Textron Aviation Workforce Initiatives Paying Dividends

Textron Aviation is seeing early successes through several workforce training initiatives—from its new career center to its veterans’ programs—as it continues its hiring at a rate of about 100 employees a month, company executives told AIN.

The cornerstone of its workforce training initiative is the new $40 million Career & Learning Center that had a soft opening last year and a formal dedication six months ago with dignitaries such as Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas). That facility, on the east side of Wichita at its campus where the Beechcraft product line is produced, was transformed from a parts warehouse into a multipurpose recruitment, pre-employment, and training center.

“This is a big deal to us,” said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper. “It’s a 100,000-sq-ft facility dedicated to recruiting new employees, hiring, putting them through all the pre-employment checks, and then once the day they start, they go through orientation there.”

The center encompasses a classroom setting and a simulated factory. “They’re not just learning in a classroom; they’re going out and working on a fuselage, a wing, or whatever their job classification is, and even if they have no skill, they’re probably getting eight to 10 weeks of training and building confidence before they report to their first job,” he said.

Hundreds have already gone through the center, and Draper said the difference is notable. Before, a new hire may get two to three weeks of training, and then they are sent for on-the-job training where they are paired with a senior employee and a supervisor, with instructors who may float among the various factories.

“In some cases, you know, they were overwhelmed. It was too much too fast, and we had a high turnover,” he said. “In this process, that turnover is reduced substantially, I think 20% to 25% reduction in the turnover of those new employees because they’re getting longer to go through training, they’re getting longer to build confidence, they’re getting longer to just feel the culture and grow some affection for the company. So, when they arrive at their job, their supervisor says they’re much better prepared. It’s been a success.”

As far as the training, the instructors are longtime employees with substantial experience behind them, Draper explained. “They’ve taken ownership of the process to say it’s my job to ensure that these folks are well trained. So, we’re excited about that.”

But Textron Aviation is continuing to refine the process. “We’re just looking at how do we improve it,” he said. About 80% to 90% of its job classifications now go through the process. Textron Aviation hopes to have 100%, whether in maintenance, production, or the executive suite, process through the center.

The Career & Learning Center is divided into four different zones to support applicants and employees in their hiring and training journeys.

Unique about the center is that it is open to the public.  Any person interested in a job can walk in during its public operating hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays with extended hours until 6 p.m.), said Jennifer Whitfield, director of human resources, talent development, and professional training. Potential applicants would walk into the first of four zones at the center: the Career Zone. There, they could apply for a job, obtain help with a resume, or maybe even have an interview at the time, Whitfield said.

Next is the Pre-Employment Zone, which involves onboarding activities such as any necessary pre-employment testing and orientation for new hires. A third area is what Textron Aviation calls a Learning Zone. This encompasses professional and technical training rooms to provide classroom and hands-on learning. The west bay hangar was turned into a simulated manufacturing floor, enabling training on production and other skills.

The final “Design. Build. Fly.” Zone is public-facing—a space dedicated to bringing in students from kindergarten up through 12th grade with age-appropriate activities to introduce them to aviation and STEM. Among the activities is a Cessna Skyhawk 172 simulator.

The center is among the many initiatives that Textron Aviation has ongoing in the area of workforce development and community outreach. Partnering with local schools, the company is involved in multiple areas with Wichita State University.

But one of its efforts that is a focal point is its veterans’ outreach programs. This is such an important program for the company that it is sponsoring NBAA’s inaugural Military Connect program tomorrow at NBAA-BACE. Military Connect is a full-day event to provide resources, educational sessions, and networking opportunities for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. Textron Aviation will have one of its military recruiters on hand for the event

Textron Aviation uses multiple avenues for recruitment, such as SkillBridge and Heroes Make America programs that introduce military personnel to civilian manufacturing and other jobs. These are in addition to its other recruitment activities.

Senior manager of HR for military programs John Buckley—a 30-year U.S. Army veteran who was involved in planning efforts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Libya—spearheads recruiting, marketing, and retention efforts at Textron Aviation.

The company believes it is critical to hire veterans for three major reasons: a need (the company faces a workforce shortage along with industry); a requirement (it needs to have a percentage of military personnel for its government contracts—a figure it more than surpasses); and the value that they bring the company: skills, experience, and high operational tempo, Buckley stressed.

“Their culture, the character, is perfectly aligned with our values, and we see that as a strength,” he said.

However, recognizing that a transition from military to civilian life is not so simple, Textron Aviation has set in motion a range of activities to ensure that the company is “military ready” rather than just “military friendly,” Buckley said.

“In simple terms, being military friendly is that you hire military veterans, but ready goes beyond that. Ready means that you’re doing some extra things—you’re taking into account, for example, that the transition of military service into the private sector in general and into civilian employment is very complicated, very challenging.”