PGT Industries Overcomes Hiring, Promoting Challenges with WorkKeys

A national window and door manufacturer is pleased with what ACT’s WorkKeys^® assessments are doing for business. But the company’s real enthusiasm for WorkKeys lies in what the testing and training are doing for its people.

PGT Industries is the leading manufacturer and supplier of residential impact-resistant windows and doors. It is also one of the largest manufacturers of aluminum and vinyl windows and doors for both the residential and commercial markets. The company employs approximately 1,500 workers at its manufacturing, glass laminating and tempering, and distribution facilities in Salisbury, North Carolina, and Venice, Florida.

“WorkKeys has been good for our business, but it’s been phenomenal for our employees. They have gained a strong sense of personal satisfaction as they’ve grown and developed their professional skills,” said Liz Evers, manager of training and development for PGT Industries.

Joey Laxton

Joey Laxton is one such employee. The results of his WorkKeys assessments gave Laxton the motivation and confidence he needed to move from an entry-level manufacturing position to team leader at the Salisbury facility. “The WorkKeys testing and training helped me build the skills I needed to learn more complex tasks. Today, I am exactly where I want to be, and I plan to keep going up,” he said.

PGT implemented WorkKeys in March 2007 at its Salisbury location after experiencing a high level of performance-related turnover, said Stacy Smith Burns, training generalist for PGT. The company’s successes with WorkKeys in Salisbury led to implementation of the assessments at its Venice plant in the fall of 2008.

Burns participated in the WorkKeys implementation process from the beginning in her current role in workforce development. As the company’s authorized job profiler and primary trainer for the North Carolina facility, she is highly aware of the improvements the WorkKeys system has brought to PGT.

Before PGT started using WorkKeys, many new hires didn’t have the foundational skills needed to be successful in the company’s internal and on-the-job training programs. Now new employees are coming in with the required skills. In fact, during the first ten months of using WorkKeys, the Salisbury facility experienced a 30 percent drop in new hire turnover.

PGT Industries employees participate in a class that prepares them to take the WorkKeys Locating Information assessment. Sitting clockwise from bottom left of the photo are Donavin McCauley, technician 1; Diane Warren, technician 1; Phyllis Tysinger, technician 1; Evangeline Brown, technician 2; Theresa Pennington, technician 2; and Michael Gray, team leader.

In addition, new employees are now performing better on a particularly important skill—calculating measurements precisely with a tape measure. In the past, most new hires had about a 50 percent pass rate on a tape measure test. Now new hires—who must earn at least a score of 3 on the WorkKeys Locating Information and Applied Mathematics assessments—have a 93 percent pass rate on that test.

“With WorkKeys, every person we hire can easily grasp training concepts because they have those basic skills,” said Burns. “The caliber of people we’ve hired using the WorkKeys system is far higher than it was without it.”

All applicants must take the WorkKeys assessments related to the positions for which they are applying. Incumbent employees seeking promotion to a new level or new position also must take the assessments required for the desired position. The company requires four WorkKeys assessments—Locating Information, Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Observation—for most jobs. Leadership positions require Business Writing. Applied Technology is administered for certain positions requiring technology skills.

Candidates who score a 3 and above on the Locating Information, Reading for Information, and Applied Mathematics assessments are eligible for a National Career Readiness Certificate by registering through the ACT system.

As candidates submit their applications and WorkKeys scores, their information is entered into a database. The database—which currently contains scores for about 500 candidates—allows PGT to be more selective in hiring decisions. When openings occur, human resources personnel search the database for applicants with the required skill levels and contact them for interviews.

In addition to streamlining the company’s hiring and training process, WorkKeys has helped employees earn promotions faster, said Kim Bartleson, human resources generalist for PGT. “People coming on board now are more easily trained because they already have the basic skills we require. In fact, we’ve seen cases where new hires earn promotions within their first 90 days on the job,” she said.

PGT redesigned its promotion process to include a wage structure that pays for skills. To date, nearly a third of the employees at the Salisbury plant have been promoted as a result of their scores on the WorkKeys assessments.

WorkKeys complements the company’s ongoing workforce development and education program. Known as PGT University, the program provides on-site training and development classes and programs geared toward helping employees improve their skill levels. WorkKeys is critical to PGT University’s mission because it measures foundational skills and helps diagnose skills gaps, said Burns.

“WorkKeys provides a more objective way to measure performance and basic skills so that we can help people grow to the next level. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do,” she said.

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