It comes as no shock to the average person that a ripple effect of recent technological advances and the growth of the Internet economy has been a tectonic shift in the labor force. The number of jobs that require sitting behind a desk in a cubicle – or anywhere a computer might be – has risen dramatically over the past 20 years. This shift has transformed our educational system into one that funnels students towards a different set of opportunities. While some of those opportunities offer new and exciting prospects for our economy, the trend has accelerated at the cost of marginalizing vocational and skills-based training – especially in the construction trades.
Did you know that disengaged employees cost the global economy $8.9 trillion every year? According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, employee engagement plays a significant role in overall life experiences. When it comes to well-being items such as stress, anger, worry, and loneliness, being actively disengaged at work is the same as—or even worse than—being unemployed.