One of the key challenges facing the construction industry is cross-departmental communication. With field workers, it can be difficult for these employees to feel valued and heard since they don’t work in an office environment where they can readily interact with coworkers and corporate management. And, all too often, key company messaging doesn’t make it out to them in a timely fashion, creating disconnects within the organization and a decline in employee morale.
Construction laborers aren’t like office employees. They don’t have computers in front of them all day, where they can access the corporate intranet or receive emails, and have little to no contact with anyone from headquarters, relying solely on their immediate supervisors for information.
According to authors David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny in a 2017 Harvard Business Review study of 1153 employees, 64% of offsite employees felt that their office-based colleagues made changes to the project without communicating, leaving them to feel disregarded, underappreciated, and out of the loop.
But technology has created new avenues for dispensing information and engaging in structured dialogue with deskless staff from anywhere at any time. These communication-driven platforms offer leaders the ability to share content that is not otherwise available to frontline workers, giving them a greater sense of inclusion and opportunities to contribute to the conversation.
According to Gallagher's 2021 State of the Sector, which analyzed employers’ internal communication strategies to uncover best practices for engaging, motivating, and retaining talent, “35% of employers said that increasingly tailored, hyper-personalized messages will become the norm in the next few years, meaning the importance of smart digital solutions has never been clearer when it comes to maintaining and driving engagement.”
Workplace communication statistics show that 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes for workplace failures. Not only does greater communication increase retention and improve engagement, it also facilitates trust, a key component for construction laborers to feel valued in their roles. Employees who feel heard by coworkers and superiors report being 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.
In addition to helping project managers connect with foremen to keep tasks running smoothly, on time, and on budget, these brandable communication platforms bring construction laborers into the fold in a deeper, more meaningful way by giving them a voice from the trenches and a sense of purpose that they matter and are equally vital to the company as on-site staff.
More than any other type of business, it is critical to maintain transparency and leverage the communication process in the construction industry so that offsite workers receive increased visibility and feel like they are actively involved in the process. This fosters a stronger relationship between stakeholders and can reduce misinterpretation of information to ensure all departments are in sync while leveling the playing field for each participant’s respective duties.
A fully integrated network keeps everyone on the same page, so there’s less room for error, greater inter-departmental collaboration, and increased productivity.
With relative ease, management can utilize a messaging app to tailor content to individual audiences, include images and videos to bring information to life in a more compelling way, and celebrate construction laborer milestones with company-wide recognition that instill pride in their contributions. Essentially, it removes the invisible barrier that isolates field employees and makes everyone feel like they are part of the same team.