With businesses across the country feeling the heat of a nationwide skilled labor shortage, a Massachusetts HVAC company has come up with a cool solution that should reduce customer wait times.
Billerica-based Medford Wellington Service Company has been paying and training people to become HVAC and refrigeration technicians since October. The two-month course starts in the classroom with lessons in HVAC and electrical, then moves to servicing commercial customers out in the field. Once trainees complete the course, they start working full-time.
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"We just can't hire people fast enough and if you do hire people, they're not going to have the skills you need," program trainer Jamie Annarelli said. "The only way to have people to do the work that you need done is to train them ourselves."
Finding technicians is the biggest challenge companies face right now, which leads to longer wait times, according to CEO Mike Lacrosse.
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"There's a lot of companies out there who will not even take new customers because they just don't have the technicians," Lacrosse told NBC10 Boston Monday. "So what we did was we built our own program internally here to train our own folks get them up to speed on how we like to operate and our quality of standards to put them in the market much quicker to support our customers and all their needs as quickly as possible."
Apprentice Richard Lacouture specifically sought out a job at the company, also known as MedWell, to work towards becoming a journeyman.
"They have an unmatched program to become a licensed technician. I have yet to, in this industry, find a company that is as willing to put as much stake into me getting my license as MedWell has," Lacouture said. "Getting out there after being through the class and doing everything with my own two hands is the only way I know how to learn."
Lacrosse said paying people to learn the trade not only helps workers reach their goals, it helps the company do the same. It ultimately comes down to better service for the customer by boosting their staffing levels during one of their busiest seasons.
"It's really about the investment in our future," Lacrosse said. "We're a growing company and what we really need to do is make sure we have the right skill set of folks who need to take care of our customers."
Medford Wellington Service offers the training twice a year, but if they get enough people to apply as soon as possible, they'll add an additional course in the spring.
