Develop Them and They Will Stay

One of scarcest resources available to contractors today is not manufactured, mined or processed. It is qualified field personnel. The effects of a diminished labor force are multifaceted and compounding. First, it is important to consider how a labor deficit affects the way firms market and sell their services. Second, firms must manage their projects with a depleted and often inadequate staff. As quality, safety and schedule issues mount resulting from the efforts of poorly trained and poorly led crews, firms are forced to address attrition of customers while attracting new ones.

In addition to the shortage of field labor, firms are hamstringed by their lack of experienced field supervisors and foremen to lead the work. An urgency also lies in identifying people to lead in a productive, efficient and safe manner. The decline in the number of competent field leaders is further exacerbated by aging and impending retirement of many such individuals. A disparity in age amongst the personnel in the office and field often arises. It is common to see an age difference of 10 years between a firm’s project management and its field supervision. On one hand, the veteran field supervision serves as excellent teachers for entry-level project engineers and junior-level project managers. However, this does nothing to help the shortfall  that firms will continue to experience without careful scrutiny of how they recruit, attract, train and cultivate future field personnel. To understand the problem, it is important to analyze how the problem perpetuated. 

While construction schools and engineering programs have done a superb job of educating and training the current generation of project engineers, it would be a fallacy to think that graduates of these programs enter the workforce completely armed to deal with the challenging and sometimes grueling world of construction. As a consequence, construction firms are slowly realizing the benefits of mentoring and training in order to protect these highly coveted assets. Equivalent training grounds for field personnel, such as carpenters, electricians and sheet metal workers, are also highly successful. In fact, technology has likely enabled these programs to teach these tradesmen more effectively. Even at the high school level, students do not lack the ability or the resources to do well in these programs. The problem is that people simply lack the desire to enter these programs. 

Industry pundits have conducted studies on the attractiveness of the construction industry to graduating high school seniors and discovered that construction trades dwell at the bottom of these lists. Legal and medical professions surface as the most desirable. It may be the increase in technology-related positions that have provided would-be construction tradesmen an alternative. Most would prefer to work in an air-conditioned office environment with a computer, a consistent schedule and seemingly limitless growth potential rather than endure extreme temperatures while exerting considerable energy in environments full of safety risks and in positions offering little upward mobility. The inadequate supply of labor has no apparent solution on the horizon.

With supply on the decline, firms must realign their strategies. The construction industry is extremely competitive in terms of client acquisition, and the battle for labor resources is becoming equally heated. As the demand for labor increases and the supply decreases over time, wages steadily increase. Over the long term, wages become inflated. Because this wage increase applies to both high- and low-quality producers, firms are subjected to higher project costs along with the increased wages. Fortunately, the competition experiences these increased costs as well.

The same phenomenon exists at the level of management. However, firms engage in a more proactive approach to deal with this challenge. Newer generations of college graduates are seeking much more than competitive salaries from their employers. Most want to know how they are going to be developed, trained and prepared for a long-term career with the firm. Firms are forced to dedicate the appropriate resources to ensure they can attract and retain superstar graduates or lose them to the competition.

Firms that employ this tactic usually have the best project managers, and a competent project manager will have direct impact on the profitability of a project and the growth of the firm. However, firms also need to recognize that the core purpose of management is to support the actions taken in the field by the crews and the supervision. The project manager serves the crew. The accounting department serves the crew. The firm exists because of the crew. With this guiding principle in mind, what percentage of the budget is portioned to cultivate the core of the business? What is being done to invest in the field’s future and training?

Most construction superintendents did not enter the workforce as superintendents. They began as general laborers or carpenters, exhibited traits that separated them from their peers and elevated through the ranks. Top producers can still be identified and promoted in this manner, but many construction organizations lack a method of proactively identifying those who have potential.

Often, employees who express some level of initiative or superior technical ability are promoted. However, some individuals who may have equal potential but lack the right forum to exhibit their talents may be ignored or discarded. This manner of promotion has the potential to create an invidious environment. To alleviate this problem, the field should implement formal evaluation methods and career paths.

The first step to proactively managing the human resource component of the construction business is to plot a career path for every position within the firm. This means every position from laborer to superintendent has a defined set of expectations and a guiding trajectory through the mastery of certain skill sets to help employees and the firm by providing a way for talent to be recognized.

Ascension up the ladder would require satisfactory completion of critical skill sets complementary to the current position. A person’s inadequacies can be identified, and appropriate training can take place. The key to a successful program is to send the message that the firm is serious about the program and is committed to the development of every employee. 

Not every field worker, however reliable, is qualified to be a foreman or superintendent, but the objective is not to pan for the most desirable candidates and toss away the rest. It is to build people, including those at the crew level, in order to have the greatest technicians and leaders in all positions. Some individuals can be great technicians but lack the business acumen and communicative ability required to be a leader. The best leaders in the field understand that their work has a direct correlation to the profitability of the firm, and when employees are trained to attain such an understanding, the company benefits. Retention of these individuals is also important from a resource perspective and sends the message that the firm is an employer of choice for those who are great at their trades.

Another beneficial training tactic is to incorporate some level of cross training. While not every company may be able to cross train, those that do reap several advantages. By cross training individuals, firms can minimize their reliance on the multiple streams of tradesmen that are currently in short supply. While we cannot expect concrete finishers to become expert trim carpenters or bulldozer operators to become electricians through a single training session, such employees may be able to help mitigate problems and find solutions not easily seen by their counterparts. Furthermore, individuals may find that their aptitudes lie within another discipline and, therefore, that they will serve the firm better in a new role.

Some will argue that spending time and money on career advancement and training for their employees in the field is a waste of energy and resources. Human resource departments may be viewed as needless overhead that exist only in large, sophisticated companies. Regardless of whether the training and career path is conducted solely in house or with the assistance of industry experts, some level of investment is required. However, this investment is in one of the most important resources a firm has. In order to manage and lead construction firms in this generation, the greatest source of skilled labor and field leaders will come from within. It will be requisite for firms to cultivate their own leaders and technicians in order to meet the industry demands of the future.