Top 12 Tips for Motivating Construction Staff
If you’re at a loss on how to keep your workforce productive, we’re here to help! Read our top tips for keeping builders happy and productive.
Lead by example with a good attitude
As the business owner, it’s up to you to lead by example. Be motivated, hardworking and present to give the right impression to your staff. If you’re being lazy or negative towards your work, you can’t expect anything different from your staff!
‘I’ vs ‘we’, watching your phrasing
As well as leading by example, you should make sure that your staff think of you as part of the team, not just as an authority figure. Changing your vocabulary from ‘I’ and ‘you’ to a more collective ‘we’ will encourage your staff to view you as a team player, and the more your staff value you as a team member as well as a boss, the more likely that they’ll want to work hard for you.
Reviews/appraisals to encourage and set aims
Regular one-to-one reviews or appraisals are a great way to establish and maintain a relationship with your staff, and are a good opportunity for you to praise your workers for their progress. You can also use these meetings to set aims and goals for aspects of their work that aren’t quite up to scratch. Working towards a target is always a massive motivation, especially if your staff know that the issue will be brought up again at their next review.
Regular team meetings
As well as organising one-to-one reviews, you should begin to incorporate team meetings into your weekly schedule. You will find that gathering your team together to talk about jobs that people are working on, upcoming work and expectations for the week will boost company morale and encourage your staff to take an interest in one another’s work, and knowing that their friends and colleagues will be hearing about their performance at the meetings can be a motivator for staff to work harder.
Let staff have input on decision-making
Make your employees feel valued by asking for their input on decisions. Whether it’s about the best way to tackle a large project, a proposed plan to change suppliers or even a change in uniform, allowing your staff to express their opinion, and feel like their opinion is listened to, will certainly help for morale. You can do this in your team meetings to let everyone say their piece.
(Remember though, you should take the opinions of your staff into account! It’s no good for staff morale if your employees unanimously vote for a nice, blue uniform and you disregard that and opt for a questionable murky brown!)
Compliment staff when a job has been completed to a good level. Credit where credit is due!
Again, this is something that can be incorporated into your team meetings, especially if you have a lot of staff that you don’t see on a regular basis. If you’re particularly proud of the way a project has been handled, don’t be afraid to say so!
Communicate praise from client to staff
If you receive client praise for the site manager or the team of builders who worked on site, don’t forget to pass this along too! Everyone likes to hear that their time and effort has been appreciated.
Make opportunities to progress known with internal vacancies
Whether it’s for financial gain or the chance to have more responsibilities, climbing the career ladder is something that a lot of the working population aspire to, so if there are any vacancies at your business, make sure you let your staff apply internally before you advertise. This will show your employees your loyalty to them, as well as express confidence in their abilities.
Plum jobs for deserving staff
Rewarding your most hardworking staff is another fantastic tool to increase workforce motivation, and in the construction industry there are some projects which are more enjoyable than others, whether that’s because it is a more innovative design or simply very nice clients. Allowing your diligent staff to work these projects rather than some of the more dreary tasks will certainly encourage others to aspire to reach their level.
Get involved with the community
Whether it’s working on a school or hospital, finishing a library or putting together a park, giving back to the community feels good, and can motivate your staff to want to work harder and get the job done quickly and to a high standard so that the community can begin to benefit from the construction.
Give wider perspectives on a project
If you are working on a fantastic community project, let your staff know about it. The more they know, the happier they will be to work – a worthwhile project feels much more important than the construction of another anonymous office building! Similarly, when working on any other project, let your workforce know more about the client and the purpose of the project, as doing so allows them to personalise the job and make it more relatable.
Don’t stinge on the biscuits
Sometimes it’s the little things. Make sure there’s plenty of tea and biscuits to go around and you’re sure to have happy staff who’ll work hard to build up a thirst for their tea break.
Hitchcock & King have been serving London as timber merchants for over 40 years, with eight branches located across the capital in convenient locations offering high quality timber and building materials, knowledgeable staff and competitive prices.