A busy project season is what every construction and manufacturing manager wants — but only if their team and company is equipped to deal with the surge of new projects and more employees. While the busy season can yield fruitful business results, these times of year are also ripe with challenges. Here are a few of those business challenges — and how a comprehensive talent management system like BirdDogHR can help.
Too Much Work, Not Enough Staff
The National Association of Homebuilders estimates there are 200,000 unfilled construction jobs across the country — an 81% increase in the last two years alone. This poses a year-round challenge to the construction industry — and this is especially true during the busy season.
Avoid a deficit of skilled workers by proactively investing in the BirdDogHR Recruitment and Applicant Tracking System. This solution features a built-in talent bench where HR departments can collect a pool of qualified candidates for the interview and hiring stages. By recruiting early and keeping candidate names on file, your company will have a better chance of hiring the right candidates, even during the busy season.
Busy Season is Also Vacation Season
Construction busy season often aligns with prime vacation season, and that’s not good news for already understaffed companies. A best practice is to ensure employee vacations are planned well in advance. By asking employees to request their holidays as early as possible, you will have a better sense of how many seasonal employees you will need to hire from your talent bench. This will mean your employees are more likely to get the time off they deserve.
Requested time off is best communicated by using BirdDogHR Collaboration. This platform makes it easy for employees to communicate with with their peers because it offers a space where they can share details of vacation time. It also lets them share best practices that fellow employees should keep in mind during an employee’s absence.
No Time for Onboarding
Onboarding new team members is important throughout the year, and this can’t be omitted during the busy season.
The solution to this is a time-saving employee onboarding software that will automate the slowdowns of getting started on a new job. BirdDogHR’s onboarding software is 100% paperless, and aids the completion of administrative paperwork. This means your management and HR teams have more time to focus on the onboarding topics that matter: answering pressing questions and explaining important safety and operating procedures.
Ensuring an Understanding of Health and Safety Regulation
Health and safety is a core value of any construction and manufacturing site. In addition to the impact that an incident can have on workers, choosing to neglect health and safety training during the busy season can impact your bottom line. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) estimates direct workers’ compensation costs employers nearly $1 billion each week.
One solution to this challenge is to change the workplace culture around health and safety issues. Prioritize safety discussions during onboarding and create a culture where team members, regardless of their seniority, have channels through which they can report unsafe behavior. This can be reinforced with online training through the BirdDogHR Learning Management System (LMS). Construction industry-specific courses designed with the help of industry experts can drive home the importance of safe operating procedures. Additionally, the LMS is a central place where managers can ensure their employees are up-to-date with their safety certifications.
As of January 2017, OHSA also requires that employers track workplace injuries and illnesses to improve health and safety across the country. Using a digital solution like BirdDogHR to log company incidents and illnesses can streamline the electronic submission of these claims.
With leading construction companies using our software, BirdDogHR knows what it takes to get through the rush of the busy season.
