How Construction Contractors Can Manage the 'New Work Ethic"

The work ethic today may not be the same as it was years ago, but there are positives of the "new work ethic" in the construction workplace

Not all aspects of the “new work ethic” are necessarily bad. Consider both sides to this reality in our workplace today and learn from some improvement strategies for contractors.
Not all aspects of the “new work ethic” are necessarily bad. Consider both sides to this reality in our workplace today and learn from some improvement strategies for contractors.

Labor Day is a day originally designed to honor every working man and woman. Ideally, it was to pay homage to the “backbone” of the United States; those hourly folks who had a work ethic second to no other country in the world. Today, however, it seems as if Labor Day is nothing more than just another day off from work and is spent working in the yard, catching up on “to-dos” around the house, or maybe even taking in a movie with the kids.

While there is nothing wrong with taking full advantage of a day off here and there, for the construction industry the idea of paying homage to today’s worker can be a bit questionable. Many would say that the “work ethic” practiced by many of today’s employees falls short of full dedication. One contractor, many years ago, described the “new work ethic” as an attitude held by workers who:

“Want everything that my mom and dad have…NOW; I don’t want to wait 30 or 40 years to get it.”

True, there does seem to be a different work ethic among many of today’s workers, but not all of our workers possess a questionable commitment to work; and not all aspects of the “new work ethic” are necessarily bad. Let’s consider both sides to this reality in our workplace today and offer some improvement strategies for contractors.

While it is certainly easy to see questionable-to-poor work efforts by some employees, the vast majority of workers still choose to be at work on time, do what they are asked to do, and actually do a bit more than they might be asked. Often, they work well with others, are pretty good at listening and taking ideas and running with them.

In many ways, the success of workers who have at least a positive attitude about work is greatly influenced by leadership that is engaging, proactive and leads from the front of the line. In short, a question should be asked of leaders: How much do we really “labor for our laborers?”

More on this later.

Not all aspects of the new work ethic (Let’s use NWE from here forward) are negative. One common trait of the NWE is a shorter attention span. While sarcasm abounds about workers who might be “A.D.D.,” the shorter attention span is often quicker off the draw to accomplish work. The NWE worker often excels when leadership breaks even the daily work into shorter segments of focus.

Now, let’s take a brief look at some of our own laboring efforts as contractor leaders that might actually improve the labor of our laborers.

1. Lay out the day. Not much surprise here, but one bona fide fact is that it is critical for a contractor to provide crystal clear direction, instruction and support on a daily basis. Sure you need a one or two week “look ahead” (I’ve addressed both in past articles), but the NWE worker needs clarity — and a reminder — about what is intended today!

2. Set level of expectations. Goals for each day should be presented to workers, and you should communicate to them how you expect to see the work accomplished. This might entail discussing the need to keep the worksite extra clean of debris and wrappers from lunch breaks. It might include providing your vision for the starting of the job and how you want to see the job progress through the day and week. This might also include redirecting a crew to a portion of the jobsite that might be contrary to how they might traditionally proceed.

3. Break each work day into “four quarters.” Contractors achieve greater results when they train their workers to break each workday into four segments of time. The first segment, or “quarter,” is focused on getting out of the blocks on time and getting the job into a rhythm as early as possible. A mid-morning break is followed by the “2nd quarter” where the work speed is increased and runs strong right up to the lunch break (“half-time”).

Over the lunch break the contractor assesses where the job is in time and considers the adjustments that need to be made for the “2nd Half” in order to position his or her crew to be in the best position to finish successfully. The 3rd Quarter begins with getting the crew back up to the pace at which they finished the first half and considers what resources, equipment and tools will be needed for the remainder of the workday.

During the mid-afternoon break the crew leader discusses the effort needed to achieve that day’s goals. They seek ideas and suggestions from the crew members that can help with completion and re-energize the workers for the remaining 90 to 120 minutes of work.

4. Post daily reminders for workers. Brevity and clarity is the spice of life for the NWE worker. Whether your workers start at your office or at the jobsite, try using a flip chart and record the many individual tasks and sections of work that need to be completed. Trust me; workers arriving to work each morning will be drawn like a moth to a flame to see the list of that day’s needs. Such daily postings will aid each worker to realize all that is needed to be successful for that day.

5. Project estimated time for task completion…and follow-up. As the leader you must provide your workers with your expectation for how long a particular work process or task should take. While this can be included as part of the daily goals, you need to verbalize your expectations here. Such an effort on your part provides your NWE workers with something to gauge their pace and allows them to explore how they can best achieve your expectations through better labor utilization and tool and material placement.

I’ve actually observed a contractor placing his expectation for the amount of time he felt was needed to complete a work procedure upon his crew and then watched as the crew members determined how best to approach accomplishing the procedure. It was the crew members who determined how they were to accomplish the work, not the contractor.

Then, after projecting an estimated time for the work, it is important that the leader follows-up with the workers. Such follow-up will keep the crew heading in the right direction, answer questions that can pop up once the work begins, and look to “clear the path” of any obstacles that might slow down or halt the crew.

6. Stage tomorrow’s work and needs. One critical effort any contractor will benefit from is the staging of work for the next day. While your crew is engaged with the daily tasks, look to position equipment, materials and tools to be in the most advantageous setup possible for your crew’s success the next day. This might include following up with customers and preparing them for their needed efforts or checking in with suppliers to confirm their state of readiness to come through for your crew.

Staging should also involve assessing your own needs for the following day. Whether it is creating a personal list of job tasks that you’ll need to complete or considering how to tailor your efforts the next day to create greater work achievement by the end of the week, or the next week, staging is as much a leadership practice as it is a crew’s.

7. Simply ask your workers, “How can I help?” This is almost too simple a suggestion to include, yet it hits at the heart of this article’s intended message. When you are out and about in your leading and follow-up with your workers make it a habit to ask them how you can assist them. Such a question, asked by the leader, opens the door to better labor relations and reinforces for workers that their leader “has their back.”

Don’t assume that if your workers are not sharing their needs that they do not have any. Asking this simple question to an entire crew or of each crew member is not important…do both! You might just see more focus, energy and production from your crews by asking this simple question.

Laboring for your laborers is really what leadership is all about. As we approach this Labor Day let’s not just consider the traditional day to recognize and appreciate the American worker but also to appreciate the effort of the American leaders who labor to raise the performance of their workers.

 

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