Feeling overqualified but under-respected, recent college graduate engineers are pushing for Honorary Journeyman Certificates to be awarded to them a couple of days a pseudo-shadowing and another half day of formal training in the trade group they will be working with. Not sold on their performance being assessed properly by craft people and foremen, they think that another piece of paper will be the validation they need to show field staff they know what they are doing so that they can tell the field staff what to do.
When interviewed for this article, a foreman who wishes to remain anonymous (to avoid hurting the feelings of his young engineer) stated, “The additional engineer paperwork won’t work and might completely f**king backfire.” Further into the interview, discussion centered the issue on engineers who are already overconfident after earning a college degree that will only feel more confident after earning a piece of paper that takes the average craft professional years to earn and deserve. It’s all but a participation award. While many young builders grew up on participation awards, participation means nothing on a jobsite where results can be measured against the bottom line. Getting frustrated, the foreman asks, "Do we need to hold promotion ceremonies like my kid's school did when he finished Kindergarten and moved on to 1st grade?"
Companies are somewhat torn by the idea as they want to create a work environment that motivates young engineers to achieve and stick around. Internally, company leadership teams have discussed frivolous awards and their lack of value on the job but know that they can mean everything to someone who is used to getting them several times a year. It doesn’t take a genius to know that engineers love to post about their obvious success demonstrated by more certificates and awards. Companies think this is all well and good but it might turn into a monster. Awards may be given out for everything from on time meeting and perfect work attendance to best meme used in a meeting or project report. An old, but well-read superintendent noted that, “When the engineers inevitably fail because they aren’t prefect (don’t tell them that), they will be more sad than Pavlov’s dogs at the end of an experiment. I just don’t want work to turn into a never-ending Boy Scout merit badge process.”
Company and craft leadership is likely to seek a balance – awards will be given but engineers will still have to earn respect in the field. The awards may be viewed as status check where engineers can learn a bit and demonstrate that they are focused on becoming skilled at focused disciplines.
***This was another Fake Construction News article. Stay tuned for more.***
Comments