2 minute readEmployee engagement.
There, we said it. As noisy and turbulent as times are now, it remains a homebuilder’s top business risk to survival and flourishing to 2030 and beyond.
Here’s a According to McKinsey analysis: Between December 2019 and 2021, construction wages grew by 7.9 percent, reflecting intense competition for employees.1 And the prospect of higher pay and better working conditions is tempting experienced personnel away from construction and into sectors such as transportation and warehousing, where wages grew by 12.6 percent over the same period. Shape or be shaped. The fact is that the luxury of human capability – your 25 or so trade crews consisting of frontline workers who assemble homes in the building lifecycle – as an externality is just that, a luxury. Either internalize and operationalize your capability – human, technology, capital, land, materials – or suffer the consequence of harm to your business and profitability viability and resiliency. Leaders of homebuilding organizations that have tapped into and fed the sprawling community of practice through which start-to-completion cycles can occur at a rate of about 3,500 per day on a good day now need to look at their human capability not as an externality, but as a matter they no longer can afford not to impact by moving it from the “can not control realm” to the “need to handle domain.” Branka Minic, ceo of Building Talent Foundation, has made action items – versus talk-and-little-or-no-action – her signature in the first two years of the Leading Builders of America drive to attract and activate America’s crucial next generation of construction skill, evolving capability, management, and business leadership. This shows that prioritizing engagement, and providing upskilling, career pathways, and well-trained supervisors, will help companies keep good people,” Minic said. “Engaged employees are also more productive, dedicated and happier. Put simply, companies with an engaged workforce are more successful.” First step for homebuilding business leaders, pros, veterans, and time-tested culture setters is to rethink of the term – employee engagement – not as H.R. speak but as a simple, essential matter of business practice … an area you do have control of as a way to ensure present and future success. Next, start into action in small doses, like learning anything new, with a few ideas that can produce nearly immediate upside results: These include allowing and encouraging employees to pursue professional and skill development, fostering supportive, team-centric work environments, and training supervisors in effective leadership. A variety of resources and training modules are available online at low or even no cost.Join the conversation
