Every worker has an off-day or even an off-week. While the odd wobble is understandable, it’s important to build on any failures and learn from them, especially in the construction industry.
Human error is to be expected in every endeavour. Nevertheless, construction companies are far less able to shrug off their mistakes and are held accountable at every turn. After all, people are more keenly aware of their building rights and have rightly set higher quality expectations.
Poor performances can also endanger the health and safety of colleagues and future occupants of the buildings constructed. That wider perspective is crucial to maintaining standards. Still, many teachable moments can come from one’s own shortcomings. Here’s a series of steps that should help you build on poor construction performance.
Secure Warranties and Insurance
You can’t build on poor performances if mishaps have led to serious legal pressure and perhaps even business closure. Safeguards must be in place to ensure the survival of the construction firm first. Consult leading specialist brokers like BuildSafe for the most competitive quotes on builder warranty insurance. That way, you can enjoy the most cost-effective coverage possible and keep up with what is otherwise an incredibly fast-moving market. New builds, self-builds, and much else all be searched for here. They also help you find tools and employer’s liability insurance, among others.
Quality coverage can also instil a sense of discipline in the construction worker. It shows that these measures are essential in protecting everybody’s best interests. Even if the policies aren’t legal obligations, going the extra mile protects the business and everyone who encounters it. All of this can facilitate a better attitude toward the work, which can, in turn, lead to better performances. Remember, the workplace is a notorious environment for unjust fingerpointing and backstabbing. Those working in the construction sector must be well above these behaviours. Warranties and insurance arrangements help workers feel accountable for their actions and remind them of their situation’s realities; things can go disastrously wrong if they’re not careful.
Schedule Breaks
Part of being accountable also means recognising one’s own limitations. Construction workers may look strong and capable, but every professional has a breaking point that should not be tested. As news of construction worker shortages more frequently immerges, there can be real concerns that builders may become overworked soon to compensate for these limitations. Liberties are often taken when workforces are stretched too thin, and your construction firm can’t afford to fall into these same traps.
Schedule frequent breaks for staff. Set realistic deadlines for work that accurately reflect the workforce power you have available to you. Build a culture of well-being at the heart of the construction firm. Construction workers need to know that they can also work their best in practising self-care.
Improved Inventory Flow
Of course, not all lulls in the workday are well-timed. Processes should flow where needed, and workers should not be stalled. Ensuring continuity in construction often comes down to improving the flow of inventory. Ideally, supplies will never be depleted, and they’ll be a steady supply chain that’s replenished at every opportune moment.
Working with competent suppliers is a key part of this equation. Find suppliers in your community that may offer you discounts for loyalty and local business if you can. Delivery times will be faster when goods are sourced from nearby firms too, so it’s in your best interests to work with these entities where you can. Sustainability is important too. If your construction firm can utilise materials that can be recycled and reused, it will minimise waste but also give construction workers more to work with faster. Ultimately, everything should function like a well-oiled machine, ensuring workers are never idle during peak productivity.
Invest in Management Software
Many sectors are becoming more digitised. Construction is no exception to these changes. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system helps construction firms keep track of building materials used, assets procured, business administration fees, sub-contractor logistics, and more. Not all the data examined appears on daily balance sheets, so the management software can offer a more comprehensive overview of business activities.
Unfortunately, some workplaces go too far when monitoring their employees, so it’s important to cross any major boundaries of privacy. Construction workers won’t take any invasiveness kindly, and it won’t take them long to look for jobs elsewhere. Make them aware of how their performances are being reasonably tracked, and work together from there. Management software can help with many of the points raised so far. Compliance for coverage can be monitored, inventory can be more closely examined, and projects can be planned more efficiently. Wavering performances will lead to irregularities in the software side of things, allowing workers to more closely analyse hiccups in work processes.
Provide Regular Feedback
Construction managers have to be enthusiastic about giving feedback. Their efforts should be strategic and amount to more than a few casual remarks or annual appraisals. Map the milestones of the construction project, or those of individual parts workers play. Use those moments to deliver 10-15 minutes worth of one-to-one catchups. That way, you can keep tabs on workers’ performance and have a shared understanding of how things are progressing.
Those receiving the feedback must also be stimulated in their learning curves. If all that’s given are instructions and orders, workers can fast become disengaged and dismissive. Ask questions instead. Compare examples of their building work to those that are superior. Pose hypothetical questions and tempt workers toward the right way of working, and understanding feedback will feel like an upskilling achievement rather than being tediously lectured. Recognise the strength of the construction worker, too. Positive performances should be acknowledged to encourage employees and steer them towards areas where more work is needed via a process of elimination. In the end, construction feedback should be well-rounded and interactive, not a rare annual showing of pre-scripted box-ticking exercises.
Conclusion
Poor performances can be improved by heightened engagement. Whether it’s through legal safeguards, well-being first working conditions, a steady supply chain, dynamic ERP software, or more interactive feedback, these are all ways to spur construction workers into more enriching careers. They will feel more committed to what they do and perform all the better for it.
