ARA of North Carolina’s president shares workforce development ideas

Kimberly Taylor, CERP

Hello, American Rental Association (ARA) Region Three members. I hope it’s been a great spring rental season for you so far. I’m Kimberly Taylor, CERP, CEO of TCS Event Rentals, Burlington, N.C., and president of the ARA of North Carolina, and I’m pleased to be able to share a few thoughts with you.

Most, if not all, of us in our industry struggle with finding and retaining good workers. There are no easy, one-size-fits-all remedies to the issue, but there are some resources out there that can help.

One tool that can help you find employees is the newly upgraded ARARentalWorks.com. This is ARA’s website that aims to connect job seekers with rental career opportunities. It includes several tools you can use to help attract the likes of students, parents, educators and veterans who are seeking information on careers in an industry full of opportunity.

And a resource on the onboarding and retention side that I encourage you to look into is the Employee Training Assistance Program through the ARA Foundation. This program can pay for 50 percent — up to $2,500 — of the types of training that will build your employees’ skills and keep your operation competitive. Trainings do not need to be ARA-branded programs but must support a career in the equipment or event rental industry. To learn more about this program, click here.

Finally, I would like to take a moment here to recognize a few all-stars who generously volunteer their time to help run their respective ARA state chapters. The following chapters recently concluded their annual board of directors elections, so please join me in congratulating those serving: