ForConstructionPros.com

Last month, we talked about finding championship workers. This month, we take a look at keeping them and managing their performance.

This requires an organized approach to developing your workforce. It begins with identifying the roles and responsibilities that a worker will fulfill as well as the standards and expectations associated with the job.

The contractor needs to clearly educate the worker to the roles that he will need to fulfill. This begins with the actual job that the employee was hired to complete, but it should extend to include such roles as "team-player," "assistant," "inspector," "initiator" and "organizer."

Educating workers to their other roles enables the contractor to very clearly point out what the employee is expected to perform when working. This approach also helps to paint a picture as to the scope of their job, instructing them on how broad their work efforts can extend. It also, and more subtly, reminds the worker that there is to be no employee who can say, "That's not my job!"

Standards and expectations should also be identified for the workers. Standards include the manner of work completion that is required by law. Such standards are what I call a "non-negotiable." There are other non-negotiables as well, and these represent the standards that you as a contactor demand to be followed. For your company a standard might represent how well you want a task performed such as jobsite cleanup, showing up to work on time, maintaining equipment, only wearing company-approved uniforms, equipment maintenance, etc. Your company standards represent the level of precision and efficiency you want your workers to achieve.