How LBM Dealers Are Attracting and Retaining Talent in a Competitive Market

The lumber and building materials (LBM) industry is facing a significant challenge—attracting and retaining skilled workers. With a growing housing demand and the continued desire for renovation projects, the need for a knowledgeable workforce throughout the value chain is critical.

So how are companies attracting and retaining talent? Principia’s ongoing, monthly dealer survey sheds light on some popular initiatives being implemented at the distribution level.

Like most businesses, the most obvious answer is to offer more attractive pay and benefit packages. Our respondents certainly agree at 70%. However, beyond pay and benefit packages dealers are also implementing additional initiatives to attract and retain talent such as:

• Implementing flexible schedules (56%)
• Offering enhanced training programs for career development (43%)
• Offering more stock ownership benefits (16%)
• Evaluating their recruitment strategy (7%)
• Expanding their human resource staff (6%)
  
  

Only 7% of dealer respondents do not have a formal plan for attracting and retaining employees and just 3% feel as though they do not have a shortage of personnel.

Principia’s ongoing dealer surveys offer valuable insights into the LBM dealer universe. It will be interesting to track overtime how dealers feel in terms of the labor market and the initiatives they implement regarding their workforce.