Hiring employees for construction work is a tough business right now. Companies are looking to hire, but unemployment is so low, at 4.1%, that they can’t find enough workers, according to the (AGC). And, once hired, there’s a good chance those workers won’t stay very long. According to Robert Half, 60% of 18- to 25-year-olds plan to switch jobs in 2023. Focusing on providing a great company culture could make all the difference when it comes to hiring and turnover rates.
Company culture is what defines your company, including its beliefs, values and your day-to-day actions. Your company culture should make your employees feel like part of a team that’s working together to fulfill company goals. And it’s not always done well. According to Gallup, only 23% of US employees strongly agree they can apply their organization’s values to their work every day and only 27% strongly agree that they believe in their organization’s values.
Examples of Great Construction Company Culture
It can be difficult to understand what your company culture looks like. For Construction Pros states your culture is usually what others say it is. For example, do outsiders see that:
- Crews leave a jobsite cleaner than they found it through diligent jobsite management and organized workflow.
- Front office administrative staff professionally greet visitors to your building.
- Field leaders announce to customers when they have arrived and offer to explain what they will be doing that day.
- Foremen are calm and professional even after a customer complains about a mistake and is making negative comments.
- New employees are appreciative of working for your company after they have been on the job for a few weeks.
- Experienced workers try to assist new hires in learning how to work smarter and safer.
- Employees voluntarily show up on a Saturday to help move the offices around and do some extra clean-up to be ready for Monday.
- Workers voluntarily donate money to help out fellow workers or their families.
Leaving a great impression can showcase to customers, employees and candidates a great company culture.
How Do You Get There?
If the examples above don’t reflect how your company operates, that doesn’t mean you can’t adjust to improve the culture you have. It starts by establishing your core values, setting goals and involving your entire team.
What are your core values? If you don’t have clear company values, your culture will be all over the place. Core values can include:
- Integrity
- Boldness
- Honesty
- Trust
- Accountability
- Commitment to Customers
- Passion
- Fun
- Humility
- Continuous Learning
- Ownership
- Constant Improvement
- Leadership
- Diversity
- Innovation
- Quality
- Teamwork
- Simplicity
Focusing on some of these core values, and creating goals to complement them, can help define and grow your company culture.
Set Culture Goals
Once you pinpoint your company values, you can set goals to help further refine your culture. When setting goals, make sure they are challenging, rewarding, enthusiastic and daring. An effective goal setting technique is using SMART goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, results- based and time bound.
An example of a SMART goal that could improve company culture is to reduce worker overtime. This type of goal can improve company culture by giving employees a more accurate work schedule. The goal is specific and measurable – especially if you set a percentage of reduction, achievable if everyone is on board, results-based due to the fact it will make crews more time efficient and reduce payroll, and time bound when tied to a deadline.
Get Everyone on Board
Building or rebuilding company culture doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen with just one person’s efforts. Building company culture needs to be a team effort.
Ask for regular feedback – and listen to what employees say – about what it’s like to work at your company. You can use surveys or performance management reviews to facilitate conversations. Invite all employees to be part of the conversation, creating initiatives that allow them to share their opinions.
Company culture is a powerful concept that can transform your work environment into one that candidates will flock to and employees will stick around to enjoy.
