The Breeden Co.’s Avery Rouse and RPM Living’s Cerwin Thompson join MHN's Denile Doyle to share how they’re navigating a shrinking talent pool and widening skills gap.
Operators and maintenance leaders are facing a predicament, as seasoned technicians retire and fewer new workers enter the field with the skill set to replace them.
For this episode of Management Diaries, Denile Doyle welcomes Cerwin Thompson, vice president of facilities at RPM Living, and Avery Rouse, regional maintenance director at The Breeden Co., to discuss how they’re navigating the staffing challenges in maintenance operations and the strategies they’re implementing.
Both leaders started in on-site roles and worked their way up to corporate leadership positions. They’ve patched drywall, painted apartments and fixed toilets, but as leaders, they’re genuinely concerned about the maintenance workforce.
Thompson bluntly describes the current state as: “Struggling … wholeheartedly.” Rouse’s take offers a bit more optimism, as he notes that teams are “stretched thin, but still showing up.”
They agree that the knowledge and skills gap is an ongoing issue in day-to-day maintenance operations. But they say the solution isn’t complicated. Focusing on the fundamentals and sequential training is what’s needed to strengthen teams from the ground up.
Here are some of the topics we cover:
(3:20) The current state of the maintenance workforce
(5:04) Recruiting strategies that work
(7:58) How to prevent burnout and create support systems
(9:53) Which factors most impact retention
(14:37) How training can reveal employee mentality and build collaboration
(18:00) Why rushing promotions without basic skills can lead to failure
(26:36) What the industry needs to do differently
