Business View Magazine | July 2019

55 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 PHOENI X FABR I CATORS & ERECTORS States from job to job and it’s life on the road 40 to 45 weeks a year, away from family. We experience it on flat work, concrete, paint, but, in particular, the welders are where we really are finding ourselves in a pinch. And, ultimately the cost of the labor shortage is going to be passed down the line, at some point in time, to the consumer of our products; it’s inevitable.” In order to try and recruit new staff, Fuller says that the company has implemented an employee referral bonus structure for its current field forces, incentivizing them to reach out to friends and family to see if there’s any interest in getting new workers onboard. “We have also implemented a ‘greenhorn’ program,” Fuller relates, “which is, essentially, taking someone out of school, or with little or no construction experience, and getting them out to the field with selected foremen to have that on-the-job training. Thomas believes that the advantages of trade work are manifest. “There’s a good life out there,” he avers. “It takes a special kind of guy, but there’s earning potential. We feel that the crews that we do have still put out the best product in the industry, and we do our best to take care of those guys because we value the trades that they have. And we’ll continue to try and build on that.” Like the mythical phoenix that continues to regenerate itself out of the ashes of its former existence, Phoenix Fabricators & Erectors continues to rise above the rest – just as their tanks and towers rise high above the American landscape.