As a construction company owner, you don’t want to overlook the importance of managing your employees. Your workforce is crucial to help make your construction projects come to life, and your staff can make or break any project.
Keeping your construction employees happy improves productivity. Finding efficient ways to simplify and manage workflows to be more efficient can sometimes seem like an impossible task.
If you’re looking for ways to manage your construction workforce, here are 7 practical tips to help you get started!
If you’re not that experienced in the construction industry, you might find it challenging to keep up with seasoned companies in terms of salary and benefit provisions.
Taking on a bigger construction project can give you enough confidence to scale your business and pay your workers their deserved salaries. Construction workers already have a high-risk job, and not having a suitable insurance plan or low salary can demotivate them to work for you.
Before hiring for a construction project, ensure you have a competitive compensation package ready for your workers. If you want to attract skilled workers who will do their best job, then offering good benefits and opportunities for growth and advancement is essential.
Your construction company’s purpose and culture need to be clear and outlined for new workers joining your business. If you’re a family business with multiple project managers, you need to explain the hierarchy to your workers.
If you’re a one-person project manager flying solo, then workers will know they always have to report to you. Giving accurate and transparent information about the working environment will help project managers improve their construction workforce management.
Communicating ground rules on construction sites is also crucial. Workers will trust your company even more, knowing you care about the safety process at the job site and make it a top priority for your company.
Construction companies should ensure that employees are in the correct role by understanding what every position entails. Skilled workers need to be assigned their respective roles and not be stuck with tasks that have nothing to do with their expertise.
There has to be clear communication between managers and workers. Each worker must know what task they must work on, and managers need to update work site information when tasks change.
As a project manager, you have to remember that you’re not the only one who cares about the business. Your crew members are also an integral part of your company who need to voice their opinion and concerns from time to time.
You don’t have to set foot on the construction site every day, but it will be beneficial for you to visit the site often, checking on construction workers and asking them about their job site satisfaction. This will help manage your construction project better by witnessing project performance in real-time.
You also need to set clear expectations for each project you want to complete. Your workers need to be kept in the loop of project goals, work hours, project duration and expected completion dates.
Construction sites can be chaotic, with a lot of information flying around. The right tool will help you get your hands on the chaos and increase productivity levels in no time.
You’ll have access to real-time updates about what’s going on at multiple sites using a collaboration platform. This allows more accessible communications between managers/supervisors, crew leaders & contractors.
Construction managers use workforce management tools to schedule their time slots and ensure they are as productive as possible. It also allows managers to access all their projects in one place, thus making construction projects much easier to manage.
Investing in employees’ education and training is a great way to manage your construction workforce effectively. It helps workers become more skilled at what they do while also developing new skills that can be useful later on down the road when it comes time to switch trades.
Keep in mind that spilling money on training certifications is not enough. A construction worker who has trained and earned certification is useless if they don’t implement what they learned in real life. Ensure your projects and worker skills are aligned to benefit from the latest industry-led training courses.
Construction workers will be more motivated to work if you help them grow their skills and let them advance in their careers.
Though it’s crucial to pinpoint mistakes early to prevent project delays, workers also need to be appreciated for their job well done.
Your employees are a valuable asset to your company. They want to be rewarded for their serious commitment to your construction projects.
After achieving your first milestone, you can show them how much they’ve progressed and how you’re proud of them by organizing a company dinner party.
For workers who have been with you since day one, you can arrange an end-of-the-year award ceremony, for example, to celebrate their achievements in the company.
Managing a construction workforce can be challenging, but there are some simple things you can do to keep your team motivated and productive.
One of the most important aspects is communicating with workers. This doesn’t mean that every worker should hear from you daily, but make sure everyone feels like their voice matters at least once per week.
Be transparent about upcoming changes and challenges on the project as soon as possible to avoid confusion or anxiety among your employees. It also helps if you offer competitive pay packages for quality talent in an industry that will attract more qualified people who want stable work.
Lastly, celebrate wins together by giving time off after significant milestones (such as completing foundation). And invest in educating your skilled workers for the sake of your company’s success and progress.
Managing a team can be challenging work, but it doesn’t have to be – read our article on creating a construction schedule to learn best planning practices without getting overwhelmed.
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