Over 41 years with Tweet Garot, 27 of them in labor coordination, Rod Dax helped grow the company’s sheet metal workforce from 30 to more than 200 employees. He personally hired and mentored more than 150 sheet metal workers through the Local 18 five-year apprenticeship program.
Dax retired in November, but not before earning NEW Construction Alliance’s Excellence in Mentorship Award as part of the inaugural Champions of Construction Awards.
You are known for recruiting people wherever you go. What are some of the most unlikely places?
Dax: The grocery store, Home Depot, you name it. I would see people pushing shopping carts and ask them where are you going to college? What are you doing for your summer job? Are you looking to change? It’s easy to identify good workers, so I would just hit them up and ask if they have any interest in the trades. I take a chance on most people. I’ve hired kids who have never had a shop class and they turn out to be awesome.
What’s been one of the biggest changes you’ve seen in your career?
In 1984 when I started my career they said one day everyone is going to have computers and I said “yeah, right. I’m working with my tools.” Sure enough, there are now computers all over the shop so you can look up drawings and dimensions, and designers are out there on the floor helping guys build what they designed. Today you don’t just work with your hands; you work with a lot of technology.
What advice would you give to other companies building their workforce?
You have to be patient with people. I always give people second chances. And get to the root of their problems. If they’re having a mixup or doing poorly at work, there’s got to be something going on. Listen to their problems, because we all got them. Work with them to find a solution.
What’s the business case for investing in people?
You want your workforce to keep on going after you’re out of the trades. That’s what the generation before me always taught me. You have to invest in your people to bring the best out of them. The rewards are going to far exceed whatever time and money you invest, because one day they will become good mentors to others.
