Empowering the Trades: The Humphrey & Associates Story

This enlightening episode of Location Cubed, a Weaver: Beyond the Numbers podcast, examines the heart of the trades with Randy Humphrey, the executive vice president of Humphrey & Associates. Weaver hosts Howard Altshuler and Aaron Grisz discover how this family-oriented business thrives on employee ownership and a commitment to nurturing the next generation of skilled tradespeople.

Key Points:

  • Humphrey & Associates’ unique business model offers its team members a stake in the company with employee ownership through its ESOP program
  • Utilizing a proactive approach to recruit and train young tradespeople, Humphrey & Associates encourages the development of its people while addressing the industry’s workforce shortage
  • Humphrey & Associates’ commitment to family values and community involvement sets a benchmark for corporate culture

 

 

Humphrey & Associates stands out in the electrical and mechanical contracting industry for its services and remarkable company culture and structure. With 50% employee ownership through an ESOP program, the company has cultivated a family-like atmosphere that values each member’s contribution. This unique approach has resulted in an impressive average employee tenure of over eight years, highlighting the success of their model in creating a loyal and dedicated workforce.

“I think our biggest problem and biggest deterrent to growth and providing electrical and mechanical systems is not the material. It’s not the shortage of those things. It’s the shortage of individuals wanting to learn a trade,” Humphrey said. Later in the conversation, he speaks to the workforce shortage and what may incentivize people to consider the trades, saying, “The simple law of supply and demand is going to drive everything. The shortage of trades and the simple fact everything we have is powered by electricity. Everybody wants an electric car. Everybody wants to turn their computer on, charge your phone, do all these things. If they don’t have electricity or water in the building or a good plumbing system, it’s going to be an unhappy world.”

Subscribe and listen to future episodes of Weaver: Beyond the Numbers: Location Cubed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

©2024

Recent Episodes

Creative careers rarely move in a straight line, especially for writers working across stage, screen, audio, books, and independent film. Sustaining that kind of life often means finding opportunities wherever they appear, building a strong network, staying open to different formats, and saying yes to collaborations that can lead somewhere unexpected. The stakes are…

Radiology sits at the center of a modern healthcare squeeze: imaging volumes are climbing, hospitals need faster reads, and there simply are not enough radiologists to meet demand the old way. At the same time, remote work and AI are reshaping what a clinical practice can look like. The challenge is no longer whether…

The Marketing AI SparkCast brings you the Marketing AI Pulse Monthly Brief, a curated look at the most relevant stories shaping the field and what they mean for CMOs and marketing leaders. The May 2026 edition focuses on the widening gap between AI investment and AI execution, the structural transformation of search, the rise of AI…