11/17/2021—Construction has seen labor shortages for several reasons. During the 2008 Recession workers left and didn’t return, finding less dangerous jobs with better incentives, and older workers retired. The COVID-19 pandemic is another cause, resulting in a loss of up to 975,000 jobs,2 with workers leaving due to fears for their safety and lockdowns. The final reason is younger generations entering construction at much lower rates. This is due in part to poor perception of tradespeople, such as through portrayals in the media as uneducated and unskilled. Another reason is the belief, enforced during the 2008 Recession, that college education leads to job security, thus millennials opted for college degrees over learning trades.5
Thanks to modernizations in technology including growing adoption of construction software, robotics and workplace wearables, there are new ways to help combat shortages. Innovative tech can help attract recruits through increased safety, enhancing workforce skillset and productivity, and providing monetary incentivization for what could be quantifiable metrics of achievements. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of unfilled construction jobs nationwide was 321,000 in July, the highest level it has been in 20 years,2 so filling this need has become an urgent matter that CoRe Connect Resources is honored to help.
Let’s dive into the five ways in which technology and our Connected Resources platform can help mitigate labor shortage in construction:
1. Increase the Safety of Your Workforce
One benefit of CoRe’s analytical technology is reducing job site dangers, thus increasing the safety of your workforce. This is important for both employee retention and attraction. When taking on new recruits, conveying that their safety is a priority can provide reassurance and a sense of wellbeing. CoRe technology provides worker safety profiles, which can identify areas where workers need more training, keeping them from performing jobs they are not equipped for. These data-driven methods create positive motivations, as those starting at entry-level can enhance their safety and increase their value as a skilled worker.
2. Increase Workforce Skillset and Value
Adding growth opportunities to construction can attract younger workers. CoRe technology can assess skill level and provide training accordingly, thus enticing a younger generation as it increases their value and skillset with no cost to them. Skilled labor needs will continue to grow as the need for more construction and skilled laborers in the field grows. In fact, industries with the highest increase in jobs are skilled labor occupations like construction.4 Utilizing CoRe to identify skill gaps and provide additional training is one way to increase your company’s attractiveness to prospects.
3. Increase Overall Job Site Productivity
Another benefit of the analytical tech from CoRe is increasing productivity within your workforce, which can be especially helpful if you are still trying to bring on more workers. CoRe gives data to management with real-time views and insight into job conditions, productivity and issues that may slow down productivity. Managers can address these issues, such as worker downtime or a worker-job incompatibility with a job. A boost in productivity not only boosts employee morale, but the ability to complete jobs faster, leading to more revenue and more funding for recruitment.
4. Monetary Motivation
Monetary motivation is an efficient way to appeal to prospective employees. “One of the things construction is facing at the entry level is that if other jobs are paying wages of $15 to $17 an hour with bonuses, suddenly a construction firm that is paying $19 to $20 an hour doesn’t seem as attractive,” Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist said.1 CoRe can help you save costs by providing analytics around wasted time, inefficient resource utilization, and productivity per task (number of actual hours spent to complete one unit of a task). CoRe also uses AI-enabled algorithms to forecast expenses based on facts and trends, to help you better plan your resources. With the reliable data provided by CoRe, you can help your project and your company reduce redundant cost of labor, equipment, and material by up to 7%, which can then be used as bonus incentives for your workforce.
5. Monetary Incentives
Data can also help provide monetary incentives through setting quantifiable targets to complete specific tasks, and monitoring how the actual performance compares to those targets. With technologies like CoRe, you are able to understand the exact number of labor hours spent to achieve a target and can invest engaging execution, incentivizing your workforce for optimal results
As a new generation enters the workforce, it’s now more essential than ever to show them the benefits of working in the growing and demanding construction field. CoRe Connected Resources is honored to provide the technology and analytical insight to help convey and increase those benefits for your company and help you get your workforce back in action.
