When a new worker has come on board there is an expectation that it will take a period of time for the employee to learn their job, learn about the company’s work culture, work processes, and to learn about their new co-workers.
In this episode, learn how you can increase your employee’s responsibility over time to enhance your worker retention.
TRANSCRIPT:
We continue working through The 7 Steps to Worker Retention as provided in this seven part series of articles. In today’s effort we zero in on our sixth effort called Responsibility Enhancement.
The first five steps to employee retention have already been presented and can now be found in the archive if you have missed one. For a quick review of all seven steps again, the following provides a reminder to the components addressed to strengthen the retention effort with today’s workers.
Step #1 – “On-Boarding”
Step #2 – The 90-Day Plan
Step #3 – Skill Training
Step #4 – Coaching & Mentoring
Step #5 – Engagement/Participation
Step #6 – Responsibility Enhancement
Step #7 – Performance Review
While our approach in this series has been directed at the new worker, many of the steps, especially Steps #3 – #7, are really applicable for all workers. (The second step, The 90-Day Plan, could be utilized for any employee who has just assumed a new job title or function.) Now we specifically address our next step, Step #6 – Responsibility Enhancement, which will prove to be a critical action for contractors to employ, not only to gain greater retention, but to also raise performance results and profitable work.
Before we explore how to give more responsibility to a worker, a question that should be asked is:
Why is giving responsibility to a worker important
to the employee retention discussion?
Briefly, when a new worker has come on board there is an expectation that it will take a period of time for the employee to learn their job, learn about the company’s work culture, work processes, and to learn about their new co-workers. Obviously, this can involve a different range of days, weeks, or months depending on the individual and, as we’ve addressed in the first six articles, on the contractor.
Again, having an “On-Boarding” effort prepared and executed, developing a stronger Skill Training effort, along with the other steps we’ve presented, can all make a very positive impact on the new worker’s “company embedding” experience. But what impact does giving an employee more responsibilities have on their remaining longer with their contractor?
The single most important reason is related to the fact that most workers want to progress in their jobs. Perhaps not progress in reaching a higher-level role or position such as becoming a foreman, a project manager, a vice president; they may not want to be an owner of their own company some day. Progress, in the context of how we’re using it here, is more related to just wanting to know more about how to perform their current job, at least to a greater level where others don’t think of them as being unskilled or worse, “stupid.”
So, one of the proofs that a worker is progressing in the organization, growing in their capabilities and skills, is when the individual can begin to receive tasks that require a higher level of responsibility to accomplish. Another “proof” is when that same individual is thought of as trustworthy, capable of working independent of having a leader standing right over them as they work.
Most of the better workers we might employ want to be sure of their efforts, confident that what they do each day is right, appropriate for the need, and accomplishes some end result that produces quality, safe, and profitable work. Workers who experience such things are more often satisfied with themselves and more likely to stay with the contractor who has enabled them to feel and experience such things.
If this sounds a bit crazy, just consider some comments that I’ve collected from employees who quit their contractor.
- “My boss never gave me anything more difficult to do.”
- “She didn’t show me what she was expecting.”
- “I never really knew what I was supposed to do and why.”
- “They just threw me in there and expected me to figure it out myself.”
- “Geez, the contractor made me feel like a child, standing like right over me when I was working.”
- “The contractor never gave me a chance to learn another position.”
- “He was the only one that ran the equipment; he never let me even try to learn how to operate any of the equipment.”
Now, just because an employee wants to learn how to operate a backhoe or to run a paver doesn’t mean that their contractor should give them the chance to learn. However, when better employees are limited in what they can learn, when they are prevented from taking on more difficult challenges and responsibilities, these better employees often look to leave. Such motivated workers rarely remain with a contractor for long if they’re not being given the opportunity to grow.
So, when does a contractor begin to add more responsibility to a new worker? The answer I hear the most from contractors is,
“Whenever the employee demonstrates
that they are ready for more!”
But here in lies another challenge for many contractors:
- What does a worker have to do to “demonstrate” that they are ready?
- What does “ready” mean?
- Does “more” mean more physical work, more responsibility, or more of both?
For some contractors, such considerations never really cross their minds. A new worker is hired and immediately exposed to “How we do things here,” and then expected to pick up the unique processes and how-to’s used by the contractor’s other employees. If the new worker picks things up quickly, great! If they don’t, the new worker may be teased, harassed, ignored, or simply fired because “they just didn’t learn fast enough.”
While all new workers will not always work out for the long-term, a good percentage of new workers are often not given the chance to hang around long enough to prove what they can grow to become.
So, what might be some considerations that a contractor should make about their new workers before they move on to either separate the worker from the company or move further to add to the worker’s responsibilities? This really falls in line with how a worker might “demonstrate” their readiness to take on more responsibility. Consider using the following techniques when observing.
- First, realize that every worker is unique and different, possessing different learning styles.
- Go back and really execute Step #1 – #5. There is simply no excuse for orientation, training, coaching, etc.
- Get a feel earlier about what the worker wants to do; what they want to accomplish; and what they feel most comfortable and confident in doing?
- Try out a new worker on some different job functions; confirm what they appear to be good at with actual work results.
- Notice the response of a new worker after they’ve made a mistake. Do they…run away, want to try again, shut down because they are depressed, etc.?
- How late do they arrive to work, return from breaks, pack up and leave at the end of the day?
- What questions do they raise about their current job function?
- Does the employee volunteer when given the chance to learn a new job task or to join a crew that will be challenged with greater amount of difficulty?
I think you get the idea here about what signs might be observed from a worker projecting their interest or focus on growing in their current role. Let’s not place any super high expectations on their effort or progress, but we should recognize some of the items listed above.
The second question, presented in a series of three questions, presented earlier asks, “What does ‘ready’ mean?” Not real sure that this is a very complicated effort made by the contractor to determine a worker’s readiness, but here are just a few things you might make note of.
- Employee is definitely performing work with greater confidence
- Employee is assisting others in a task that they have completed in the past
- Employee is asking fewer “How to” questions
- Employee actual work results are reaching very good to excellent like status…regularly
- Employee is teaching or coaching others on how to execute a task or complete a process
- Employee’s next senior leader is very comfortable with and confident in the employee’s effort
- Employee may be filling in for their leader for short periods of time
- Employee has directly informed the contractor that they’re ready for more
- Contractor clearly recognizes that the employee is ready for more and can provide greater value to the company by being in a different role with greater responsibilities
The third question presented earlier invites the contractor to considering how much “more” can the employee take on and, does this only suggest more physically only, or more responsibilities, or some combination of both? Well, depending on the next level of responsibility that an employee might take on, the answer is most likely both.
Whether your employee is a laborer, crew foreman, lead person, superintendent, or department manager, almost any additional responsibility will require an increase in their physical effort while also assuming more responsibility for their work performed. But for the worker desiring greater responsibilities, recognizing that additional focus, acquiring better skills, spending more time reading or being educated, etc. are all just part of getting more on one’s plate.
Responsibility Enhancement is less about dumping more “stuff” on workers and more about contractors really recognizing the readiness of a worker for growth and responsibility. The contractor who takes his or her time studying their employee’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, and the employee’s future goals and expectations is the contractor who will be much wiser in preparing their workers for greater responsibilities. Such a contractor is simply going to retain their workers longer and drive performance improvements, and the profitability that often parallels such improvements, more consistently over time.
A final area to consider that may not always be so upbeat and positive. What happens when a contractor tries to properly “enhance” their employee by giving to them greater responsibilities…and the employee’s fail? While this can be frustrating for both the contractor and the worker, this isn’t the end of the story.
Anytime a worker, especially a newer worker, is to be given greater responsibility, they should be totally prepared. The contractor should of course educate and train the worker on their new duties, tasks, and responsibilities. But included in this effort should also be a discussion with the worker about the, “What if this doesn’t work out?” possibility. You can’t cover all of the possible bases but let me speak to a few ways to address this with greater confidence and success!
- Let the employee know that failure at the “new” effort does not mark them as a failure. (Give them credit for wanting more responsibility!)
- Encourage them that, “I will support your new effort.” It’s amazing how this moral support inspires workers to make the extra effort to do their very best!
- Communicate to others to buy-in to support the worker expanding their “belt of responsibility.” Hey, let the other workers know that you respect those who are willing to take on “more.”
- IF the worker does in fact fall flat on their face, coach them ASAP about their not losing faith in themselves, you, the company, and in their position with your company.
- IF the “failure” really needs to adjust the employee back to a previous level of responsibility, communicate with them that this is good and that, “We need winners at all levels of the organization.”
I can’t help but to share a technique that I’ve used personally and have taught contractors across the world to use when they are considering the promotion of a worker to a crew leader’s role. (This technique can be applied in almost any situation.)
Pre-Promotion Preparation (3P’s)
As part of the preparation to promote a worker, share with them personally that you will support them 100% in their learning and adjusting to their new role. You also want them to consider a 90-day trial. This time allows both you, and the employee, to consider whether or not the new position is really for them. If they determine at the end of 90 days that they just don’t feel good about the increased responsibility that they’re just not cut out for it like they may have thought previously then their “old” job is still there for them. Also, at the end of 90 days, should the contractor recognize and feel that the new job just doesn’t seem a good fit for the employee, the employee will return to his or her previous role.
Additionally, part of this “3P” effort includes communicating to those individuals working with and for the employee, in their new and more responsible position, that the employee has agreed to a 90-day trial. Also, that IF, at the end of 90 days the employee determines that they really do not want the new role, that they are free to return to their current position, with absolutely no bad feelings on your (the contractor’s) part. This last effort is to protect the employee from those who might tease or ridicule the worker if they do fail in their new promoted role.
I’ve used this effort on numerous occasions and I can tell you first hand that, in those cases where the promotion did not work out favorably, there was less embarrassment for the “failed try.” I felt that it was more important to protect the employee who at least had the guts to try to improve themselves over those who are too scared to try anything that might require a bit more effort.
By the way, the construction industry as a whole has been brutal to those whom they’ve promoted in the past. Rather than allow the employee who promoted to a higher-level position, and failed, to return to a previous level of responsibility, many contractors have separated ways, terminating the worker. This is a double negative in that we have lost a good worker, or at least one that we at one time considered good, and we’ve proven to the remaining workers that it’s not worth getting a promotion unless you want to be fired if you don’t produce.
Sorry for the extended presentation here but this sixth step is very important to retaining good workers in today’s construction companies. As contractors, we must take serious the effort to Enhance Responsibility taking from workers without pushing them into a greater role that we may not prepare them to complete or worse, leave them in a boat without any “oars” to survive the rapid waters.
You want to retain workers? Train them, growth them, support them, but certainly, engage them in taking on greater responsibility but be strategic and deliberate in your efforts.
