Construction is one of the most labor-intensive industries in the world. It requires excellent coordination among teams and industry-competitive skilled workers.
Managing construction employees is challenging. It is important to ensure that employees are happy and productive despite being assigned to different work sites. To help construction managers and supervisors, the following are some ways to manage your construction workforce effectively:
1) Set Monthly Objectives for Employees
Goals can help keep employees focused on what they need to do to be successful and meet their objectives. By setting goals, you can track the progress that your employees are making throughout the month. If you notice they are not progressing well, then perhaps there is something wrong or needs immediate action.
2) Communicate with Employees
It’s vital to stay on top of what is happening at the job site. If your employees do not feel like they are a part of it, nothing else you do will matter. To keep them in the loop on what’s happening across all sites, use a medium such as collaboration tools or emails, which can have important information sent out every day or every week, instead of holding regular meetings that few people attend and asking for updates from each other.
The project market is constantly changing. There are new technologies that make our lives easier. These changes can have a significant impact on the construction industry if they catch on. Find out what your employees think about these changes. It is crucial to allow them to voice out their opinions so you can work together for the benefit of your business.
3) Regularly Evaluate Workplace Performance
Reassess your employees’ performance every month or once a quarter to see how they’re doing in their tasks and goals. If you’ve set up goals, you can check to see how they’re all doing.
Also, it would help if you schedule regular one-on-one feedback sessions with each of your members. Listen to them attentively and try to understand their problems. Discuss these problems so you may develop a solution that will work for yourself, the employee, and the others as well.
4) Create Learning Opportunities
Construction is a fast-paced environment, so employees need to be flexible and willing to learn new skills when needed. Offer training on some of the latest equipment and software programs that your business uses. This will not only help your current workforce but also attract other skilled workers as well.
Employees who aren’t growing are dying, so you need to give them opportunities for growth in their careers to remain satisfied in their jobs. Look at your workers’ past experiences, training, and skill sets when determining where they should be placed within your organization. You’ll increase productivity by giving them more responsibility while also making them feel like they’re contributing to the vision of the business itself. This will also inspire other employees in the workplace to see the possibilities of what can be achieved if they do good work.
5) Accept Employees’ Suggestions and Ideas
Employees must feel like they have some level of control over how things are done around them in order to be effective and productive. Listen to their suggestions about how things should be done or what types of equipment and tools should be utilized at the site. These ideas may not always work out because they may require more money than you’re expecting from the project, but anything is worth trying if it means that your employees are happier and more productive.
6) Delegate Responsibility
It’s part of being a great manager to delegate responsibility. It allows your workers to exercise their talents and skills while also testing new ones they may never have thought they had! Entrust them with responsibilities, such as taking care of a particular project or ensuring the safety of another worker on site. This will help you pinpoint areas where they need extra training or experience to excel in their job.
7) Streamline Workplace Communication Channels
If your business is expanding its reach into other states, streamlining your communication channels is essential to a successful expansion. This includes management meetings, email, phone calls, or text messages so everyone involved in the project can easily communicate with each other, no matter where they are located.
It would also help to use a workplace management app to keep track of efficiency metrics, work hours, and productivity and identify high potential employees for promotions and career growth.
8) Provide Employees with the Right Resources for Their Roles
Providing the right equipment is also a great way to keep your workers productive. In an ideal situation, you wouldn’t see any workers using their own tools or materials on the job. Instead, they should be supplied with everything they need so that they can get work done faster and more efficiently than ever before. This includes equipping your team with specialized solutions, such as construction management software, project management solution, and advanced fire system testing tools, to enhance safety standards, maintain compliance, and streamline operations on site.
9) Recognize and Provide Incentives for Good Work
Incentives are one way to keep your employees motivated, but it doesn’t mean you should go all-out with its use as it could easily backfire.
Quality workers make your business more valuable and help you bring in more revenue. So, recognize the efforts of your employees through incentives, like bonuses or gifts after a job well done. No amount is too small as it will show them that their hard work is appreciated and they are a valued part of the team.
10) Celebrate Wins with Everyone
Another effective way of motivating your employees in the workplace is to celebrate wins with them. It helps build camaraderie and lets everyone bask in the glory of a job well done. After all, no one wants to work for a business that doesn’t allow them to enjoy their hard-earned successes.
As construction managers and supervisors, you are responsible for making sure your team is working together well. If not, they could be headed for dissatisfaction, dangerous situations at the site, which will reflect poorly on you. With these ten effective ways of managing employees, you can keep your construction workforce happy while still getting work done efficiently.
Holly Shaw is part of the content team at Sinc in Harrogate, UK. She has worked in the health and safety industry since graduating from university. When not writing about health and safety practices, Holly can be found researching new travel locations.