While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making changes to construction big time, the sector remains labor-driven. Workers are being given a compilation of tasks that are sometimes too much to handle. This is one of the many reasons why workforce scheduling is prompted and has become very important.
In this blog, learn more about workforce scheduling, its benefits in construction, the objectives you need to target, and its actual process. Discover how it becomes a fundamental aspect of construction management.
What is Workforce Scheduling in Construction, and How Beneficial is it?
In the construction industry, the process of coordinating workers/employees to ensure projects are completed within budget, time, and to the client’s satisfaction refers to workforce scheduling. Actually, this process is a vital part of construction workforce management. However, it focuses more on the company’s daily operations, whereas other workforce management strategies often address human capital planning issues and long-term staffing concerns.
As a construction manager, you are involved in workforce scheduling. That is why you need to know everything about this process and consider some important factors like construction crew tracking, existing resource allocations, and workload projections.
If you are wondering why workforce scheduling is important, here are some key points that prove its significance in construction:
- It limits worker downtime: Worker downtime can impact the project’s profitability. And sometimes, it may impact the company’s profitability as well. With a well-planned and updated workforce scheduling, you can closely monitor each crew member and their performance and list of tasks. This helps in determining gaps in their availability.
- Keep your workforce focused on deadlines: Having the scheduling process right and just from the start can increase visibility and keep your people aligned on your project and company goals. Also, you can visualize your projects and their anticipated deadlines.
- Reduce unnecessary expenses: Human resource is the backbone of the construction sector. However, the wide-ranging responsibilities and tasks often lead to many errors. In turn, it will impact the company’s bottom line. Good thing that there are advanced solutions designed to enhance overall construction crew scheduling and planning. These technologies can help minimize costs, reduce errors, and provide extra planning, scheduling, and management time.
- Helps in taking on new projects: Forecasting is a key aspect of workforce scheduling. When you have a very effective and accurate process, you can efficiently keep recruitment practices and optimize planning, providing more clarity over the impact of your future project bids.
Workforce Scheduling Objectives
If you decide to focus on your workforce scheduling process, here are some goals and objectives you must include in the list.
1. Optimize labor costs
Labor is one of the highest costs that construction incurs. According to the Construction Labor Market, direct labor costs often account for 20% of the project’s overall costs. And when combined with indirect labor expenses, the total costs may climb up to forty percent – literally a 50% difference. This is why you must find ways to lessen labor costs and optimize them.
A very effective workforce scheduling process empowers you to prevent additional costs and will help you reduce issues like:
- High turnover rates
- Workers sitting idle on job sites
- Unproductivity
- Time theft
- Excessive overtime
2. Maintaining quality
An effective workforce scheduling strategy can help you guarantee quality by simply grouping your workers correctly and allocating them based on the skillset they possess and the project needs. Doing so helps fill positions on your lineup with the right people with the right skills.
3. Make sure consistent workforce availability
The goal here is to maintain a consistent balance between the current workload and the time spent working. This is necessary to prevent further bottlenecks, often resulting in falling productivity and inconsistent work orders.
Make sure also to keep your construction workforce flexible. And one of the ways to make them more flexible and extra productive is to use the latest software solutions today, like Pro Crew Schedule.
Pro Crew Schedule is the greatest, leading construction solution in the market this 2023, designed for construction professionals dealing with various issues concerning their projects, workforce, and business.
4. Increase productivity while minimizing costs
We mentioned earlier the importance of grouping and allocating your people based on their skills. So, filling positions with the most qualified workers helps optimize your company’s value chain. As an effective project manager and workforce leader, you should learn how to manage your people correctly to increase productivity without wasting money.
5. Keep your workers happy
Keep your people happy. But where to start? You have to have a great workforce scheduling process not to make them burn out. You can reduce overtime, undertime, underworking, and overworking by simply having a plan. Remember that poor workforce scheduling will often cause burnout in your people and may even increase your construction company’s turnover rate.
You should always strive to ensure your people are fairly allocated to certain projects that can positively impact their career trajectories. Those are some things that truly make them happy and satisfied as part of your workforce.
Workforce Scheduling Process
In this section, let us explore the many steps involved in this critical scheduling process of your workforce. Remember that it is not something you do only once, even on separate projects. In fact, as a project manager, you have to reassess your scheduling decisions to your workforce as the project continues/progresses.
1. Evaluate your labor needs
Begin by making a clear picture of your company’s existing projects and the current needs of the involved workforce. Remember that each of your crew members and their contributions matter. Every employee brings visions to the table that make them a better fit for certain construction projects compared to others.
As a project manager and a leader, you must also be a great workforce scheduler. And as a scheduler of your people, always consider the skills required on every project and allocate the right workforce accordingly.
2. Assess the current workforce’s capability
In the next step, consider how your workforce allocations correlate with labor needs. Here are some questions that can help you get started:
- Do you have enough people?
- Are all your crews allocated properly?
- Have you taken a closer look at your worker’s performance?
- Does your workforce display certain proficiencies that make them ideal for a particular project?
You can simply add more questions if you want. Make sure these questions will help you evaluate the capacity and skills of your workforce.
3. Start scheduling your construction workforce
In the first two steps, you are expected to collect critical data and insights from reinforcing your construction workforce scheduling. That is the main purpose of this step, which must also entail allocating your crew members to the right projects based on the data you collected.
After scheduling your workforce, take advantage of the latest software like Pro Crew Schedule. This top-tier construction software gives you more control and accessibility to your overall scheduling – from task delegations, time tracking, construction inventory management, troubleshooting, and more.
4. Make sure the schedule is easy to access
A great workforce schedule must function as the single source of truth. It is crucial that you keep the schedule accessible to your people and your organization. This is much easier and much less complicated with cloud-based construction task management software that serves as a central hub for everyone – storing all data and updating projects and business operations.
We mentioned Pro Crew Schedule plenty of times earlier. In the next section, find out how amazing this software is. Let’s go over it.
Invest in Pro Crew Schedule – The Right Workforce Scheduling Software in the Market
As a construction expert, you know that managing multiple projects at once is normal in the sector. While the people in the industry have prided themselves on their ability to carry out many projects simultaneously, sometimes it can be too much to handle. One way or another, technologies and advanced solutions are always the best way to manage and track a huge amount of data, business transactions, and processes.
That is why we introduce Pro Crew Schedule – your all-in-one construction management solution this 2023. This software offers comprehensive management features for a more successful workforce scheduling process. Its built-in dashboard displays the current status of your projects in real-time, giving you a detailed view of your workforce’s productivity, project progress, and overall inventory.
Pro Crew Schedule is cloud-based, which means you can easily access everything in one click anywhere and anytime using multiple devices. Impressive, right?
Now is the time to reinvent and elevate your workforce scheduling strategy.
Get started with a free trial today. Start scheduling like a pro.
