Staffing up: Resources to Grow Your Roadway Maintenance Workforce

Local transportation agencies in Minnesota continue to face worker shortages as many struggle to hire and retain employees. Recognizing this challenge, the Minnesota Local Road Research Board partnered with Minnesota LTAP to develop marketing resources for local transportation agencies to use to recruit and retain roadway maintenance workers.

What Did We Do?

The project team sought to understand the needs and expectations of jobseekers and employers. They identified four cohorts and held focus groups to help develop recruitment strategies. These cohorts included: adults with commercial driver’s licenses not currently working for local agencies, adults re-entering the workforce, high school students, and HR professionals at local agencies.

“Public works professionals make normal happen for the communities they serve. Part of that work is operating and maintaining the transportation systems, which requires staff,” said Mark Ray, public works director, City of Burnsville. “To best inform this project, we actively engaged with transportation employers and jobseekers. Through these intentional efforts we learned about their unique needs in filling and finding positions. In turn, this information was used to identify tangible approaches to support local transportation agencies in their efforts to build up their workforce in support of the essential role they serve in our communities.”

Each focus group discussed the same set of topics, which included the current workforce, recruitment, retention, marketing and awareness, and collaboration. Data gathered from the group discussions was analyzed and revealed distinct themes within each group on subjects including factors that attract and deter jobseekers, how people find jobs, recruitment techniques, and motivations for staying with or leaving an employer.

The researchers used the insights they gleaned to develop an awareness-building campaign designed to expand the number of people applying for roadway maintenance jobs at local agencies.

What Was the Outcome?

The project team launched MNTransportationCareers.com, a clearinghouse for transportation career jobseekers and employers in Minnesota. Highlights include:

A job and internship board featuring maintenance careers at agencies in Minnesota. Employers can quickly list their openings by filling out a one-minute form. The site also includes links to job listings at other Minnesota transportation organizations.
A training resources guide that lists courses and certification programs to help roadway maintenance workers improve their skills and advance their careers.
Brochures that local agencies can download and share with jobseekers.
A suite of transportation career videos developed by the LRRB for local agencies to use in their recruitment efforts.
Case studies of successful recruitment programs from local agencies in Minnesota.

The website also includes separate portals for high school students, jobseekers, and HR pros with content targeted to those audiences.

For example, participants in the high school student focus group were interested in jobs that use new technologies. The “Students” portal includes a video about using drones for bridge inspections. Designed to be a quick read, the site provides links to educational opportunities, job opportunities, and resources.

The HR professionals focus group participants said that applicants care most about pay and benefits and work-life balance. The “HR Pros” portal offers guidance to convey that message. It includes recruitment ideas, materials and videos that are easy to share. It also has a link to Expanding the Transportation Workforce: Civil Engineering Technicians, a similar LRRB/MnLTAP partnership project that helps local agencies recruit and retain civil engineering technicians.

The “Jobseekers” portal also provides links to job opportunities and resources. This section focuses on benefits important to adult workers like work-life balance and advancing your career. It offers information about training and opportunities to grow in the field, including how to obtain a commercial driver’s license.

What’s Next

MnTransportationCareers.com will be actively promoted across the state to encourage HR pros and jobseekers alike to take advantage of its offerings. To ensure the site remains useful, it will be maintained and updated with job opportunities, case studies and materials. Local agencies are encouraged to submit jobs and case studies and provide feedback on how the site is working for them.