Are Site Managers and Senior Management doing enough to engage temporary site-workers?

According to the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies, the UK has the highest rate of temporary workers in Europe, with circa 5% of the UK workforce; over 1.3 million temps. Their rights have been defined and are practised according to every tick-box in the process - but are temporary workers genuinely treated fairly or are they subconsciously isolated on construction sites?

It is widely-perceived that there are quality issues, particularly in the blue-collar construction market, and most of the complaints are directed towards recruitment agencies - The general perception is that the workers have not been vetted, qualified or assessed properly, which would mean that there is no value in the additional margin and it can ultimately cost even more time and money in lost productivity. However, it is also important to recognise that despite workers being qualified and experienced, we are still falling short of optimum productivity.

“If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got”

Agencies have a responsibility to ensure that the workers meet specification, including site-specific requirements and they should also assume part of the responsibility in managing the workers, or at least understanding how they are performing on a weekly-basis. However, the other part of this management has to come from site and it is achievable to implement a simple process to create visibility and action over engagement and site-productivity where temporary workers are concerned.

Adenstar Group, like most, have recently acknowledged the issue; but like few, they have decided to take positive and forward-thinking action by launching a new-initiative that aims to analyse and improve site-worker engagement in a bid to improve productivity and commitment. The new scheme - Adenstar Workforce - commits to retaining and developing site-workers that demonstrate capability and work-ethic during working hours.

They have devised a seamless concept whereby a worker will be issued a bespoke development plan that will allow them to work towards professional qualifications and promotions based on quarterly performance reviews. It is proving to be a simple way to identify construction workers who want to take their career seriously and to support them in return for expected productivity. Granted, the workers are effectively still on zero-hour contracts and it will always be difficult to guarantee ongoing work, but Adenstar have invested in market-leading technology to create visibility over their highest-rated workers and the management team is committed to ensuring that good workers stay on their sites and have the opportunity to progress indefinitely.

It is the first model that we have seen, that gives a temporary worker a definitive path from Labourer through to Site Management, with a clearly defined strategy to increase site-productivity and in-house visibility over every worker that has been on site. It can only be a positive step in an industry that current relies so heavily on, and can potentially be affected so detrimentally by temporary workers.

It is a strategy that The Built World is heavily invested in analysing and implementing, and you can get free advice on how this would look in your business by emailing [email protected]

For more information, specifically on Adenstar Workforce, or to find out how to enrol on the development-scheme, please contact Will Postlethwaite on 077799117628 or email [email protected]