In industries like construction, training is paramount to ensure workers know how to use the tools to get the job done—and do it in a way that’s both efficient and safe. Training is also important to upgrade and reskill employees—something that’s becoming increasingly important as the future of work evolves. And yet, only 69% of construction workers say their company has offered them the professional development they need to upgrade or reskill to advance their careers.

To be clear, 69% of construction workers is just above the 67% of people across all industries who say their company has offered them professional development to upgrade or retrain their skills and advance their careers, according to our report. Who is the employee of tomorrow?

Looking at this by generation, we find that only 63% of 18-24 year olds receive such training, compared to 59% of 45-54 year olds and 45% of those over 55. The group that appears to receive the most training is the 25-40 age group, with a full 74% of them reporting receiving professional development training.

This comes at a time when technology is constantly evolving and new skills need to be taught frequently. The good news is that there are several new technical resources that provide such training for construction workers.

Take the example of Simformotion, which offers heavy equipment simulator training solutions. The company recently announced the launch of the new Cat Simulators Collaborative Worksite Training package, which allows up to nine learners to operate bulldozers, excavators and tractor-trailers simultaneously in the same virtual environment. This could be used in a school program or a corporate heavy equipment operator training program. Using a virtual reality (VR) headset, users can experience a more comprehensive view of the environment.

How cool is that? The goal of such a project is to create a virtual construction environment and give workers experience loading trucks, transporting materials, cleaning up, and more.

The benefits are many. First, training takes place in a safer environment and can be conducted from anywhere, such as a classroom or an office. This type of training is also often cost-effective, as companies do not have to take expensive machinery out of production or take weather conditions into account. Training can be conducted anytime, anywhere. Ultimately, this type of innovation offers the opportunity to conduct such training in new and different ways.

This is the kind of innovation we need to advance the future of work in construction and get workers excited about this type of work. In this case, the Collaborative Worksite Training package is available in multiple languages ​​and includes a method for recording and reporting the results of each learner’s simulation session so that performance can be compared to Caterpillar’s benchmarks.

Of course, that’s just one example. There are many different types of training solutions – virtual or not – available to construction companies to train their employees on new technologies and processes. Perhaps the most important thing here is that the training itself takes place. We know that people, processes and technology must go hand in hand to achieve the results the construction industry needs. So I have to ask: what steps are you taking to train the people around you or in your company?

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