Technology can help you to address the ever looming skills gap and successfully manage the risk of high staff turnover.
The construction industry imploded in 2007 because of the incoming credit crunch. Despite the sector being in recovery with a predicted growth of 23% by the end of 2018 – the industry is plagued by a new and very serious issue; high employee turnover.
Not only are 74% of small builders claiming that there will not be a sufficient quantity of skilled subcontractors and tradespeople as the market regrows, the Construction Industry Training Board estimates that 400,000 workers are set to reach retirement age within the next decade.
This means securing your existing staff is crucial on two fronts. Firstly, they are invaluable to your future success and secondly, the information they hold is critical to your business’ continuity. To protect your business, you need to develop a two-pronged strategy that boosts retention rates while dealing with a potential lack of business continuity if employees should decide to leave.
If they leave…
… due to retirement or a contract coming to an end, you need to ensure that any knowledge and information they have accrued about your operations and projects is retained. The most cost-effective and efficient solution is to create a centralised database where all data can be held and easily accessed. This can be achieved seamlessly by introducing construction sector-specific plug-ins to your existing technology.
The net result is a system which can be updated in real time and means that when an employee or contractor leaves your company, there is minimal disruption or risk of missing data. The employee has already stored such critical information in your database while in your employment, whether they were working in the office, on site or from home via a mobile, PC or tablet.
Such a technology-focused solution means that extensive ‘debriefs’ or follow-up calls will no longer be required – your clients’ information has already been stored and is accessible in seconds via your database.
If they stay…
… then you need to put incentives in place that will help retain the employee or contractor in the long term and reduce the risks of competitors ‘poaching’ them. While a suitable salary and other pragmatic benefits are of course essential, it’s critical that you make employees’ working lives as simple and hassle-free as possible.
Again, technology should lie at the heart of any retention strategy. For instance, remove the need for employees to trek into the office for information by pushing out relevant data from your centralised database to wherever they are. Consider allowing workers to head directly home if they finish up on site and give them the ability to upload any reports or highlight issues via a cloud-based system that can be accessed remotely.
Not only does such an approach strip back hassle for employees but it’s also proven to boost job satisfaction rates, a key incentive for any worker to remain at a company. Flexible working is seen as improving staff-employee relationships as well as staff motivation:
- 40% of construction companies reported a boost in productivity
- 38% reported seeing a drop in staff absence
Ultimately, whether your staff are subcontractors, quantity surveyors or project managers, the goal is the same – to make their working lives frustration-free and give them the right technology to ensure that they can get their jobs done wherever they are. In other words, the construction sector needs to embrace the power of technology and IT to help keep their employees happy.
