Construction firms around the nation face a common challenge: retaining talent in an industry facing record talent shortages. This goes beyond mid-level and management/executive staff and includes the young talent who is the future of the construction industry. This leaves many HR teams and hiring managers searching for ways to differentiate, attract, and retain construction professionals of all levels.
Creating A Your Dream Team
As a tenured construction recruiting firm who specializes in the unique needs of this rapidly evolving industry, we understand the synergy needed for a cohesive dream team is equally as important as individual and combined skill sets.
You could staff the most experienced and qualified employee for each of your open positions, but if they aren’t team players, your projects will experience unnecessary roadblocks. This could negatively affect everything from the quality of your craftsmanship, to your budget, and costly communication mishaps.
Overall Job Satisfaction
Staffing with both interpersonal and technical skills in mind, you create teams who are eager to work together, and eager to remain in a high performing setting. With the current competitive climate, job security is less of a concern. Not that employees take their employment for granted, but if you cannot provide a team environment, competitive benefits, work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction, employees may feel confident exploring their options.
Empowering Your Team To Succeed
It doesn’t matter what industry you are staffing for, as no one enjoys being micromanaged. However, with the many moving parts, frequent changes, and strict budgets and timelines—it’s challenging to let go of any tendencies to micromanage.
Managing your team must be a balance of taking full ownership of your portion of the project, and having the confidence you will meet or exceed your expectations. While you must have protocols in place to measure progress, you must also motivate and empower your team to succeed. Take full advantage of remote technology and communication tools, which are designed to improve communication and provide real-time progress reports.
Developing Your Team
Technology and industry advances are driving construction forward at lightning speed, and your team doesn’t want to be left behind. They want to work for a company who remains on the cutting edge of all advances, and who invests in their ongoing development. This could be achieved through many methods, such as formal training, internal mentorship, and mastery programs.
When deciding your ongoing training and development, don’t forget to factor in the difference between what it costs to train and retain, opposed to what it costs to recruit, onboard, and train a new hire until they are a fully contributing member of your team.
A Clear Career Path
Not all of your employees are interested in management, but they will be looking for growth opportunities. They want to see you balance keeping things fresh and new by onboarding outside talent, but they also want to see they have room to grow.
Talk with your candidates about their career goals during the interview process, and again during their annual reviews. Devise and revise your career path for all positions, create individual development plans, and hold your management team responsible for their team’s internal growth.
Crystal Clear Communication
Change is inevitable in every construction project, and without crystal clear communication, your team will quickly become frustrated, disconnected, and even unmotivated. However, timely communication should not be an issue in our digital day and age, as instant updates can be delivered through advanced construction technology and tools.
A Healthy Challenge
Everyone from your entry level employees, to your tenured industry innovators desire healthy professional challenges. They are passionate about their specialty skill set and are searching for a company who will provide them with both structured professional challenges and freedom for innovation. If every day feels like groundhog day, quality can become compromised out of sheer boredom and monotony. Not sure if your team is adequately challenged? Just ask.
Construction firms must think outside of the box when it comes to retaining their skilled employees. While factors such as competitive construction salaries and benefits are still a factor, innovative benefits, work-life balance, and company culture are of growing significance.
You don’t have to go this alone, as the TBG team is always here to assist with staffing young talent, quality talent, executive talent, and more. Reach out today to discuss your staffing needs!
