP of North American supply chain, the set-up is a win-win.

“By the time they show up to day one of the actual job, they’re already familiar with the elements they’re going to be working on. The learning curve is faster and safety is improved as well,” said Lopez-Portillo. 

But finding prospective students to join any vocational programs is still a hurdle.

Pella has relied on a “multifaceted” approach by pairing interns with mentors, or partnering with schools and community programs to host plant tours and job shadows that spark interest in manufacturing early.

“Many of the students we have met through these interactions have joined the Pella team,” said Phillips.

Programs like the Uniquely Abled Project, founded by former engineering professor and business consultant Ivan Rosenberg, tackle the challenge in a different way by offering training for adults in the autism community. The program’s name is intended to correct possible perceptions of adults with autism by asserting the benefits that they would bring to a corporate environment.

The 12-week program offers 420 hours of in-class instruction on computer numerically controlled machines, in addition to U.S. OSHA and Tooling U certification. Over 300 students have graduated since the program’s launch 10 years ago.

Thanks to its ability to be adapted to any location, the program is currently hosted in 31 locations across 16 states.

“Dr. Rosenberg wanted to create a program that was scalable instead of tied to a singular physical location. So first, he decided that he did not want to deliver direct services. Instead, he wanted to distribute proven methodologies to direct service providers and allow them to succeed,” said Heidi Kershaw, a stakeholder engagement consultant for the Uniquely Abled Project.

Another element essential to the program’s success lies in its partnership with local manufacturing companies, which offer hiring opportunities post-graduation at businesses located near the academy, such as in shops that house CNC machines.

“In the agreement that we make with our hosting sites, we give a huge responsibility to those schools to create relationships with manufacturing companies within their region — to invite them to the campus, to understand what they need,” said Kershaw. 

While the Uniquely Abled Project is designed to be scalable and collaborative it still requires significant fundraising efforts. It’s the same practical hurdle that prevents many such programs from graduating students at scale. 

“That cost is around $5,000 to $6,000 per student depending on the location of the Uniquely Abled Academy. The school site is responsible for those fundraising efforts,” said Kershaw. “In the state of California, the local Department of Rehabilitation offices have generously provided the costs associated with their local programs. But there is always a need for more, to do more. I also think funding is reactive instead of proactive at this point.”

Changing training needs

When thinking about the future of manufacturing jobs, automation also figures heavily into the picture. 

For companies interested in reshoring manufacturing or wanting to close their employment gaps to remain competitive, “labor almost certainly must be augmented by some form of technology,” said Edwards. “Machines can operate around the clock, which helps to cover the depreciation cost of the investment, and can increasingly do more complex tasks.”

From Edwards’ view, training for jobs that interface with artificial intelligence or automation must happen at the factory floor level, in high school or through a community college trade curriculum.

“Many sophisticated supply chain planning and procurement tools require their users to understand how to navigate the tools and query information to maximize their effectiveness, so it happens through targeted training or through osmosis,” he said.

Manufacturers like Pella are adapting automation to uniquely fit their processes and capture valuable historical knowledge.

“We’re using automation not to replace jobs, but to preserve that expertise, make tough jobs easier and equip younger team members with tools that help them upskill and work hand in hand with technology,” said Phillips. 

Amling and Edwards’ research has a similar conclusion, predicting that “automation will not replace the need for human capital — it will heighten the need for more sophisticated, interdisciplinary skill sets.

Since December 2024, Stephen DeClercq has been going to work at Georgia-Pacific's corrugated plant in Milan, Michigan. That might seem unusual considering the plant closed in 2024, and DeClercq retired in December following 41 years with G-P.

But the company tapped him to be part of its new initiative to fill labor gaps by bringing retirees back into the workforce. For the last nine months, DeClercq has been part of the program and serves as the caretaker at the shuttered Milan plant until it sells. G-P contacted him due to his command of his previous role as the plant's superintendent.

"When they first asked me about it, I told them I didn't think so. They asked me again and I decided to go ahead and give it a shot," DeClercq said. "It's a good opportunity."

Program organizers place retirees into positions at G-P — including business units besides packaging, such as lumber and tissue — and other companies owned by parent Koch. They’re encouraged by the early results from the Retiree Talent Network, which launched in November 2024. The initiative is one way manufacturers increasingly are thinking outside the box to attract and keep talent as ongoing manufacturing labor shortages show no signs of easing.

G-P views the program as giving them a competitive advantage not only in addressing labor shortages but also in retaining institutional knowledge, maintaining productivity and reducing overtime costs.

"This is a welcome addition to all of the other services we offer," said Kathi Robinson, market manager at Encadria Staffing Solutions, Georgia-Pacific's in-house staffing agency which runs the program.

Placements began before the official program inception 10 months ago, and to date there are 141 participants with an additional 25 retirees available and awaiting placement. 

Participants had to work at and formally retire from the company, either voluntarily or when G-P eliminated their positions or closed a facility. They provide particular skills for special projects or short-term assignments, including as equipment maintenance technicians and lift-truck operators. 

"It was designed to create a database of retirees to leverage the wealth of experience and knowledge that our retirees have to bridge gaps in staffing," said Natika Boyd-Johnson, senior client service manager at Encadria.

The company also reached out to Kenyon Meyer, who retired in October 2024 after working at G-P’s Denton, Texas, sheet feeder plant for 10 years, to gauge his interest in assisting with maintenance and upgrades on two corrugators at a plant in San Leandro, California. Meyer agreed to come on board, and since March 2025 he's been traveling from his home in the Dallas area to the California plant for two to three weeks per month.

"I've been a corrugator for over 40 years. I have a lot of knowledge and a lot of background experience," Meyer said. "So I felt like my knowledge and experience would help. And also to see the gaps in the process and give them suggestions on how to improve the process and get to a better state."

How it started

The Retiree Talent Network is the brainchild of previous Encadria General Manager Sue Strong-Gossage, who herself has since retired. "We didn't want to experience a brain drain," Robinson said, and Strong-Gossage recognized the value in harnessing "those folks that were planning on retiring to mentor and guide our up-and-coming talent.”

Robinson took the lead on the program after Strong-Gossage's recent retirement and says the team is "certainly going to try to do Sue proud and make sure that this program is beneficial to our upcoming retirees."

Many participants are recruited after filling out an exit survey upon retirement that includes questions about whether they’re interested in joining the network, either immediately or in the future. Boyd-Johnson engages with potential participants to offer additional resources with facts about the program and to gather relevant retiree information such as proficiencies, desired work hours, desired project lengths and whether they're willing to travel. 

Several times a month, Encadria sends "spotlight" emails to G-P and Koch HR teams that highlight a retiree and their skill set. Facility operators reach out to Boyd-Johnson with requests for the appropriate retiree to fill distinct roles.

She connects the parties and then onboards the retiree if the connection is mutually agreeable. Boyd-Johnson also receives requests from facility supervisors to contact certain retirees who aren't yet in the program but are in demand based on their expertise and ability to fill specific needs.

Because these employees already were vetted and onboarded when they worked for the company in a full-time capacity, they typically go through a pared down onboarding for the Retiree Talent Network. Although participants are W2 employees, they are considered consultants and generally work part-time hours on a variable schedule. The flexibility allows them to take on other part-time work if they choose, with exceptions for G-P’s competitors. 

The initiative gives retirees "the opportunity to still contribute to Georgia-Pacific, but on their time frame. It's flexible for them" and allows them to work around factors including taxes and benefits, said Boyd-Johnson.

Joining the talent network allowed DeClercq to ramp down his employment instead of fully retiring abruptly. He said the compensation from working roughly two to three days a week at four-hour stretches lets him pay for insurance while making some extra income each month.

DeClercq would consider taking on another consulting role with G-P once the Milan plant is sold and his oversight no longer is needed, but it would depend on the role — and it would need to be local. Until then, he'll continue to be plant caretaker. 

“It’s kind of neat still meeting some new people — you know, with realtors that come in I'm showing the plant," DeClercq said. “It's kind of neat to answer their questions and stuff [based on] the time I spent there, the knowledge I have of the facility.”

How it's going

G-P is tracking the program's success, but does not yet have firm data to reference on performance metrics considering the initiative isn't even a year old; that historical data might become more solid in another six to eight months. The team is refining the program as it progresses and identifying additional opportunities.

"It's currently in its infancy. We will absolutely be thinking strategically about how to further leverage the retiree network program," Robinson said. "This will hopefully be a permanent part of all of Encadria's services."

While some retirees are intentionally paired with newer hires to share accumulated knowledge, many informally fall into positions of mentoring less experienced workers. Meyer feels that at the San Leandro plant, especially with one eager early-stage employee he has taken under his wing.

"This plant's got a lot of young people and they've had a lot of turnover," he said. "The younger ones seem to want to learn and reach out to me and ask me questions and what should they do in a situation. So that's cool."

Explaining that there were a lot of areas on the corrugators that hadn't been properly maintained, Meyer said the employees now "are starting to see things being repaired, get corrected" and can emulate that after observing him.

"It definitely is a unique kind of program," Meyer said. "This option to utilize retirees, I don't know too many companies that have that.”

The CEOs of Carrier Global Corp. and Lowe’s are leading a Business Roundtable workforce initiative announced this summer to address worker shortages in the skilled trades.

The program will focus on trades in four industries: industrial and manufacturing, construction and building, maintenance and repair, and energy. For every 20 job openings in the skilled trades, there is only one net new employee, according to the Business Roundtable’s news release.

Dane Linn, the Business Roundtable’s senior vice president of corporate initiatives, said the initiative will help companies identify potential solutions to workforce challenges more quickly, even if that means sharing tips with a competitor. 

“Why pretend that the problem that Lowe's is facing is so unique from the problem that Home Depot is facing?” Linn said. 

Linn added that he sees this as an issue that impacts a broad swath of companies. For example, JP Morgan Chase needs electricians for its facilities. 

Some companies have focused on boosting training opportunities at postsecondary schools. Lowe’s, for example, has issued $43 million in grants since 2023 to community and technical colleges for recruitment and training in carpentry and construction, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and property maintenance, according to a company news release. 

Carrier Global Corp. previously announced a program “to hire 1,000 U.S. service technicians and train more than 100,000 climate solutions service and sales professionals over the next five years.” 

Carrier Chairman and CEO David Gitlin said one of the ways to enhance training in the skilled trades is through new technologies. 

“What has changed is using things like virtual reality and augmented reality because it can give a much different virtual training experience than on-site training,” he said during the Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum, where the new initiative was announced. “It really supplements it very well.”

While technology continues to advance, Lowe’s Chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said skilled trades workers will be more in demand than ever. 

“AI isn’t gonna fix a hole in your roof, it’s not going to respond to an electrical issue in your home, it’s not going to stop your water heater from leaking,” he said during the forum. 

He added that “corporate jobs” are the ones most likely to be “supplemented” by AI.

Linn said the workforce initiative is still in the early stages and that a little under 20 companies have joined the effort. The Business Roundtable is planning to recruit more companies in the coming months.  

“An electrician is an electrician is an electrician, and they all go through the same training,” he said. “So what does that look like to train individuals at scale? And I think that's what we're solving for, and that's the beauty and the value of trying to solve this problem with some of America's largest companies. We have the opportunity to produce significant numbers of individuals who have the skills to fill these gaps.”

“Earn-and-learn” opportunities — such as apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, internships and work-study programs — help workers gain in-demand skills and work experience while also earning a paycheck, according to a May 28 report from the Government Accountability Office.

Participants benefit through higher pay, low or no student debt and occupation-relevant education that leads to a credential, while employers benefit through higher employee retention and the ability to fill workforce gaps, GAO found.

“Many workers look to develop skills while maintaining self-sufficiency and meaningful employment,” according to the GAO report. “Some workers accomplish this through earn-and-learn opportunities, which provide practical experience that can help them gain needed skills to progress in their career.”

In particular, Registered Apprenticeship Programs combine a mix of on-the-job-training, mentorship and classroom-based instruction as part of employment. Several federal agencies administer programs to support RAPs, especially in high-demand industries such as construction, healthcare and skilled trades.

GAO found at least 26 programs across five federal agencies (U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Labor and Veterans Affairs) that could employ earn-and-learn opportunities. 

During fiscal year 2024, 940,000 workers participated in RAPs across industries such as construction, healthcare, technology, energy and advanced manufacturing. Participants were generally in high-growth and high-wage occupations, with six of the 10 most common RAP occupations projected to grow faster than the average occupation by 2033.

At the same time, employers said barriers such as awareness gaps among employers and job seekers, administrative burdens and costs could prevent program expansion.

“Federal agencies have implemented several recent initiatives to address these challenges,” the GAO report concluded. “For instance, DOL contracts with industry intermediaries to serve as RAP sponsors, which can reduce the administrative burden on individual employers.”

The Trump administration has sent mixed signals on apprenticeships, issuing an executive order to surpass 1 million new active apprenticeships but not yet setting aside additional funding to support the effort. So far, the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget doesn’t provide new investments in apprenticeships and cuts total workforce development spending.

At the state level, commitment to apprenticeship programs remains strong. Pennsylvania has announced nearly $8 million in grants to expand its teacher apprenticeship program to address ongoing shortages.

Apprenticeships gained traction in 2024 as more employers sought to fill talent gaps and reach new communities. The programs tend to open paths to skilled trades, provide needed skills development and extend talent pipelines to workers with criminal records and those looking for temporary or contract work.

Registered apprenticeships can help workers access living wages, particularly in joint labor-management programs run cooperatively by unions and employers, according to research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Joint programs also had higher completion rates.