Finding great employees for your construction business can prove difficult. According to the Association of General Contractors, finding quality craftspeople is the biggest challenge facing the industry today. High turnover rates don’t help matters, proving stressful, costly, and time-consuming. The competitive advantage of construction companies lies in their ability to find and keep excellent staff.
Construction executives are fabulous at what they do best—construction. However, they know their limitations and need a great team around them. Here are the top 10 things your company can do to retain the top-notch team you already have, be more competitive, and ultimately win more bids:
1. Calculate Public Hours
Be sure to take a regular look at the number of public hours vs. private hours your company records. This is tremendously important when it comes to regulatory matters.
2. Review Employee Benefits
Keeping great employees once you’ve found them comes down to offering superior benefits. From fringe benefits to retirement and fiduciary services to supplemental unemployment insurance, these elements of a comprehensive benefit package can build company loyalty and convince workers to stick around.
3. Consider Payment Structures
It’s important to regularly evaluate your payment structure, namely, how much you are paying for benefits vs. employee wages. Keeping this in balance is critical.
4. Offer Supplemental Unemployment Benefits
Giving your employees something to fall back on when they get laid off helps to attract and retain a strong workforce. Read more on the benefits of SUB here.
5. Invest in Employee Growth and Safety
A surefire way to keep great people on your team is to frequently review and monitor training of all your craftspeople and apprentices. In addition, provide them a world-class safety program to ensure their well-being. Knowing you’re looking out for their personal growth and safety will go a long way.
6. Reduce Your Labor Burden
Working towards a lower labor burden is an essential element of running a competitive construction company. You’ll need to take a hard look at your payroll and benefits packages, onboarding and training costs, redundancies, and job scheduling. Make adjustments as needed and frequently reevaluate.
7. Know and Follow Prevailing Wage Regulations
Prevailing wage regulations vary by state and change periodically, so it’s essential you have a team member responsible for ensuring compliance in this area. In fact, it’s best to task this individual with knowing all applicable regulations and laws that might impact your work.
8. Offer a Best-in-Class Retirement Plan
One way to keep excellent workers is to invest in their futures. Offer them the chance to participate in a top-tier retirement plan through a trusted partner like DirectAdvisors. You can rest assured our experience and commitment to excellence will lead to a solid investment strategy for your team.
9. Join a Professional Association
Actively participate in a construction industry member association. It’s a fabulous way to network, vet subcontractors, and stay on top of what’s new in the field.
10. Invest in a Great Team
Make sure you have a great team around you, including a top-notch CPA, lawyer, benefit provider, and insurance/bonding agent. This group should work well together to reduce the time you must spend on legal and administrative tasks.
How to Take Action
If you’d like to have us review your team, we can provide information and consultation regarding fringe benefits and fiduciary options. That said, we aren’t just any construction employee benefit consultant. Our focus is on helping you to compete, retain employees, and offer great retirement plans to aid in the growth of your business. To learn more or connect with an expert, contact us by phone at 518-362-2119 or by email at RPW.Direct.Advisors.Info@hubinternational.com.