You have likely read about – or have been affected by – the labor shortage that the construction industry is experiencing. I thought I’d illustrate that by describing our recent round of hiring. We originally wanted to hire 18 laborers, but only selected 17 people.
This is a typical scenario for the 17 laborers that we hired:
- Of the 17 hired, only 14 showed up for the (paid) training day
- 1 person quit on the second day of work
- 2 more people will quit within the first 10 days of employment
- We will have to let another 4 people go within the next 3 weeks due to tardiness, unexcused absence, or not being productive on the jobsites.
- 2 more will quit over the next 3 months
- After 3 months, only 5 of the 17 will likely be active, productive employees
This attrition is in spite of a refined hiring and training process. We have put a lot of hours and attention into how we screen, interview, hire and train new laborers.
Their first day here is a full day of training given by me personally. In addition to classroom time, we show them how to set up a footing and wall in training areas at our shop. We educate them on what we do, why we do it, and why their role is important to the successful construction of a home or commercial building foundation.
The workforce has changed dramatically from the mid-2000s. During that time, if we hired one Hispanic worker on Monday, three would show up on Tuesday morning simply because they heard we hired someone the day before. And, they would be ready to go to work that very day.
Today, there are very few Hispanics available to work. All of our recent hires have been non-Hispanic people. It is now incredibly difficult to find people that are willing to work hard in tough conditions on a regular basis. With this new workforce, we have seen our jobsite man hours increase as a percentage of revenue. This means we are less productive and less profitable with every project.
We don’t expect the current labor situation to change any time soon. The immigration legislation that Georgia and the Federal government have enacted all but ensures that the current state of available construction laborers is now the “new normal.”
So what is the answer to this labor situation? At Herbert Construction Co., we’ll continue to refine our hiring and training process to get the best people to show up for the job. We will look for more ways to reduce labor with better construction systems, tools, technology and equipment. There are advancements to be made…and it is up to us to find them. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
If you’ve found ways to be more efficient with your available workforce, I’d love to hear about them. Call me at 678-859-2304, or send me and email at Doug@HerbertConstruction.com.
To Your Success,