Guest Blog: The Flooring Industry Confronts Its Labor Crisis

Last week, I had the good fortune of attending the first-ever flooring industry Installation Summit in Dallas. Sharing a crowded hotel conference space with the annual Mary Kay convention, this invitation-only event featured attendees from manufacturing, flooring industry associations, workrooms and the trade press to discuss one thing: the installation labor crisis.

There was a lot of curiosity leading up to the summit, as nothing like it had ever been held before. Was it going to be more hand-wringing about the labor shortage the flooring industry has or would it present an opportunity to pull everyone together and begin forming solutions. After attending multiple group sessions and breakout sessions, I can tell you it was both.

The event was moderated by Scott Humphrey of the World Floor Covering Association. There were several panelists who took turns speaking about how the labor crisis has affected their businesses. Among some of the more ominous things heard were:

“We’ve been talking about the same thing since I got into this industry in 1976.”

“As bad as the crisis is now, it’s nothing compared to how bad it will be in 5 years.”

“No one wants to work today!”

For manufacturers, the big issue is claims. With skilled workers leaving the trade, there are more and more claims that tie back to poor workmanship from less skilled installers. For workrooms, it’s growing customer service lead times. The associations all have disparate training and certification programs, but the industry lacks a national standard. This is likely something that is actionable. Much like auto mechanics have the recognizable ASE standard, the flooring industry would benefit greatly from something similar.

There were other creative ideas. Some of them were very practical and actionable, while others were blue-sky flights of fancy. Robert Varden of Certified Floorcovering Installers strived to get the attendees thinking outside the box by asking how they would impact the industry if they were the President of the United States for a day. I contributed to this by saying I would give tuition subsidies to anyone who got certified. Another attendee said that they would eliminate the “subcontractor” designation. This resonated very well with the group.

It was discussed that it is difficult to attract someone to a 1099 career, when there are so many opportunities out there not only in construction (June construction unemployment was at 4.5 percent), but also as an employee in numerous trades with salaries and benefits. Among the other suggestions, was marketing the industry. Work with a construction industry icon, like celebrity Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame, and have him promote the opportunity in the floor covering installation trade. Rowe may be perhaps a tad expensive, but perhaps an appeal to his philanthropic side and a quick public service announcement?

It was a useful gathering, and I plan to volunteer for a steering committee that was formed during the summit to determine what exactly is actionable and then help create the plan. I feel a big missed opportunity was to discuss what some of the attendees were already doing in their own corners of the world to recruit and train new prospects. That being said, there was some sentiment that certain attendees would simply continue working in silos, rather than on behalf of the health of the industry. I hope that’s not the case, but if it isn’t…why is the industry in the same pickle it was back in 1976?

More to come…