Tag Archives: Construction

Worker Retention – Implementing a 90 Day Plan

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In the second step to worker retention, Brad examines the “90-Day Plan.”

The 90-Day Plan is a strategically developed action plan that lines out what a new worker’s first weeks with their new company will entail. Is there anything magical about “90-Days”? Well, sort of! Listen as Brad explains in greater detail. Enjoy!

 

 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

 

Any contractor knows that retaining workers takes a huge effort.  No leader is “off the hook” from working to keep workers on-board and committed to staying with their employer.   Interesting new research demonstrates that even an employee peer group is quite influential to the new employee staying with their new employer longer.

In our first article on how to retain our workers, I introduced seven steps that many contractors have embraced with success.  They are:

 

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 not every contractor excels at each of the steps, at some point they realize that all seven of the steps are critical to any serious attempt to retain workers.  And with a great shortage of workers for our construction industry current in play, it is imperative that every contractor consider what they might do to find, hire, and hold on to those “precious assets” we call employees.

We will pick up today then with our second step to employee retention, something I call the “90-Day Plan.”

The 90-Day Plan is a strategically developed action plan that lines out for a new worker, what their first weeks with their new company will entail.  Is there anything magical about “90-Days”?  Well, sort of!  Let me explain.

For companies with greater than fifty employees, the attention paid to being more compliant with government employee standards is important.  Most companies recognize that it is important to provide a period of ninety-days to allow there to be a thorough opportunity for the new worker to prove their potential to a company and to allow the employee to recognize if the company is the sort of company they would like to work for.

Certainly most contractors will tell you that they have their opinions formed about a new worker much sooner than 90-days, the fact is, allowing a “probation” time period does allow for greater review, assessment, and prevents a rush to judgment.  However, most companies that formally commit to a 90-day period of such review fail to have any real plan for a new employee.  Here’s the typical first few days for a new employee.

  • Introductions to co-workers and leaders
  • General orientation to company policies
  • “Go to work…and figure things out!” I.e. Employee is “turned loose” to see what they can do

While the above points may be a little exaggerated, the efforts are not far off for many contractors…of all sizes.  Think about this reality for a newly hired employee.  When they arrive for their first day of work they have invisible antennae on “high alert” listening, watching, and sensing anything and everything that confirms for them about the decision they made to join the new contractor.  Personalities, smiles, tones of voices, jokes, manners, and amount of attention are all just a sample of the things that a new worker will be sensitive to experience.

And when that new worker arrives at home after their first day at work, and if that worker has a spouse, significant other, or even just a room-mate, you can be sure that at least one question will be asked of the new worker, “How was your first day?”

How that new employee answers this question is totally based on how they interpreted their first day of reading the workplace and the people they just spent time with.  What sort of impression do you imagine would be realized by a new worker at your work place…on their first day?

This is why I developed something that I call simply the “The 90-Day Plan.”  It’s not magic, but it does provide you with a bonafide strategy to share with your new workers on their first day.  Just imagine the positive first impression a new employee might have for your company if on the first day they received, as part of their first day orientation, a well thought out plan for their first ninety-days?

While such a plan might scare some new workers, it will more likely have a positive impact on the employees’ mental attitude, as they clearly understand that your company is prepared for their participation. The “plan” also sends a strong signal that they are expected to be better prepared to contribute sooner rather than later.

While every 90-Day Plan created can be different for every new employee, there probably are several items that might appear on most of your new worker’s first ninety days of work.  Let me share with you a sample 90-Day Plan for a Crew Foreman.  Look more at the range of things that are presented during the first ninety days rather than the specifics.  Obviously what you might create would be tailored to your organization and the job that you hired the new employee to complete.

The 90-Day Plan for Crew Foreman

Wk #1 – General Information About Company, Policies, and Walk-Through of Employee Handbook

Wk #2 – Focus Time Discussing Leadership Skills & Techniques

Wk #3 – Focus Time on Job Scheduling & Planning

Wk #4 – Training on Construction “Math” to Improve Calculating Productivity Rates and Projected Manpower

Wk #5 – Review of Company Equipment, Vehicles, Tools Needs and Maintenance & Operating Requirements

Wk #6 – Discuss Industry, Challenges, and Trends

Wk #7 – Training on Building Teamwork for Construction Crews

Wk #8 – Communication Training to Improve Interactions with Different Personalities

Wk #9 – Training on Coaching & Counseling Employees

Wk #10 – Review of Material Use, Advantages, and Options

Wk #11 – Introduction to Improving Customer Retention Through Satisfaction Techniques

Wk #12 – Developing the Crew Foreman’s Strategy for Growing Crew Productivity, Quality, and Safety

Now, there are a few other “secrets” to making this approach more beneficial to both the company and the individual.

First, there should be a weekly “pop quiz” every Friday for the first twelve weeks.  The pop quiz can be verbal or written and should not necessarily be conducted to “flunk” the new worker.  In fact, just the opposite intent should be in play.  For example, to have some fun with the new worker, the questions for the pop quiz at the end of Week #1 might include some of the following questions:

  1. Where are the rest rooms for the Women and Men?
  2. What are the hours of the company?
  3. What are the company colors?
  4. What type of construction did you experience this week?
  5. What is the name of two employees you met this week?

You can see from this list that the first weeks questions are softball.  Not intended to trip up anyone but simply to remind the worker that the company expects them to retain some of what they learned during their first week.  Certainly the questions can become a bit more challenging as the weeks proceed.

Second, the worker should be engaged with work and their peers as soon as possible.  Short of positioning a new worker in an unsafe work situation, the sooner the new worker can join their peers and begin to get a feel of the tasks involved the better the worker will be motivated.  While there may be some weekly topics for training or discussion, the contractor needs to expose the new worker to their specialty of construction as quickly as possible, even if the new worker comes from a similar background.  The contractor must demonstrate why their company is different from the company the new worker just left.

Third, the new worker should have a “partner” while at the workplace for the first twelve weeks.  The “partner” might be a fellow crew or department worker but the more important role is for the partner to check in with the new worker at least once a day to see how the “newbie” is getting along.  Such extra attention can really go far in winning the new worker over to the culture of the contractor AND, such a relationship also provides the contractor with another employee’s opinion about the new worker.

Fourth, a “lessons learned” report from the new worker.  Like the pop quiz addressed earlier, contractors can gently push new workers to be more alert and interested in learning their new role.  Here’s what I would recommend a contractor ask from the new worker to verbally report to their senior leader each Friday, just before the quiz.  Have the new worker answer the following three questions:

  1. What did you learn this week?
  2. What did you learn that will improve your performance or behavior?
  3. What did you learn that will help this company be better?

The questions are simple and really allow the new worker to demonstrate their awareness and their attention to what was presented them during the week.  A contractor might be surprised at how many new workers, even management level, “sleep walk” their first few weeks.  It’s almost as if the new worker is enjoying their lack of accountability.

Well, the 90-Day Plan will not cure all of your new employee learning needs but it will set your construction company apart from many of your competitors.  Remember, raising the excellence at your company can be done through a number of means.  The 90-Day Plan…is just one method to building long-term employees.

Make the first 90-Days work for you and your new workers!

Brad Humphrey

The Contractor’s Best Friend™

 

 

 

 

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Asking For The Sale (VIDEO)

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In today’s 2 Minute Drill video, Brad lays out how contractors and those in the construction industry can make sure they always ask for the sale with clients. Asking for the sale can be intimidating to some, but is necessary to continue to grow your business. You can go through all the strategies during the sales process, but you never end up asking for the one thing you need!

We need to completely rethink how contractors can ask for the sale by confirming with the customer along the way. Take two minutes to start improving your sales process today!

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7 Steps to Retain Workers Series: Onboarding

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Finding construction workers is hard work. Employee retention is and will be the hot topic for years to come for most contractors. This issue is certainly bigger now than at any other time in my thirty-five years in the construction industry. Listen as Brad walks you through the onboarding process, the first of seven steps to retain workers. Enjoy!

 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Finding construction workers is hard work.  Some of the national labor statistics present a fairly dismal picture of what sort of talent pool is out there for contractors.   Projections about the shortages of needed workers to fill jobs in the construction industry range from as low as one and a half million vacancies to as high as two to three million.  It safe to say that if most of the projected building projects were to all start at the same time there would not be enough workers to complete the projects.

 

The whole “So What” learning from this situation is that contractors will certainly need to be more persistent, creative, and flexible to find new construction workers.  But perhaps just as important, maybe more so, is that contractors must do more to retain the workers they do hire.

 

Employee retention is and will be the hot topic for years to come for most contractors.  This issue is certainly bigger now than at any other time in my thirty-five years in the construction industry. 

 

Consider another national labor statistic that projects we’re getting “older” as a workforce.  It’s estimated that some 25% – 30% of our workforce will be fifty-five years of age by 2020.  That’s just six short years away.  Contractors have their work cut out for them both in finding good workers and retaining those that they do have working today.

 

Over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of working with some really outstanding construction companies around the world.  In fact, I’ve worked with several other industry firms that have perfected some area of retention with their workers.  What I want to do in this series is to share seven steps to retain your workers. 

 

While it may be unrealistic to believe that any one contractor might execute each of the seven steps without error, it is important that they execute each of the seven steps if they are to have success.  Executing the seven steps will strengthen your retention, build greater teamwork among the crews, produce better results, and in the end, develop a better trust between contractor and employee.

 

Let’s address the seven steps first before exploring in greater detail how to maximize each step’s effectiveness within your organization. 

 

The 7 Steps to Worker Retention

Step #1 – “Onboarding”

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

 

Looking at the seven steps there is little new that is present.  While a term or phrase might be stated differently, most contractors have practiced one or more of the steps.  However, what is more critical to positively seeing an improvement in your retention of workers is to commit to executing all seven of the steps consistently. 

 

Before we begin to look at the first step consider what impact employee turnover, or an employee leaving a crew, department, or project team short one needed worker has on most organizations.  While labor rates and salaries differ across the country, the average turnover cost for a general laborer can be $5,000.00 – $7,500.00.  For a front line Foreman that turnover cost might be $15,000.00 – $20,000.00.  To replace an experienced Superintendent, Project Manager, or a veteran Department Manager that replacement cost can easily exceed $35,000.00.

 

Why the huge numbers for turnover costs?  Well, consider a few factors that might make up some of the costs, including:

  • Production that is NOT made due to the void.
  • Time spent by anyone involved with interviewing, screening, etc.
  • The number of days, weeks, or months involved with educating and training new worker before they are producing some consistent output of work.
  • Fees paid to a professional recruiter (aka “Head Hunter), which can be as high as 50% of a new hire’s first year salary.

 

Now, when you look at such costs it makes more sense as to what we might do to retain our current workers and those who we will be hiring over the next few years.  The good news here is that retention is everyone’s problem, including your competitors.  The better news, for you and your company, will be if you choose to put to practice the seven steps presented in this series.

 

Now, let’s look at our first step.

 

Step #1 – “On-Boarding”

The term “on-boarding” isn’t new.  While it hasn’t been around for fifty years it has become a more commonly used term in the past five to ten in some industries.  It’s really hasn’t been all that common in the construction industry until just three to five years ago for many contractors.  So what does “on-boarding” mean?

 

On-Boarding is a term used to define an approach to preparing both the company and the new employee for a positive employment experience.   It’s an effort made by the hiring company to prepare the new hire for their new work environment.   Likewise, it’s also the preparation a company takes to insure that their current workers are ready to project a positive and sincere image, creating a very good first impression on the new worker.

 

There are many actions, techniques, and approaches that can be used to insure that the on-boarding experience is effective.  We’ll spend the remainder of this article providing you with a number of such efforts that you may want to use as stated or to modify to better fit your company’s culture and resources. 

 

Components of Effective On-Boarding

  • Prepare Your Culture for New Workers

This is not as easy as it first sounds.  Some of your current workers are quite honestly horrible when interacting with a new employee.  They may not be sociable or helpful in the early days, not to mention that they may refrain from making eye contact, quickly walking away from a new worker, or looking for opportunities to avoid the “newbie.”  To prepare your culture for new workers is to communicate your personal expectation to welcome and integrate new workers.  This first component really does begin with the contractor and the senior leaders.

  • Train Your Current Workers on Interpersonal Skills

This training might include teaching your workers, especially field workers, how to shake hands with other people, how to ask friendly questions of a new worker without being too invasive or personal, and how to assist a new worker without making the new worker feel stupid.  Learning how to make eye contact, how to square one’s shoulders up to another person when speaking, and how listen with interest are all skills that can be taught…and learned!

  • Advance Newly Hired Employee “Reading Literature”

There is often a space in time between the candidate accepting your job offer and their first day as a new employee.  Send the new hire an article or perhaps some company information that might begin their thinking process.  Some contractors have sent a package to the new hire, before their first day, that contains some of the company literature, perhaps the employee handbook, maybe even information about a project that the new worker will be assigned to when they begin.  Advancing such literature is less to do with the seriousness of the literature and more about sending a strong message to the new hire that they are needed, are being thought of, and that the company is anxious to get the learning process moving.

  • Prepare for Day 1 and Making a Great 1st Impression

When that new employee arrives on the very first day, it is crucial that the contractor and every other person available work to greet and welcome the new employee.  In most companies a general orientation on the company is part of the first day, maybe a few introductions are made, and then the new worker is escorted to their cubical or assigned to a crew.  While the temptation is to get the new employee “doing” as soon as possible, it is more important on this first day to be sure that they are made very familiar with their co-workers, their work area, and a general confidence in where tools and resources are located.

 

Even for the new field worker, there is much that a contractor can do to make a great first impression, including:

  • Introduce new worker to rest of crew workers
  • Pre-assign a current worker to be the “buddy” for the new worker
  • Provide lunch for the entire crew on the new employee’s first day (Crew members will begin to love the first day of a new worker!)
  • Have the crew leaders spend a bit more time explaining work processes, standards, etc. for the way your company performs tasks
  • Have the current workers present the new worker with a new company logo’d hat, shirt, etc.
  • Encourage your current workers to each provide some fun information about themselves or the crew experience during break times
  • Finish Day 1 with Supervisor Conducting “De-Brief”

To bring a bit of closure to what is usually an emotionally trying day for a new employee, have the new worker’s immediate supervisor spend a few minutes at the end of the workday just seeing how the new worker faired.  Ask your leaders to share how glad they are that the worker has come to work for the company, maybe even pointing out any positive observation that they made about the new worker.  Have the leader ask the new worker if they enjoyed their day and if they have any questions that can be answered before they leave work.  Such follow-up really does provide the final “book end” of experience for the new worker on their first day.

 

Now, with the onboarding effort complete with the first day, this doesn’t justify having all the workers begin to treat the new worker with anything less than the same respect afforded them on the first day.  However, we’ll look at the next eighty-nine days of effort in our second article in this series.

 

A final thought before closing out this first step.  Onboarding is HUGE in the life of any new worker.  Think about the fact that most new workers will return home and be asked by a spouse or significant other as to “How did your first day go?”  You want your new worker to have nothing but positive things to say about their first day’s experience.  Such a great first impression will get the entire relationship off to a great start!

 

Onboarding, no cousin to “water-boarding”, is your preparation and execution to retain new workers.  Unless you want to experience the turn-over costs addressed earlier in this article, the components to making the first day on a new job the best experience possible for new workers will reward you handsomely.

 

Here’s to bringing new employees on board with your company and to building long-term relationships with your workers.

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