BuildWitt Gathers Industry to Solve Workforce Shortage

NASHVILLE, TN - BuildWitt brings together the industry under a new initiative, Better Dirt World, to solve workforce issues once and for all.

With 41% of the industry set to retire by 2031, and the younger generation not filling that gap, the industry can expect severe ramifications within the next decade.¹

This issue isn’t new, and it’s not surprising to the industry.

“In America, we are facing a workforce emergency in the trades, mining, and heavy civil industries. We are losing our most experienced workers to retirement, and we don’t have qualified replacements to fill the gap. The only way to solve this is for all of us in the Dirt World to recognize the problem and start to train and motivate younger people. We all need to step up and teach, mentor, and motivate the next generation of miners, technicians, and operators, our nation’s future depends upon it,” says Dave Turin, Golden Streets Mining.

 “We have the strength to make construction a noble career and provide infrastructure for our world for generations, but only if we work together. We must pool our resources, knowledge, and people and march in the same direction. We can only win as a team, and we must win,” says Aaron Witt, CEO of BuildWitt.

Witt isn’t alone in thinking that a joint effort is needed from the industry to fix the workforce shortage issues. 

“In order to secure the future of the industry, we can no longer sit on the sidelines waiting for someone else to solve the workforce shortage. Partnering with BuildWitt and the Dirt World community, we are tackling this challenge and already seeing the fruits of our labor; the future is bright,” says Dan Garcia, President of C.W. Matthews.

“If companies want to see our industry prosper for generations to come, it's time to unite together, under the Dirt World flag, and get to work,” says Caitlyn Cook, Marketing and Client Relations Director of Emery Sapp & Sons.

This has been a consistent problem our industry has faced for generations with no real progress toward a solution. BuildWitt plans to take a bold approach that disrupts the traditional methods of solving the workforce problem that relates to, engages, and entertains the current and future workforce at the grassroots level. 

BuildWitt has long been seen as a disruptor in the space and is the leading influencer for the next generation with over 200,000,000 hits on their content in 2022 alone. Leveraging their people-first approach, there are four audiences they plan to work with to help solve this industry-wide problem.

• Educators need modern resources to learn and teach about the importance of the industry and Dirt World careers.
• Parents need to better understand the industry and see the Dirt World as a noble profession.
• Companies need to invest in their people, their brands, and training their employees. 
• The industry as a whole needs to quit competing and work together to develop resources.

The Dirt World Initiative will be focused on producing: content that changes people’s perspectives of blue-collar work, an online community for the Dirt World, awareness campaigns, quality training content to train the next generation and upskill the current workforce, and by sponsoring schools and students to receive BuildWitt Training licenses. 

“If we as businesses aren’t willing to invest in the success and growth of our people, what else would we ever invest in? There is no other investment that will give a better return because the success of any enterprise, and even more so in the DirtWorld, falls on the shoulders of its people and their ability to excel,” says a Campbell Companies spokesperson.

To learn more, visit https://www.dirtworld.com