Experts warn: Don’t wait to assemble and train your workers for BEAD

Companies that plan to apply for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds should be planning now for how they’re going to staff their projects. Evan Feinman, director for BEAD with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), said state workforce groups typically wait until there is a job shortfall before they initiate training programs. “In this instance, we know there’s $42.5 billion of demand,” said Feinman. “They need to be ramping up training. I strongly encourage folks to be in dialog with workforce development bodies.” Michelle Heiliger, director of HR for Sellenriek Construction, said 25 - 30 percent of the cost for upcoming fiber deployments will go toward labor, varying a bit by geographic location and whether the labor is union or non-union. She said it’s a bad idea to wait until the last minute to secure your labor force.