Construction turnover rates are sky-high, and workers are clocking in and leaving their jobs at record rates. According to research, the average turnover for the construction industry stands at 54%, significantly higher than the overall industry turnover average of 41%. Turns out that this high level of unwillingness of construction workers to hang around is not just a minor inconvenience for businesses. It is a multimillion-dollar problem that requires placing retention in construction as a key business priority. But wait: What’s driving workers away from construction companies? 

You're partly right if your guess is pay, but there’s more to the story. We’ve found that poor Employee Experience (EX) is the real culprit when it comes to turnover in construction. When workers feel disconnected, unheard, and underappreciated (which they do quite a bit in construction), they don’t think twice about moving on to another company, hoping their needs will be prioritized better. So, how do you overcome this scenario?

In this blog, we’ll explain the importance of EX to fuel retention in construction and discuss how modern tools can help create a workplace where construction workers want to stay.

The current situation: construction’s retention crisis

The steep employee turnover rates in construction are quite a problem at hand, causing a ripple effect across the industry. Here’s how it is playing out:

• A rising tide of project delays: When skilled construction workers walk away mid-project, the reduced pace of work slows everything down.  According to a survey, 35% of construction companies have reported that their projects are delayed due to staffing concerns.
  
  
• Costs touching the roof: Construction companies are left scrambling to fill the vacant positions when workers leave. The constant hiring and training drill pushes costs through the roof, draining budgets and impacting the bottom line. According to estimates, the average price of replacing workers is between 20 and 30 times their annual salary—a pretty high number indeed.
  
  
• An atmosphere of declining morale: When there is a revolving door of employees, team cohesion and engagement naturally suffer. A damaging result is decreasing productivity,  which nobody wants in their company.

Therefore, boosting retention in construction is essential. 

Top 4 reasons why construction workers are quitting

Construction work is challenging. Dealing with extended hours or demanding projects isn’t a cakewalk, and workers feel inclined to walk away even with slight raises in pay. However, poor employee experience (EX) pushes them out faster than other reasons. 

Statistically, it has been found that workers in the construction industry have one of the lowest global engagement rates, with only 12% engaged employees. It's this poor engagement and their cumulative experiences on the job that ends up driving them off the job site. Here are different ways employee experience in construction suffers: 

1. No one is communicating clearly

Ever showed up only to find out the schedule changed—or worse, that you weren’t even supposed to be there? It’s annoying, right? In the same way, construction workers get pretty frustrated when information such as shift updates or safety alerts doesn’t reach them in time, which happens quite a bit. And let’s be honest: Is expecting these workers to check that bulletin board stashed in a corner or waiting for a supervisor’s word a good way to communicate? No, right. It only leads to missed information and them scrambling around for answers, frustrated. This frustration fuels their departure, which according to research happens nearly 60% of times.

2. It feels like just another job, with no sense of team 

Construction workers often work on-site in various locations. As a result, they’re frequently left out of receiving feedback or shout-outs for a job well done from people sitting in the office. As a result of not celebrating wins together, nothing instills a real sense of belonging in them. They feel undervalued, and this drives them towards quitting. It becomes natural for them to start thinking, "Why am I even here?" after a while. And once that disconnecting feeling creeps in, these workers start punching in and out. According to research from McKinsey, 52% of the employees who had recently quit reported that this arose feeling undervalued.

3. There’s no clear, visible path forward

You’ll agree; nobody wants to feel stuck. Without clear signs of career growth, training opportunities, no promotions, or even the chance to discuss a pay raise with a superior, it’s a human tendency to want to start looking for other options with a seemingly better future.  According to research from Gallup, lack of career opportunities is among the top reasons for employees quitting their jobs. This is what happens a lot with construction workers.

They often feel in the dark since most companies rarely offer a straightforward way to foster worker interactions, conduct training programs, or offer mentorship opportunities. There’s no such thing as hearing any success stories of workers who’ve climbed the ranks, and all of this adds up to the tendency to look elsewhere for career growth opportunities.

4. There’s widespread frustration with the management

Nothing kills motivation faster than feeling like decisions are made about you, not about you. All workers, including construction workers, want their input to matter, whether it’s about safety, processes, or site conditions. If and when they feel ignored, they start checking out—and eventually, check out for good. This is backed by research as well. According to Gallup's exit strategy report, 52% of exiting individuals report that their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job.

It is common among construction companies to not offer any avenue for their frontline workers to share concerns, report safety issues, and suggest improvements. As a result, these individuals start feeling they don’t have a voice, and once that feeling solidifies, turnover numbers start climbing up. The Fix: How you can build a better employee experience to prevent construction crews from walking away

The best way to ensure your construction workers stick around is by doing what it takes to make them feel the job is worthwhile, they’re valued, and there’s a future waiting for them. This requires more than a paycheck offering a fair rate, and here are some ways to put that into practice: 

1. Foster trust with clear communication

Since nobody likes surprises regarding their schedule, job expectations, or pay, communicating transparently and building trust is the easiest way to avoid this frustration. This starts with making it a point to be upfront about essential matters so there’s no confusion. While you do this, you must also ensure you give your workers an easy way to ask questions and share concerns. This empowerment makes them feel heard and valued and more likely to stick around. 

A solid way to implement clear communication is to use a real-time messaging approach using employee experience apps explicitly built for frontline workers like those in construction. The real-time communication pathways supported by the right apps ensure everyone stays in the loop, regardless of location. It’s a good idea to use features like Newsfeeds on frontline employee apps to keep everyone updated on significant changes without needing workers to chase down any supervisor for information.

2. Ensure dispersed teams are well-connected 

Since a disconnected team is an unhappy team that’s itching to turn, ensuring everyone is well-connected and gets any information when needed, not hours or days later is vital. This applies to all information, whether it is around worker shifts or safety and compliance information.

The way to go is to implement regular check-ins and open communication channels to build trust and prevent frustration from missed or outdated messages. The good old bulletin board is not going to cut it here. The most efficient way lies in the mobile-first messaging approach since construction workers are on-site without laptop access.

While you leverage mobile apps, you can look out for those off-group chat features to ensure that only the right people get the right updates. You don’t want all workers bombarded with messages that may not be relevant to them, causing information overload. You can also build a culture of responding with emojis so that workers don’t have to spend acknowledging messages on a busy workday on the construction site. Better still, you want to consider tracking read receipts to cut that extra work out for them.

3. Show workers there are opportunities to develop and grow within your organization

Since construction workers, like all other workers, want opportunities to grow, whether training, mentorship, or promotions, ensure you provide ample development opportunities with clear career progression, training programs, and mentorship opportunities that are accessible.

A good way to implement this for construction workers is by sharing training opportunities on your social intranet. You can also upload bite-sized learning videos in an easily understandable language so workers can check them out quickly during breaks. You can also highlight the success stories of fellow employees on your feed so that others see that see growth is possible with proof and believe that their hard work will pay off. 

4. Recognize and appreciate their hard work to keep the morale high

Workers begin considering other options when their motivation levels start to dip. A good way to keep that dip from creeping is as simple as showering a little appreciation now and then for those putting in the work. You may think the impact of this would be miniscule, but it has been seen that recognition goes a long way in keeping workers engaged and loyal. According to a study, 71% of employees said they were less likely to quit if recognized more often. 

So, it’s worth the time to build a recognition culture where managers (and even coworkers) praise good work. Make sure they reward milestones and establish a sense of accomplishment. Recognizing them in front of peers on your company’s intranet, for example, is a good place to begin praising workers for a job well done, boosting their morale, and creating a stronger, more loyal workforce.

Is the Employee Experience for your construction business up to the mark?

The fact remains that the high turnover in construction is less about pay and more about how workers feel. If construction companies improve transparency, invest in seamless communication, and offer career advancement opportunities, their retention rate can rise. This can result in projects being completed on time without overshooting costs and dwindling waves of productivity leakages. 

Is your retention game strong enough to ensure your construction business’s talent foundation is the strongest it can be? If not, the way to control the turnover tide lies in improving your communication pathways, enhancing employee experience elements, like feeling heard, valued, and connected, and identifying growth opportunities. Acing these aspects will help you build a workforce that wants to stick around and do their best.

Want to know what top construction companies like WURST Steel Construction are doing to get voted the “Leading Employers” with a happy workforce that wants to stay? Find out more here.

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