Workforce

Attracting, Training, and Retaining Talent

Workforce strategies represent a critical element of management in the water industry. Workforce strategies include building resources to help attract, recruit, train, and retain talented and skilled employees and best practices for succession planning.

Focus On:

Veterans: Visit this page for resources specific to hiring, training and retaining Veteran employees.

Baywork: See Technical Resources Tab for useful workforce resources, including a Knowledge Transfer Toolkit. 

WorkforWater.org: Newly updated site with career profiles and resources for those seeking a career in the water sector.

operators

Women in Water 

Women are significantly underrepresented in the water sector, especially in technical roles. Adding more women to the water workforce will have broad economic and local financial benefits, improve customer satisfaction, and increase performance. 

The challenge of increasing the number of women in the global water workforce is complex, so it’s important to first understand the global need for water and sanitation services and the current state of women in water.

LEARN MORE

 

AWWA Report: Operator Licensing Requirements Across the United States

This report catalogues licensing requirements for water and wastewater operators across all 50 states to determine opportunities for and barriers to cross-training. Need-to-know criteria (NTKC) were identified by state to help operators prepare for certification examination, identify states that use Association of Boards of Certification (ABC) NTKC criteria, develop their own criteria, or have a combination of two.

Download the report

WEF/AWWA 2019 Transformative Issues symposium on workforce - Special Content Collection 

The 2019 Transformative Issues Symposium on Workforce brought together those in the water sector addressing workforce needs with those from other sectors and disciplines, including the workforce development community, to share success stories and strategies. As with other WEF and AWWA offerings, the program included a diverse array of speakers to educate and inspire you as you tackle the transformative workforce challenges in your own community or organization.

Access to this collection of presentations at the event is available only to AWWA Members (login required).

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AWWA Resources

A Guided Tour of Baywork's Knowledge Transfer Toolkit - See below for link to Baywork's Knowledge Transfer Toolkit
 

AWWA Technical Books

 

AWWA Manuals of Practice

 

 Baywork Resources   

Baywork.org offers many resources to assist in maintaining a flourishing water workforce. 
Knowledge Transfer Toolkit - See above for article from Journal AWWA on use of this toolkit
 
You may also search decades of articles on this or other topics published in the Journal AWWA, Opflow and AWWA Water Science

AWWA Policy Statements

AWWA's policy statements are brief statements on protecting and improving water supply, water quality, management, and the interests of the public and the environment. They are written by consensus, subject to review and comment by AWWA committees, councils, and members. Because they represent AWWA's position on these matters, they are approved by the AWWA Executive Committee of the board of directors.

Technical Committee Engagement

AWWA members are recognized globally for their industry expertise and their generosity in sharing that expertise for a better world through better water. AWWA members participate in committee activities, developing conference programs, writing technical manuals, developing standards, creating educational content and contributing to AWWA publications. Committee members primarily interact through conference calls, emails, and face to face meetings at conferences and events.  Access more information on volunteering for an AWWA committee.

The following committees are active in addressing workforce issues: 

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