Prioritizing Values of Younger Workforce Can Combat Labor Shortages

No need to ask anyone in residential construction if they’ve heard of the “Great Resignation.” Hiring and retaining talent has been a widespread challenge across all industries. According to the Home Builders Institute, the share of residential home builders reporting worker shortages was 60% in 2021. Considering how labor shortages cause construction delays and rising costs, housing supply and affordability have been deeply affected. In fact, 42% of surveyed builders shared that homes have sat idle for one to five days in a typical month due to limited available labor.

So, we’ve heard about it, but what caused it? Blame pandemic malaise which enabled millions the time and motivation to reevaluate career options and retiring Baby Boomers. Both these factors have our economy finding itself in an enormous labor shortfall. While the solution to the trade shortage won’t come overnight, builders can take steps to prevent shortages from impacting their companies by investing in relationships and accountability.

The emerging workforce of a younger generation is looking for an improved quality of life. Research undertaken by Paychex and Future Workplace in November 2021 revealed that full-time workers find well-being benefits like financial, mental/emotional, social, physical, and career well-being to be major factors when applying for new jobs.

So, what can businesses do to become the contractor or builder of choice?

Improve communication and collaboration

Builders must put themselves in the shoes of trade workers and suppliers to adequately build a motivational environment built on empathy. Creating a no-blame culture will encourage initiative and set high-performance standards but it all starts with effective and transparent communication. It is essential to connect directly with the team members to pinpoint growing pains and roadblocks so you can work to correct working environments. With the right technology, you can gain great visibility into jobs and team member performance. This insight can help you identify and address challenges quickly before they become an issue for the business or employee. By integrating software with real-time communication between employees in the back office and employees in the field, team members can feel more productive and empowered to get their job done well.

Streamline operations through automation

When businesses utilize technology to automate mundane tasks, it allows them to focus on pressing fieldwork. According to research we conducted earlier this year, 47% of residential home builders identified contractor management software as an invaluable tool. Generation Z and younger Millennials want to deliver value and make an impact in the businesses they work for. By automating redundant admin tasks, you can ensure that employees deliver more value and feel more fulfilled at work, creating, equaling a win-win for you and your employees.

Use technology to drive efficiency without adding to the team

While other industries realized digital transformation opportunities years ago, many builders must catch up quickly. By adopting the right technology, builders can improve how they support recovery efforts, manage lot inventories, and strengthen lead generation. According to our survey, most home builders have yet to take advantage of easy-to-use and available software to manage and grow their businesses with only 22% recently increasing their investments in technology by ditching spreadsheets and paper trails. This number is shocking, considering it became crucial for businesses to survive the pandemic by adapting.

By incorporating modern technology to automate business processes, workflows, and communication, you can unlock valuable time from your team’s schedules. This can enable you to bring on more jobs and build more homes without having to add to your headcount, like Mastercraft Builder Group who more than doubled their home builds in just a couple of years without adding staff.

Ensure you are the builder trades want to work for

Some would argue that your company does not need to experience the labor shortage as long as you establish policies that make trades want to work for you. Establish strong communication and feedback channels. Work with the trades to identify the issues they are having and help them protect their margins and innovate to find solutions that help lower their overhead costs. A few ways to do this is by: ensuring quick payment upon job completion, cutting down on dry runs and scouting trips, communicating accurate schedules, and figuring out how to optimize each trade visit (get more done in fewer trips). Furthermore, younger generations want to work for modern employers. This makes sense, as they grew up with information at their fingertips via smartphones and the internet. They expect their employers to deliver the same functionalities. This can be accomplished through cloud-adoption technology and integrating mobile capabilities into your business operations.

For you to attract a new generation of talent and maximize the output of your current workforce, it’s time to consider software solutions that can make life easier for you and your employees. Not only do these solutions improve efficiencies and collaboration, but they will also appeal to a younger, tech-savvy generation who expect to be equipped with these tools.

Simply putting up “help wanted” signs won’t be enough to fill the worker shortages. Boosting wages and other benefits can fuel recruitment, but it will take significant industry-wide innovation and a digital upgrade of your business to keep employees engaged. It is essential to provide our workforce with technology that will help deliver the results we need, spend our dollars efficiently, and improve workers’ lives.

Interested in learning more about the top residential home construction trends? Check out our recent blog articles to learn more about the widespread land shortages and material shortages.