Worker productivity is vital for a construction business to thrive. Hence, day-to-day operations and overhead costs mean that workers have to constantly deliver enough work to justify their income and space and time they occupy in the office. No wonder a study found out that almost 65% of construction employees stated their lack of productivity has kept them working up at night.
A significant cause of lack of productivity in work is due to employee burnout. Many workplace environments and industries like construction are subject to employee burnout. This is the modern era of hustle culture where it can be challenging to take a break and take the mind off from work. Worker burnout has been a recurring issue as it becomes prevalent in the construction industry. Everyone is working in a job where physical labor, expertise, and mental precision are required. And in many instances, it can be tough to handle singlehandedly.
Remember that one of your most prized assets is your employees. That is why you need to be mindful of burnout issues and start prioritizing overall workplace wellness. In this blog, we’re about to unfold several practical ways how to handle worker burnout during work.
What is Burnout?
According to several leading experts, burnout is defined as the individual response to chronic interpersonal and emotional stressors within the workplace. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines worker burnout as a syndrome developing from unhandled chronic workplace stress, often characterized by moods of exhaustion, increasing mental distance from one’s work and lessened professional performance.
Burnout is believed to be existing at the intersection of three common dimensions:
- Exhaustion – results from working too hard for a long period, causing to deplete one’s coping mechanism.
- Cynicism – it is a distancing of a worker from their work, leading to the stereotype of the dissatisfied worker.
- Inefficacy – defined as a reduced caring of personal accomplishment, pushing employees to give up.
So as the project engineer, how do you help your construction team prevent burnout?
Tips to Help You and Your Team Avoid Burnout
1. Define job descriptions
While burnout or fatigue can be physical, a huge part of it can also be mental, particularly in irregular jobs. When your construction team has a lot to do physically, taking out some cognitive loads off may make a huge difference. Ensure your directions are direct, clear-cut, and organized so that your team clearly understands the many objectives and can formulate accurate goals.
2. Conduct short but impactful safety reviews
Accidents tend to happen when workers are doing the same series of tasks every day for a few months. A recent study shows that mistakes attributed to human error are explained by repetition, burnout, fatigue, and stress in the workplace.
Regular safety reviews will keep your workforce safe. Talking about such topics every five to six hours is a good benchmark. Always have discussions with your construction team and make it a part of the regular team meetings. You can use subcontractor scheduling software like Pro Crew Schedule to get notified and stay updated on all activities, tasks, and upcoming meetings. It’s an all-in-one platform that is beneficial for you and your team.
3. Acknowledge employee performance
Work together with your construction team to build and retain an employee of the month program or any acknowledgment programs. Use this kind of program to honor your crew members for their accomplishments associated with productivity, performance, safety, and more.
You may choose to install a photo board in a particular location where you display photos of recognized workers. Make everything clear, especially how workers did to earn that recognition. It will encourage other employees to do the same.
4. Offer Opportunities for Growth
You’ll be surprised how many people are jumping at the opportunity to improve their professional skill set. If you have workers looking to expand and enhance their knowledge for better opportunities, this is the right time to give them different and new tasks. Training them in working on new tasks keeps them alert, fresh and motivated in their work. Additionally, they will have the second half of the construction season to use and apply their knowledge on the actual job.
Cross-training your workers is never a wasted time. You never know when you’re going to need their skillset in order to fill in an immediate need.
5. Recognize Milestones
Building bridges and constructing facilities is typically not a sprint. It is, in fact, a marathon. Look for ways to document, mark and communicate improvement and progress in any location. You can create a timeline and use it to mark off every significant milestone toward completion. Doing so will help your construction team understand that their job is substantial and has a meaningful impact.
6. Pay Fair Wages
While bonuses and recognition are excellent perks, work is typically about exchanging labor hours for money. To ensure that your workers are not exhausted and anxious, paying them a fair wage must be a priority. When employees can financially support themselves and take some time off their work-life balance, the quality of their work improves. Nothing demonstrates worker appreciation and recognition more than paying them what they are worth.
7. Be flexible
Some workers can be sick any time of the year due to burnout and fatigue. They are exhausted and exhausted from doing their work and wanted to getaway. There can be other reasons too since most of your employees are parents and have childcare duties.
If you have a worker who asks for time off, make sure to find out why he needs it. Then offer your support if it is for a good and valid reason. Doing so will most likely pay you off with a more dedicated workforce.
8. Limit or eliminate overtime if necessary
Constantly working overtime doesn’t only make your construction team more exhausted and tired. Still, it also reduces their overall motivation to come to the job site every day and deliver their best work. This is the reason why project managers have to limit overtime when necessary. They ought to encourage the crew members to leave at the job site on time.
As the project leader, you have to emphasize the overall results delivered by your team members instead of how many hours they spend working onsite. The idea is to encourage the crew to use more of their time intentionally by prioritizing deadlines and tasks. Doing so will help them become more productive during work hours, in which overtime is not anymore necessary.
9. Add Inspections
Late in the construction season, it is a brilliant idea to include an inspection program. While it may cause you a little extra when having an additional set of eyes during work, it will eventually keep your workplace safe, ensuring that accidents are prevented and work is being completed.
10. Get feedback
Your workers lose motivation and interest when they feel they are not heard or being listened to. In reality, the things they have to say can benefit you the most, including the construction process and your company. This is the power of feedback. If you’re asking for feedback from your employees, make sure to ask some ideas on how to enhance processes they usually find very frustrating, or tools and equipment that will make their job easier, or maybe a list of safety procedures.
Keep the door widely open for your workers. Provide a suggestion box, or you can create an online forum. Do whatever it takes to ensure you both hear and respond to all ideas and feedback of your workers. Even incremental improvements will enhance employee morale and overall work performance in a big way.
How Can You Benefit from Using Construction Scheduling Software?
As what being discussed earlier, the construction sector has a higher risk of burnout. When your employees use their mental expertise, physical bodies and handiwork to deliver quality assurance and complete construction projects, they become more unmotivated and exhausted. But this doesn’t have to be the case since the present and future of the construction industry today largely involves using various techs.
If you’re looking for a software solution that can improve the way you manage your workers, avoiding burnout and reducing stress, invest in Pro Crew Schedule! This powerful software tool has the following amazing benefits that can help you manage your business and your team.
· An all-in-one platform
· Real-time collaboration and communication
- Easier integration and orientation for new members
- Time-tracking feature and scheduling
- Project management for construction
- Effective task delegation
- Document sharing and control
- Resource allocation
- Can access anytime and anywhere
- Easy to explore and very user-friendly
Request a live demo for FREE and experience a 30-day trial using Pro Crew Schedule!
Key Takeaways
While workers must take steps to manage exhaustion and burnout by practicing self-care, there is a strong incentive for business owners and leaders to deal with fatigue and burnout in the workplace. When you wanted to create a healthy work environment for all of your workers, burnout will become much easier to manage across the board. Always treat your employees well, prioritize safety, and ensure that their hard work and efforts are acknowledged.
