|
|
| Guest Author |
|
|
|
|
| Construction Culture Survey - By Wally Adamchik |
|
The uncertainty of the coronavirus will be with us for a while. What is not uncertain is the need to attract and retain great people as you build an excellent workplace culture to flourish in good times and bad. Recent research on culture in the Construction Materials segment provides valuable insights on your path forward.
In some ways, Construction Materials is just like any other industry, including contracting. However, in a few important ways, the Materials sector differs from the broader construction industry, and this provides opportunity. There are precious few exemplary companies, far too many abysmal ones and, sadly, most are pretty darn average. But average is not a retention strategy. Creating a great culture might be your best profit strategy. There is a direct correlation between great workplace culture and increased profitability. FireStarter Speaking and Consulting, a national construction leadership consulting firm, recently asked nearly two hundred Construction Materials professionals about leadership and culture in their firm. We didn’t ask, “Are you having trouble finding people?” We asked, “Are you happy at work? Do you feel trusted?
The State of the American Workforce report by Gallup states that only 30% of employees are engaged at work. With those numbers, a football team would field eleven players, but only three or four would be really trying. But the first look at the Materials business confirms all is not lost! All respondents, from front line to the head office, reported a very high level of happiness at work: averaging 7.73 on scale of 1-10. While happiness does not equal engagement, it certainly does correlate.
Recognition and feedback are essential to high performance, yet this remains sorely lacking across all sectors. In Materials, 8% of respondents reported receiving daily feedback, while 21% responded weekly. Half replied they get feedback monthly and, perhaps most alarming, 25% said, “What’s recognition?” Harvard Business Review confirms that top performing teams give each other more than 5 positive comments for every criticism. This is an easy opportunity for you to improve culture in your firm.
Research has repeatedly shown a clear link between having a best friend at work and the amount of effort employees expend in their job. 68% of all respondents and 62% of field supervision answered Yes when asked if they had a close friend at work. (This compares favorably to the broader contractor segment where only 50% of field supervision reported Yes.) The greater opportunity remains at the hourly level, where only one-third of respondents replied Yes. We know that camaraderie is a building block of a great place to work. There are opportunities in your workplace to increase this.
A theme that will emerge for the Materials producers is the benefit of location. Working in a pit, quarry, or plant everyday isn’t like driving to remote job sites. This should make cohesion easier to create and sustain, if you work at it.
Another point of differentiation for the Materials sector is in safety. In prioritization and delivery, the scores on safety are higher. There is also a high level of consistency between these two questions. This is a major difference from the Contracting world, where there was a disconnect between safety being a priority, and safety being consistently delivered. Smaller crew sizes, less turnover, and less variability in the work are all contributors to the higher scores in Materials. Even at the hourly level, 87% of respondents affirmed safety as a priority that was delivered as well.
Work-life balance always seems to be an issue these days, yet the data shows decent levels in Contracting and Materials. 70% of all respondents across both segments agreed with the statement, “I am able to maintain a reasonable work life balance.” The outlier is field supervision at the Contractor level, where only 50% replied Yes. In Materials, field supervision was at the 75% level. This can be a point of emphasis in recruiting.
Musician Cheryl Crow sang that “a change would do you good,” but the majority of attempts at change often fall short. On this question, the materials executives confessed to these failings at a level of 55%. If leadership is about change for better results, it is troubling--perhaps even depressing--that over half of senior leadership (those who come up with the ideas and whose job it is to spearhead the change) say their efforts fall short. This signifies a huge opportunity for those who can crack the code on implementing change. Here are the Cliffs Notes: It takes longer than you think, and it requires a significant personal investment from leaders to sell the change. This “personal selling of change” is the fastest way to build trust, leverage relationships, and troubleshoot potential problems.
This next metric may surprise you, but it is entirely consistent across all business. One-quarter of all respondents said they had more to give when asked if they were working at full capacity! A whopping 62% of hourly repondents in the materials sector agreed. These people are saying they could do more! They are not overworked; they are under-challenged. This leads to disengagement. This finding underscores the idea that, rather than blaming the employee for performance or discipline issues, perhaps the supervisor should be evaluated first. Another positive note 91% said they would refer a friend and 89% said they trust their boss. In a time of anxiety and uncertainty, this is a becomes a point of leverage and opportunity.
There is no single solution to improve culture. The number one reason people stay in a job is because of a good relationship with their immediate supervisor. People don’t work for an industry; they work for a supervisor. What any reader can do is look inside their own organization and ask these questions to see how they compare. Very few firms attain Best in Class distinction. Over 90% of employees must respond that the culture is a great place to work to be confident it is true. But a firm need not be Best in Class today to be better tomorrow.
Efforts and actions that build trust are essential. Leaders living up to commitments and sincerely talking with employees builds trust. Helping people feel “in on things,” and giving candid feedback builds loyalty. All of these actions must be consistent and sustained. Excellence isn’t a program; it’s a way of life. Creating a great culture is an all-hands effort that starts with key leaders across all levels of the organization working together to execute a coherent human capital strategy.
Wally Adamchik is the President of FireStarter Speaking and Consulting, a Raleigh, NC based construction leadership consulting firm. He can be reached at [email protected].
|
|
|
|
|
|
