Training and Certification of Construction Inspectors for Transportation Infrastructure (2023)

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52 CHAPTER 6. CAREER DEVELOPMENT 6.1 Introduction The staffing and hiring practices of in-house CIs vary from state to state. The Oregon and Georgia DOTs recruit in-house CIs based on their educational background and work experience. However, there are limited standard programs designed to specifically recruit in-house CIs. Most hiring practices are used holistically for all positions, not just for CIs. The Nebraska and Iowa DOTs require high school education. In contrast, Connecticut and Vermont DOTs require a college degree, although experience plays a bigger role in the level that an in-house CI is hired to and what levels they can achieve for advancement in their careers. Inconsistent hiring practices and reductions in internal STA staff have led to the use of third-party consultant firms to perform inspection work (Wight et al., 2017). The Florida DOT uses consultant inspectors for all inspections, while Caltrans has mostly in-house inspectors. Texas DOT uses a combination of in- house and third-party consultant inspectors (Mostafavi and Abraham, 2012). With the influx of consultant inspectors, it has become harder for STAs to hire and retain in-house inspectors as private firms sometimes can offer a higher salary. However, STAs typically offer incentives that can outmatch private firms’ benefits, such as better health care, retirement, and leave benefits (Harper et al., 2018). Additionally, increased experience for construction inspectors reduced the construction inspection personnel required at the STAs. This indicates a need for retaining experienced in-house CIs at the STA. Currently, STAs adopt retention strategies such as offering competitive benefits (vacation, leave, health and life insurance, retirement program with matching funds), bonuses, schedule flexibility, recognition programs, education assistance, professional development opportunities, and workplace diversity (Harper et al., 2018). STAs should look to develop recruitment and retention strategies highlighting the importance of working for a public transportation agency (as it directly contributes to improving society). STAs should quantify the value of benefits and base salary to provide gross compensation information comparable with private firms. In addition, STAs should consider using social media to advertise and recruit potential in-house CIs and provide encouraging information to improve loyalty and retention of current employees (Harper et al., 2018). 6.2 Recruitment of CIs For this study, the career development of CIs encompasses recruiting, retention, and development opportunities. Overall, the staffing and hiring practices of CIs vary from state to state. Many STAs recruit CIs based on their educational background and work experience, which determines the position level at which a CI is hired. For recruiting purposes, the STA and consultant surveys ask respondents to select and rank their top five factors that help recruit CIs to work for their STA agency or consultant firm. Figure 6-1 illustrates the factors that help recruit transportation CIs. Overall, the major factors that help STAs to hire CIs vary from the consultant responses. STAs noted stable employment, health benefits, vacation/leave benefits, retirement benefits, and appealing job positions as the primary factors that help them to recruit CIs. On the other hand, consultant firms mentioned competitive salary, career development opportunities, stable

54 • Not a “9 to 5” job; and • Working outside. Construction inspectors may have low entry-level pay rates compared to private companies, and finding people interested in inspection-related jobs is tough. As mentioned by the STA and consultant participants, CIs are hired from retirees who have the experience but may not know the technologies used with inspections of transportation infrastructure and are not typically pursuing a career as a CI late in their overall professional careers. Recruiting in rural areas is challenging, as two STA participants noted difficulties in finding people who are technology aware and can access online job applications. According to the consultant participants, the on-call contracts with STAs tend to be an issue in hiring young individuals. One participant mentioned, “The challenge is with our contract with STAs. At present, we have an on-call contract, and inspectors, especially young inspectors looking for a career, don't want to be on-call. They want something that they can count on as a full-time job. For someone that wants a full-time secure position, it's difficult for us to keep people on hand to work on an on-call project because it's just so unsure,” emphasizing the nature of on-call contracts and how it leads to hiring difficulties. Furthermore, STA participants noted that inspections occur at all hours of the day and any day during the week as construction of transportation infrastructure requires night, weekend, and holiday work in some instances. Regarding recruiting strategies, STA HR participants noted hiring college interns during the summer and holding college career fairs worked well for STAs. Participants also mentioned that it is important for STAs to organize hiring and outreach events to raise awareness about the work, benefits, and impact of STAs to gain public interest in what the STA does. When discussing solutions to address the challenges of recruiting CIs, participants opined that STAs should seek to develop a system that develops connections with technical schools, community colleges, veteran communities, and various universities to encourage careers in roadway construction (inspection and other domains). The findings from the interviews showed that recruiting and retaining new inspectors is a major challenge at their agencies. This included both in-house and consultant inspectors. Younger generations are not as willing to work in the field due to weather conditions and long work schedules as other generations are. Many inspectors are later in their professional careers, and STA participants noted that their retirees sometimes work for consultant firms. Most consultant firms currently recruit retirees from the STAs as they may already possess certifications and are very valuable in terms of knowledge and experience. But consultants understand that these retirees will not be around long-term, so it is important to hire younger inspectors. Consultants hire high school and college students through internship programs by attending career fairs at local schools and community and technical colleges to find new and younger inspectors. Typically, these students finish inspection internships with the consultants during the summer of their college years, and they get hired post completion by the consultant firm. “We go to career fairs and hire interns yearly that work with our advanced inspectors in summer. Often, we have full-time employees that started as interns. So, it's a pretty good recruiting tool for us,” mentioned one participant on ways they hire young inspectors. It is wise to hire inspection interns and pair them up with seasoned retirees so that the young inspectors get on-the-job training from experienced inspectors and at the same time also nurture the future inspection workforce.

57 in the same position for the rest of their careers due to a lack of development and advancement opportunities. Therefore, STAs should focus on developing clear career paths for transportation CIs to illustrate to potential hires and current inspectors that there are ways to advance their construction careers. 6.4 Conclusions A steady career and professional development opportunities are among the more important factors influencing potential employees to choose STA employment. The California, Georgia, and Texas DOTs provide professional development opportunities for in-house construction inspectors, such as cross training in multiple inspection areas and rotational programs. For career advancement, the inspection workforce has limited upward mobility. In contrast, people that have engineering degrees move up through the career ranks by obtaining PE certification and leaving CI positions. The CI Guide will provide strategies for improving the professional development programs offered to CIs so that CIs understand and clearly see the ability to advance as a CI in a career with the STA. STAs should improve working conditions and invoke managers to promote the culture and morale, which results in loyalty from current employees. This chapter presents the key findings of career development for CIs from the STA survey, a consultant survey, STA interviews, consultant interviews, and focus groups conducted with STA and consultant firms. The primary findings related to career development for CIs are as follows: • Factors that help recruit new CIs include stable employment and offering various benefits. • CIs are needed to inspect the work constructed, workmanship, and materials, and document the results. • STAs typically offset shortages of in-house CIs with third-party consultant firms or risk- based inspections. • CI turnover rate is unknown at most STAs. Those STAs that do track this have a 5-15% annual turnover of CIs. • Factors that help retain CIs include better salaries, more promotions, and flexible work schedules.