An epidemic like this doesn’t spread quickly. It doesn’t even create a sense of urgency at the beginning. When the first few are affected it doesn’t phase anyone around them. “They were too small, too young, and they hadn’t had the time to establish an immune system like the rest of us” is what will be whispered behind closed doors.
Then the epidemic, a "virus", will spread quicker, affecting those who were at the top of their game just a short time ago. More people will begin to feel the affects and yet none of them will know how to find a cure - most won't even try. “Someone else will do it” they will say or, “I’m not even sick, it doesn’t affect me.”
Does this sound like a familiar story? Maybe you saw it on the Walking Dead? No? Was it Z Nation?
Sadly, as close to a zombie story as this sounds, it’s not. This is the story of Michigan’s construction industry and the people that banned together and found a cure for the impending zombie workforce apocalypse.
Patient Zero
As with most zombie tales, the key to the cure is within the DNA of patient zero. Our story is a little unique though, as patient zero is not a person but an entire industry. One infected during the Great Recession and like in the Walking Dead, the zombie virus is laying dormant within every company in the industry.
How is this possible you ask? Construction employment in Michigan saw a peak in 2006 and then shed tens of thousands of live bodies during the recession. Now, the construction labor force levels are back to pre-recession levels meaning the only way to find workers is to cannibalize your competition or for them to eat yours. Those left will eventually become a zombie workforce.
The Fight for Survival
As proven time and time again in every good (and bad) zombie movie, if you’re lucky enough to survive the initial outbreak of the virus, you’re going to need to stock up on supplies. Raid every store in town. Once you’ve swept them clean, you’ll be back to square one. Then what? Not only will you still be hungry, but you will have taken supplies from other survivors – killing off the living even faster.
Similarly, too many Michigan construction companies are scavenging for employees, often poaching from other companies, solving only an immediate need not providing a long-term solution. Fifty percent of today’s construction workforce is over 45-years old. The pipeline for entry-level workers is broken. Right now, the construction industry is in desperate need of manpower – and you won’t find enough skilled workers on your own.
The End of Civilization?
Victims of zombies become zombies themselves, leading to a widespread outbreak of hastily-multiplying efforts. If one company collapses, the virus will spread to the next. Then the next and the next, until the entire industry falls taking down our families and communities with it.
The work to be done in Michigan by the construction industry is only going to increase. Construction is Michigan’s second fastest growing industry, one in dire need of a new way to reach Generation Z and those that follow. As an industry, we can’t afford to wait any longer to solve this problem.
The Cure
The MichiganConstruction movement will win World War Z by shifting the way we attract and connect future generations of workers to the high-paying jobs offered by our partner employers.
Don’t be the lone wolf zombie killer raiding the stashes of your neighbor to stay alive. Or be that company that says, “it doesn’t affect me” or “someone else will handle it.”
YOU are that someone else.
Get injected with the antidote – Michigan Construction is the cure to the impending zombie workforce apocalypse.
