Mentoring Roles Can Keep Older Construction Workers on the Job

According to a story by Korky Koroluk, a pilot project to be launched with the Construction Association of Nova Scotia to provide more structure to on-the-job training for apprentices may also help keep some older workers in the construction industry. George Gritziotis, executive director of the Construction Sector Council (CSC), told Koroluk that "journeypersons who instruct and supervise apprentices on the job 'are not hard-wired to do that kind of job,' and more structure is needed so that the industry gets the kind of workforce it needs and could result in mentoring becoming a “designated occupation” in the industry.

He said that older journeypersons with the aptitude and training for mentoring could see it as a way to remain in the industry for another few years.

A lot of what Gritziotis calls “corporate memory” is lost when people retire. Keeping older workers on in mentoring roles would allow them to transfer their knowledge, thus preserving the corporate memory they possess.

Source: Daily Commercial News and Construction Record "Mentoring project in Nova Scotia to aid apprentice training" (January 3, 2008)