After a decade of relatively flat demand, U.S. electricity demand surged to record highs in 2024, and is projected to keep rising through 2026, driven by large loads like industrial buildouts and data centers. That growth feeds directly into transmission and distribution workload and into the talent pipeline utilities depend on to execute this workload.¹ At the same time, utility workforce turnover has climbed to its highest levels in years. Non‑retirement attrition reached its highest level since the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) began tracking, creating churn just as utilities need to scale execution.² Against this backdrop, the binding constraint on grid investment may not be capital; it may be people.
For capital delivery leaders, the risk is clear: if workforce strategy isn’t treated like a critical‑path item, schedules slip, unit costs rise, and reliability targets get harder to hit.
Laying the Foundation: Why A People-Centered Framework for Capital Delivery Matters Now
Utilities are in the midst of a sustained build cycle with bigger capital plans, tighter reliability expectations, and new technology on every layer of the grid. In this environment, workforce strategy can’t be just a human resources focus area; it’s a core lever for delivering capital projects on schedule and reliably on target.
The composition of the workforce is also changing. According to the CEWD Energy Workforce Survey (administered with ScottMadden), millennials now make up the largest segment of utility employees, and more than half of today’s workforce have fewer than 10 years of service.² This younger, less‑tenured employee profile increases the premium on structured onboarding, accelerated time-to-proficiency, and ongoing development.
We’ve seen capital organizations build momentum when a capital program’s workforce framework is directly linked to portfolio governance and operating models. In our work with utilities, structured workforce planning and training modernization have expanded field capabilities and enabled organizations to more effectively execute against ambitious capital plans.
Strengthening the Workforce Framework
Utility capital spend is currently elevated. This raises the bar for governance, portfolio visibility, and vendor accountability (Edison Electric Institute, EEI)³. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) also warns that system growth and emerging risks require more disciplined execution.⁴
To deliver under these conditions, utilities need a workforce and contractor model that operates like an extension of capital governance itself. ScottMadden frames this through the “Rule of 3 Cs”:
- Capacity: Build a long-range labor forecast directly tied to capital expenditure (capex) milestones and outage windows. This ensures hiring, contracting, and training decisions are made with the same discipline as other long-lead project planning.
- Contractor Controls: Establish clear performance accountability across safety, schedule, cost, and quality. Standardized onboarding and transparent scorecards align vendors with project goals and reduce costly variance.
- Capability: Modernize capital program skills through role-based training that spans planning, engineering, project management and controls, construction, and vendor oversight. These efforts will shorten time-to-proficiency and drive consistent execution standards across the portfolio.
1) Capacity — Plan the Work and the Workforce
Why It Matters: Capital calendars and outage plans are unforgiving. If workforce capacity isn’t forecasted with the same rigor as project schedules, utilities end up reacting to gaps in labor, driving up costs and slowing execution.
What to Do: Stand up a multi-year workforce capacity model tied directly to the capital calendar and outage plan. This hiring, contracting, and training planning should be treated like other long-lead decisions. This allows leaders to:
- Trigger hiring or contracting decisions well ahead of need
- Stagger onboarding to reduce idle time
- Pre-authorize surge resources for predictable peaks
Case Study: At a large transmission organization, ScottMadden helped build a long-range staffing model linked to portfolio governance. By shifting from reactive to forecast-driven planning, the utility cut last-minute “hot” labor requests by half and aligned surge labor to outage windows, smoothing field readiness and lowering costs.
Capacity – Reflective Questions
2) Contractor Controls — Scale with Accountability
Why It Matters: As capital programs scale, utilities increasingly depend on contractors for execution. In today’s environment, work spans internal teams and multiple contractors, with frequent handoffs and shifting interdependencies making collaboration essential. Without disciplined oversight, performance varies widely, leading to schedule slippage, cost overruns, and rework. Contractor performance must be managed as rigorously as project schedules.
What to Do: Establish a contractor performance framework that pairs vendor performance scorecards (safety, schedule, cost, quality) with core project controls such as baseline/change control, short-term schedule look-aheads, risk registers, and more. Standardized onboarding and transparent reviews make expectations clear, while performance-based incentives drive accountability.
Key performance areas include:
- Safety – Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), near-miss tracking
- Schedule – Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
- Cost – Cost Performance Index (CPI)
- Quality – Rework rates, inspection pass rates
Case Study: Across a grid-projects portfolio, ScottMadden designed a contractor performance framework with clear scopes, standardized onboarding, and monthly scorecards. Within two quarters, the utility saw fewer change orders and tighter adherence to schedule commitments.
Controls – Reflective Questions
3) Capability — Modernize Capital Program Skills
Why It Matters: Even with the right headcount and contractor oversight, projects can stall if internal teams lack the skills to govern, manage, and execute capital programs. A younger, less-tenured workforce makes role-based training essential to accelerate time-to-proficiency and create consistent standards.
What to Do: Build a role-based, enterprise curriculum that spans the full capital lifecycle, including but not limited to capital planning, portfolio governance, engineering and design, project management and controls, construction, contractor management, and system/data governance. Pair training with standardized tools and a single source of truth and clear ownership of responsibilities.
Case Study: For a multi-year grid capital portfolio, ScottMadden stood up a “Capital Programs Office.” The effort standardized stage gates, trained project managers and controllers on integrated cost and schedule controls, and deployed portfolio dashboards. This resulted in faster project starts, clearer vendor accountability, and measurable improvements in schedule adherence.
Capability – Reflective Questions
From Insight to Impact
Workforce challenges are complex but solvable. The key is to treat workforce models as a shared leadership priority, grounded in data and aligned to what matters most—capital delivery outcomes—while also addressing capital goals and reliability outcomes.
Building on the evidence and recommendations above, a practical path forward is to:
- Stand up a rolling workforce‑capacity model tied to the capital plan
- Operationalize contractor performance management with clear scorecards and core project controls, so scale comes with accountability
- Modernize capital program capabilities with a role-based curriculum, so skills, decisions, and delivery mature together
At ScottMadden, we help utilities move from intent to impact. We assess where you are, align on 12‑month priorities and ownership, and implement tools that stick, such as capacity models linked to portfolio governance, contractor scorecards and onboarding frameworks, and hands‑on training modernization that shortens time‑to‑proficiency and improves field outcomes.
If your organization is ready to evolve its workforce frameworks, a focused capital delivery workforce readiness review offers a no-regrets first step. This health check delivers a baseline capacity model, a contractor scorecard design, and a skills map with your top three gaps, so you have a prioritized plan and named owners to drive the action forward.
References
1. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Short‑Term Energy Outlook (2025) and related demand outlooks.
2. Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) and ScottMadden. Energy Workforce Survey Results (2023).
3. Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Industry Financial Update/Capital Expenditures Trends (2024–2025).
4. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). 2024 Long‑Term Reliability Assessment.
