What is National Construction Week, we hear you ask?
Well, throughout the third week of September each year, National Construction Appreciation Week acknowledges and celebrates all of the people working in the U.S. construction industry.
Want to know a surefire way to show appreciation to your hard-working construction teams? Make their work lives easier! We’ve gathered a few suggestions to help you to do just that.
1. Build Team Morale
Morale isn’t built on free donuts, pizza, or beer. It starts with genuinely recognizing, respecting, and rewarding the work your team does.
When you actively show your team that you respect their work, and you reward them for it, morale naturally increases. However, it’s not all about the job site! Work-life balance is extremely important for maintaining morale within teams.
It’s no secret that construction is a physically and mentally demanding job. Mental health studies that include the construction sector consistently show that males working in construction are at a much higher than average risk of suffering from a deterioration in their mental health.
Emphasizing taking proper breaks will help prevent burn-out and show your team that their wellbeing matters to your company.
Encouraging your team to have open and honest conversations about mental health, and providing them with access to professional support, will help to create a supportive team culture and boost morale.
Investing in technology and equipment that keeps them safe on the job site shows that you care about their physical wellbeing.
It’s also important to demonstrate social responsibility by supporting community initiatives or volunteering with local charities alongside your team, which can increase morale while also making your team feel proud to be part of your company.
Finally, consider the hardware and software systems currently in-use at your company; could they be updated to help make life easier for your teams?
2. Empower Your Team to Do Their Best Work
“Paperwork is so much fun!” …said no one ever. Skilled labor shortages are an almost constant challenge for construction companies. When you finally hire the perfect people, they should be free to focus on doing their best work.
A core part of setting teams up for success is making sure that their time on the job site is optimized.
To do that, take a look at the repetitive tasks your teams do each day, and the amount of paperwork they’re having to complete. Something as simple as real-time approvals via electronic signature can save teams a significant amount of time and make their work day much easier.
Another central component to empowerment is ensuring that there is effective and transparent communication across your entire business. Company goals should be clearly communicated to all workers, and management should be open to receiving feedback and listening to concerns or ideas.
The workers on the ground are often the ones who have the most insight into how the business actually functions in its day-to-day ecosystem. When workers feel that they are listened to, they feel included in the company’s mission.
This sense of inclusion fuels empowerment as teams work together towards common goals. Don’t forget to celebrate the little milestones along the path to success.
3. Send Your Team to a Conference or Trade Show
Trade shows are great places for teams to explore the latest cutting-edge technologies and methodologies in the construction industry. They’ll get to meet with industry peers, learn from industry experts, and gather actionable insights to implement back on the job site.
If you’re hoping to expand on your company’s presence within the construction industry, reserving a trade booth at a show might give you the chance to promote your company to potential clients, or contractors who you might like to partner with.
Giving your team the opportunity to represent your company at a trade show is a great way to demonstrate your trust in their ability to tell others about their work and the work your company does.
Some shows, like Chicago Build Expo, offer free admission. If you or your team happen to be at Chicago Build Expo this October, be sure to stop by the Fluix booth (number 373) and say hello to our team!
We’re proudly sponsoring Driving Digital Transformation Across The Construction Industry, a panel discussion featuring our Head of Sales, Brandon Hull, alongside leaders from Clayco, Clune Construction, Bulley & Andrews, Mortenson, and IMEG. Our Fluix team would love to see you there.
4. Invest in Training and Upskilling Courses for Your Team
Once you’ve hired skilled workers, how do you encourage them to stay long-term? The answer is simple: make it easy for them to see the value in staying. Most skilled workers want to build their careers over time, so investing in their ongoing training shows how much you value their expertise and support their career goals.
Introducing your team to new software that will make their work life easier is another way of investing in their future at your company.
However, it often costs more in time and resources to deploy new software for cosntruction management than it does to purchase it in the first place.
If there is no dedicated, ongoing support from your chosen software provider, it can be a very stressful and drawn-out process for everyone involved. Consider finding a software partner who will take a consultative approach to supporting you and your team during onboarding and beyond (Fluix might be a good option to check out!)
Training benefits your business in multiple ways, so it’s always worth the investment. If you’re unsure about what type of training your team needs, there are several organizations, like OSHA, who can suggest great options and connect you with consultants and training specialists.
5. Inspire the Next Generation of Construction Workers
Every team has knowledge to share. It’s important for your business not to have key knowledge siloed in a few people, because if/when they leave the company, their knowledge goes with them.
Running an internship or mentor programme is a great way to share key insights with the wider team, while also creating genuine opportunities for new people to join the construction industry.
Employees who mentor others generally show improved communication skills, increased confidence, and improved leadership ability – all of which contribute to making their work lives easier. Interns or junior team members benefit from the knowledge shared by their mentors, and carry that knowledge forward in their work at your company. It’s a win-win!
National Construction Appreciation Week happens once a year, but we know that there are millions of people working across the U.S. construction industry every day. Appreciating them all year round really is the key to ensuring their happiness and retaining them and their skills at your company long-term. So, let’s keep celebrating!
And if you’re looking for a good software gift to present to your field teams, Fluix with its intuitive app and simple navigation is a great choice. It not only simplifies their tasks but will also enhances their efficiency and productivity.
