Construction Worker - A Key Element of a Construction Project

Worker education is the single most important element in a construction project. If it is difficult to make them sit in a ‘Classroom’ or train them ‘On-the-Job’, then how they are taught is of little importance. What matters is whether they are motivated to self-learn, whether they are facilitated to learn while working, whether the intensity or urge to learn is sowed into them, so on and so forth. We do worse when we reduce / eliminate their ‘Classroom’ contact, reduce their ‘On-the-Job’ training etc. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to proceed and sustain with ‘Classroom’ and ‘On-the-Job’ training. Creating more training schools, more trainers implies more expenditure, more delayed time, unsustainable and more importantly making training investments part and parcel of either the projects or CSR costs etc., amidst aggressive competition and stressed projects, already struggling with less cash flow will be out of considerations.

In such a scenario it is critical of organizations to bargain hard with themselves in order to improve the skill sets at the workers level. Organizations must look forward to measures that counter the austerity drives which exists as an unwritten instruction / order or belief. Some organizations which had overcome this perspective and had begun providing skill training to the grass root workers internally / externally could not sustain for long and have withdrawn for all obvious and genuine reasons.

‘Skill Training Centers’, ‘On-the-Job’ training etc. are bound to have its negative impact as long as it is going to get carried out. These negative impacts would be more from the perspective of wholehearted participation, time consumed, amount of learning, sustainability post training at training schools, loss of production hours etc.

We have seen PAN Construction Contracting Organizations, efforts in running a ‘Skill Training Center’, ‘On-the-Job’ training have not benefited as desired. Their benefits have remained probably limited to the specific work in a project and constrained by time.

Given this scenario and for all the right reasons, it becomes imperative that we start where it impacts the most and benefits the most as far as workers skill up-gradation is concerned. ‘Skill Training Centers’ and ‘On-the-Job’ training are undeniable the need and best way to proceed but what we neglect is the project’s temporary, unique nature and performance and delivery constraints for an organization. It is imperative that we initially look at measures which are impactful, costing minimal both in time and cost. Simultaneously, we could start gradually on traditional options such as ‘Skill Training Centers’ and ‘On-the-Job’ training only when the organizations develops the capacity and ability to sustain such initiatives for longer duration.

Remember, challenge is not about how many workers have been certified, it is more about driving their inclination to learn and excel, motivating them to move up the ladder in professional growth and how learning can facilitate this. Creative aspect of the skilled workers will only come to fore only when they are aware of the benefits of learning and growing be it professional or personal growth and are able to adapt to such requirements without any constraints / worries etc. of earning their livelihood.

‘Skill Training Centers’ and ‘On-the-Job’ training will hold good only when they are free from the worries of earning their livelihood. It is not just when they are physically available but also when they are emotionally available that they start benefiting themselves. Very often many options have come with minimum time required for learning or imparting a skill to the worker be it classroom or on-the-job, without actually giving a thought to the aspect that every individual would require a specific attention and time especially when he/she is least educated and is completely disconnected with the education for long time and when something is required to be carried out with the hands especially for a livelihood purpose. We are focusing on everything else besides learn-ability of the workers, their aptitude for a specific trade, their growth as an individual etc. We are looking to workers as machines that should learn when taught and start giving benefits to the organizations. We drop the very idea of continued training to workers as they do not remain with the projects, as they do not find their stay comfortable at the project locations, as we cannot hold them on the rolls of the organizations, as we cannot afford with the minimum prescribed wages due to stiff competition and stressed projects, as we cannot make timely payments, as we believe that when we hold their part payments they will stick to the organization (be it the sub-contractor) and more importantly we do not see any measurable benefits to the projects due to the learning except in handful of cases. Besides all these reasons, site interruptions, ill managed site operations impact majorly on learning initiatives that are taken up at the construction sites.

Bargaining for the right strategy deployment from the perspectives of skill up-gradation of the construction workers even before the project starts is a critical mechanism to ensure that all learning initiatives can benefit the project and support the organizations in enhancing its operational efficiencies. When we talk about the learning strategy, it includes all those including the trainers, demonstrators, technology that is used for driving learning etc. Bargaining has always been about the money in case of construction workers unlike in the case of regular engineering staff of the organizations. We have accepted and understood but failed to realize that training workers on the skill directly impacts the project’s safety, quality and time.

Although last decade has seen a lot being done for the construction workers, it is not enough, is coming at slow pace, organizations though aware are not able to focus and take it forward in a sustained manner.

The paradigm in which the organizations are working need to change and accommodate the needs of the construction workers, the needs of a growing organization, the aspirations of the workers – that when we get relatively well-paid even they deserve a decent welfare measure be it training, a better managed workers camp, timely payment etc. And all of this work out to organizational benefits.

Strategic and collective action by all the stakeholders is the need of the day to bring-in a paradigm shift in the skill levels of the construction workers and therefore the way the construction industry is looked upon or is operated.

Well, in the end it is not just platitude on a placard, construction workers skill development, ease of working, camping facilities, timely payments do equal organizational growth and prosperity. Organization have so far incurred large expenditures and continue to do so when it comes to managing operations data or multiple HR indices but to a negligible degree of benefits vis-à-vis organizational growth, success and net profits. Well it is not that this is not important, but organizations could take a re-look at what impacts first and benefits for the longer run vis-à-vis what impacts negligibly and is still hungry for money on a continual basis. It is time organizations considered reorienting themselves to what benefits the organizations more in the longer run with incremental changes which give maximum mileage and advantage. Look out for the best options which are available all around you. Leaving it to the wisdom of the readers, following road map if in case it interests them, as the road to enhance the skill focus, productivity and therefore all those parameters which impact the organizational bottom line directly and therefore pick up the less traveled road.

1.      Go for ‘Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)’ in an organized manner. No investments are required, on the contrary you are reimbursed substantially by ‘Government of India’ under various schemes. The only investment may be required is to map the data generated out of RPL which otherwise manually is a Herculean task. Can be carried out internally to the organization by its own Engineers, Supervisors & Foremen. The expenditure towards using a technology to map the RPL data gets over shadowed by the reimbursements earned on account of performing RPL for the construction workers.

2.      Make this ‘Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)’ process as a ‘Gate Pass’ to enter the site and fixing the wages. Gradually move towards being a formal sector.

3.      Skill industries could look forward to employing these workers on their rolls provided equal and just assurance comes from the contracting organizations to use these skilled workers for their own works and/or outsource to external markets when not required. When the workers are without any work, they could be sitting on the bench without having to worry about livelihood.

4.      While ‘On-the-Job’ introduce these workers to an organized way of working, meaning define the ‘Work Process’ and let each process step be displayed vide ‘Placard’ more pictorially and less in text as a permanent source of guiding tool at respective workstations. Let the Foremen and Supervisors also monitor and control accordingly.

Example: Reinforcement Works

                                                                    I.           Cutting

                                                                  II.           Bending

                                                                III.           Placing

                                                               IV.           Lapping, Fixing & Tying

·        Each of the above broad process steps could be pictured in a placard which goes on permanent display at their workstations.

·        Cover the ‘where, how, what and why’ part of each of these process steps in whichever vernacular that is required.

·        Placards change with the works that happen at the construction site.

·        Placards could be made available on the mobiles as well.

·        An extended version of placard could look at also giving the quantities, productivity, quality and safety desired. Monitor and control on this basis.

·        Separate works that can be performed at sites and those which can be carried out at the workshop yards etc.

5.      Deploy a ‘Career Map’ where in a worker could rise to the level of ‘Charge Hand’ or even become a Foremen / Supervisor. Career Maps as developed by the ‘Construction Skill Development Council of India (CSDCI)’ are very good and are very much deploy-able.

6.      Fix the minimum educational level of intake as organizational employee. Say for example the minimum intake level for ‘Foremen’ as an employee could be ITI Pass Out or for ‘Supervisor’ as an employee could be ‘Diploma’ holder.

7.      Let the ‘Engineer’ cadre be responsible for the intellectual supervision of the construction projects and cadre below it be responsible for physical execution of the structures.

In short, a Construction Worker’s ‘All round growth’ is equal to ‘Organizational Growth, Net Profits & Success’.