The construction industry faces a catastrophic skills shortage over the years. Many existing onsite professionals are planning to end their careers and are getting closer to retirement. As a result, careers in construction now have an image problem, particularly for the younger generation. According to an online source Construction Executive, by 2024, it is expected that three out of four workers in the U.S. will be millennials. This event will tremendously impact the industry since almost 40% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031.
As baby boomers are retiring and having a fresh new start, hiring millennials in construction will essentially become your primary target. It should be a requirement for a construction business owner to get to know the younger millennial generation. Understanding millennials, what they want, who they are, how they interact, and how they work will help you attract and retain outstanding talents.
So what can you do to attract and retain millennials in the construction industry successfully? Read below to gain insights and understand more.
Getting To Know Millennials
Fresh out of college, lack of experience, so and so forth – these are the common assumptions for Millennials. But the truth is, most of them are out in the workforce for so long already. It is because the oldest generation entering the professional world during the late 1990s. Given these many misconceptions, employers like you may have assumptions about millennials, given their experience and young age. While not all assumptions are genuine, below are some commonalities of millennial professionals.
1. Comfortable using technology
Millennials are exposed to ever-changing advancements in technology and construction digitization. They are more likely to have access to the Internet at home or school and constantly use personal computers. Using technology and other devices is very natural to them in comparison to traditional processes. This is the reason why it is essential to deploy software solutions designed for construction.
Using such tools will make work easier for millennials. This software application has various features that will benefit your employees, making them more productive.
2. Excellent collaborators
The millennial generation puts value to teamwork, making things quicker and efficient. They collaborate expertly with other teams using a tool for project planning. In this generation, working as a group for school projects has become a tradition/norm. It is one of the reasons which makes millennials an ideal candidate for any construction career. They are experts in communicating and cooperating with the team to achieve project completion.
3. Always looking for a sense of purpose
Millennials take a particular interest in making a positive impact and creating changes through their work. It only means seeking out companies with outstanding work values and a vital mission when making career moves. Working with teams, the need to cooperate is necessary. Good thing that construction software solutions can provide real-time construction crew management for your employees. Make sure you pick the right one.
Attracting Millennials in Three Strategic Ways
The importance of employing millennial talents is undeniable. Training new employees with the skills that your construction business needs will get projects complete and done. The industry will boom once again. It would be best if you started enticing younger millennials during the hiring process. Make sure to follow some tips below:
1. Eye-catching job posts
If you’re having difficulty bringing new talents, try to make your job posting more interesting. Make sure to advertise any employee benefits you will provide. Share also the significant aspects of working and being part of your company. Indeed, this strategy will draw you more top talents in today’s young generation.
2. Know your reputation
Construction jobs aren’t for the faint-hearted. Hence, it is not for everybody. However, many areas might appeal particularly to highly-determined millennials. Be aware of the advantages and drawbacks of this line of work. Play up the idea of having the freedom to work outdoors and whenever alternating schedules.
3. Demonstrate a Career Path
The young generation is looking forward to the positive feedback. Being appreciated always comes first. The next will be the reward they get from working. As an owner, set yourself apart by proclaiming opportunities for new skill training and advancements covered by your company—the chance to excel and grow appeals to any young workers.
Retaining Millennials for Your Construction Business
As skilled and labor shortages in the construction industry continue to grow, it is vital to have more millennials workers in your company. Once you’ve finally hired top millennial employees, you have to find ways to make them stay. Retaining millennial workers can be challenging, most especially because of demanding construction work. That is why it is necessary to make changes both in management strategies and company culture. See below.
1. Focus on compensation
Workers aren’t even loyal to a particular company that doesn’t sufficiently support them. More than anyone, millennials don’t want to feel cheated. So pay them fairly. Make sure also to recognize that compensation is more than the payment you give to them. That is why it is crucial to provide additional perks and a positive working environment to keep all your millennial workers.
Monetary compensation is a great reward, but some rewards must go beyond money, like recognition.
2. Career development
A lack of growth and advancement in the company is the number one reason why most employees leave their jobs. It was the lack of career development that makes employees leave. If your construction company doesn’t give any room for advancement and improvement, your workers will find another that will. Make sure to provide internal promotions and personal development plans, including the creation of target goals. Doing so will show improvements over time.
3. Healthy work-life balance
Millennials often maintain boundaries between play and work. They usually dictate themselves to any tasks at hand but are not taking mental health days than previous generations. Make sure to prioritize the balance between work and personal life in your company. Acknowledge this trend and apply it to receive the best from your workers.
4. The Managers
Employees, especially millennials, might describe the managers as unprofessional, incompetent, and don’t have good communication or mistreat them. Problems that aren’t addressed with the management will make your millennial employees feel trapped, pushing them to leave.
A helpful trick to solving this issue includes hiring better project managers or promoting from within. Hiring excellent managers requires getting them involved with the other employees and higher-ups. The second trick is to have a great HR department that will secure your employees’ well-being and safety.
5. Invest in Construction techs like Subcontractor Scheduling Software
The millennial generation is tech-savvy and doesn’t anymore conform to the company’s traditional processes to implement. The construction industry might be slow-paced when it comes to advancements and technologies, but the industry keeps up with new techs. Cloud-based scheduling software like Pro Crew Schedule is one of the best construction techs available in the market today. A live demo can be requested anytime, and it’s FREE!
Moreover, investing in construction techs will motivate more of your millennials employees. This particular software was designed for project management purposes, thus, provides real-time advantages. It certainly empowers your millennials members to work more productively over time. When you deploy specialized software like Pro Crew Schedule, your millennial employees will experience the following features and benefits.
- More targets are achievable
- Unified workflow and faster notifications
- Accessible anytime and anywhere
- · Incorporating flexibility to the actual plans
- Excellent project management for construction projects
- Real-time collaboration and communication
- Secure storage for construction data and files
- Task and goal visibility
6. Conduct “Stay Interview”
A stay interview is typically conducted with long-time workers to figure out why they are staying. This valuable piece of information can essentially help your construction company discover where things need to grow and what the best virtues are. Questions commonly asked during these types of interviews must center on why they stay and why they choose the company in the first place.
Take the review as a reverse work performance review and be willing to take criticism or change many things around for your millennial employees’ benefit.
7. Gain and Retain
Keeping millennials and Gen Z working for your construction company is one huge hurdle. Opening the doors at all for new workers can be a tricky process. However, if you wanted young, talented, and well-educated employees, then you have to be willing to attract them. Having an excellent reputation in the industry is a good start, but providing competitive benefits and wages can get the ball rolling.
If you can convince today’s millennials to join you, you can convince them to stay in your company. You need to meet them halfway and put them into real work. Doing so will help your company improves its reputation, both now and in the future.
Key Takeaways
As millennials enter your workforce, you might find yourself relying on the younger and well-educated generation to get your business ahead as an employer. A new generation of the millennial workforce only means a more significant change is expected to come over to your company, more likely for the better.
