Industry Trends: Construction Labor Shortage
Are you a leader or a manager in the construction industry? If so, you most likely are facing one of two problems on a daily basis. Either you don’t have enough work to keep your employees busy or you are facing a construction labor shortage.
Construction and remodeling firms are in a continual battle to find work and then to find skilled employees to complete the work. As work opportunities expand, the construction labor shortage grows.
A Construction Dive article provides insight into 10 trends that are defining the construction industry. The number one trend affecting the construction and remodeling industries is the shortage of qualified labor.
So what can professional contractors and remodelers do to address the affects that a construction labor shortage can have on their businesses? There are three ways that contractors can choose to go to address this issue.
Three Options to Address the Construction Labor Shortage
Increase Wages – The first option is to increase wages. Increasing wages is a defensive move. It helps to prevent losing employees to competitors. It also can increase morale among your team which leads directly to a more productive and effective workforce.
Increase technology and innovation – The second option is to increase the use of technology and innovative products within the business. Innovation leads to greater amounts of productivity and output among the current workforce. An example of innovation decreasing the amount of labor required to complete specific tasks is the use of pre-fabricated flashing details for single-ply roofs in the roofing industry.
Acme Cone Company produces pre-fabricated flashings for the roofing industry. This time study shows how innovative solutions can help decrease the demand for labor for roofing related projects.
Increase employee training – The third option for companies to address the construction labor shortage is to increase the knowledge and skills of the existing workforce. Construction and remodeling companies can increase the amount of work they turn out as well as the quality of that work by investing in their employees with training and education. By investing in employees through education and training programs, companies will realize increases in company morale, employee retention, quality of work and profit margins.
The construction labor shortage is an issue that continues to come to the surface whenever there is an increase in the volume of work available on the market. Companies need to prepare ahead of time as to how they are going to handle the shortage and overcome it so that they can continue to grow and service their clients.
Construct-Ed provides an online community to offer training and education for the construction, remodeling and building maintenance industries.
