Labor force trends continue in the right direction at Newport News Shipbuilding and the builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines expects to hit its hiring goals this year while attrition rates are flattening, the company’s top human resources official said on Wednesday.
Newport News plans to hire about 2,200 skilled tradesmen in 2023, down from a goal of 2,700 in 2022 and more than 3,000 annually in 2018 and 2019 when the shipbuilder was ramping production of the Navy’s Virginia-class submarine, Xavier Beale, vice president of human resources at the Virginia-based shipyard, told reporters. Newport News Shipbuilding is an operating segment of HII [HII].
Through the company’s various outreach efforts and training initiatives, Beale said Newport News is “seeing positive momentum” for hiring, Beale said.
As of February, Newport News this year has 750 “offer accepts,” which are soon-to-be new employees that have “gone through our talent acquisition process” and are onboarding, Beale said.
Shipfitters and welders are in the greatest demand in the near-term, he said.
Last week, HII reported its fourth quarter and 2022 financial results. Overall, in 2022 the company hired more than 4,900 tradesmen to work in its shipyards, which also include Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding and various repair facilities nationwide.
“Our top operational priority remains hiring and workforce development,” Chris Kastner, HII’s president and CEO, said during the Feb. 9 earnings call. “I’m confident in our plans for hiring and as importantly, our retention and training strategies. These strategies center around employee skills and leadership development and are gaining traction.”
Kastner said HII expects a similar hiring rate in 2023 for its shipyards’ needs.
Attrition rates across the company’s shipyards improved throughout 2022 and into January 2023, demonstrating a “bit of stability showing up in the shipbuilding organizations from not only a labor standpoint, but also supply chain and inflation,” he said last week. “It’s not back to pre-pandemic level, but it’s definitely stabilized and that’s what we need to execute.”
Beale said attrition rates at Newport News were better than expected last year. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted labor issues nationally, in some cases resulting in layoffs, in others early retirements and career changes. The pandemic also wreaked havoc on global supply chains.
During the earnings presentation, Kastner outlined key milestones this year at Newport News, including re-delivery of the USS George Washington (CVN-73) aircraft carrier, crew move aboard the new John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) aircraft carrier, delivery of the Virginia-class New Jersey (SSN-796) attack submarine, float off of the Massachusetts (SSN-798) sub, and ship final module of the Utah (SSN-801) sub.
Beale said that Newport News can achieve its shipbuilding milestones with the labor force it has on hand.