Human Resource Management in Construction Sector

Discuss about the Human Resource Management for Construction Sector.
 

This paper is based on the identification of the challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the construction sector that is faced by the human resource management of the company. Human resource management is a term that is used to describe the formal systems devised for the management of the people within the organization (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The strategic human resource management includes the human resource components such as attracting and retaining a workforce, improve the quality of the work experience and many others. The attraction of the employees is defined as getting the potential candidates to view the organization as a positive place to work. On the other hand, the employee retention means the organization takes few steps to retain the talented employees within the company with the help of the strategies and approaches.

The HRM of the construction sector also faced some of the issues while attracting and retaining a workforce. According to the US National Association of Homebuilders, 82% of the construction businesses consider their foremost concern to be the lack of the construction workers in the market (Castagnino, Buehler & Odeh, 2017). The business of construction is totally depended on the project teams across the world. The challenges that are faced by the construction include the scarcity of the skilled labor, demographic shifts, the rise in the need of the new and broader skill sets at every level driven by surging technology. Considering, the recent survey construction industry conducted for the World Economic Forum with more than 100 respondents, 77% of the respondents agreed that industry found it difficult to attract and retain the talent (Castagnino, Buehler & Odeh, 2017). Though, this was also one of the facts that the organizations involved in the construction industry invest a huge amount in recruitment because they are not able to attract and retain the employees. 

HR of the companies is facing the problems because of the Legal, Ethical and Safety Context. In the construction sector, there are many employees who deal with some of the problems that include legal, ethical and safety issues. The candidate does not want to get involved in the construction sector because they found that this sector is involved in the safety, legal and ethical issues. The construction sector involves the numerous handling issues which might lead to issues for the safety of candidates due to which they don’t want to get involved in the construction sector which contributes in enhancing the issues for the HRM of the industry (Eaves & Gibb, 2016). The organization is responsible for the determining the danger to the candidates and ensuring that they should not harm themselves or the other that are available in the organizations of the construction sector. Many candidates face the fear of life from the use of the machinery and the equipment’s in the construction sector.

Challenges in Attracting and Retaining a Workforce

 Along with this, this has been found that in the construction sector there are many ethical issues faced by the candidate which include diversity, discrimination, and harassment. This prevents the employees of the different regions to perform the work in the construction sector. This has been identified in the research that the demographic factor plays a vital role while attracting and retaining the employees in the construction sector (Scott, 2017). The candidates in the construction sector are selected on the basis of the age group as the companies in the construction sector are not willing to hire the candidate who falls under the old age because these candidates might not be able to put their efforts in the construction sector (Del Puerto, Guggemos & Shane, 2011). These are the issues that are related to the ethical aspect due to which HRM of the companies found it difficult to attract and retain the employees. In addition, the companies that are involved in the construction sector should ensure that they are following all the legal regulations of the country.

Considering the point of the discrimination and diversity in the construction sector, most of the employees who are working in the construction sector are male because the companies are willing to hire more of the male candidates instead of the female candidates. This reflects the discrimination among the employees within the construction sector. Along with this, the privacy issues are also faced by the candidates. The construction sector doesn’t manage the confidentiality of an employee’s personal data. 

Job design includes the process by which the job of an individual, environment where the particular person perform the work and technology in the particular organization to accomplish the set goals and objective (Isichei, & Ayandele, Isaac, 2017). The design of the work of the construction sector leads to the issues for the HRM of the companies because the construction includes the process of constructing the building and infrastructure. In this kind of work, the employees need to room to the places where they can perform the activities of the construction. In this field of the work, most of the employees get the work on the daily wage rate due to which they don’t have the permanent earning source. This might affect the other candidate as they don’t want to work in the industry where no job security is available (Lingard, Francis & Turner, 2010). Along with this, if there is the presence of the continuity in the work then also the design of the work is different than the corporate work. The employees have to make the visit to the site where the construction is taking place. HRM finds the issues in retaining the employees because this design of work is not opted by most of the candidates because they can’t perform the work where they have to make the visits.

Legal, Ethical, and Safety Contexts

Human resource planning is one of the processes that identify the needs of the human resource within an organization to accomplish the goals and objectives. This need for a resource can be current or the future (Norhidayah, Kasim, & Shamsudin, 2012). The human resource management of the company has to ensure they are conducting the planning effectively for the staffing, development, compensation and many others. Though, in the construction industry, it has been observed that the turnover rate of the employees is high which leads to the issues for the company (Investopedia, 2018). The high turnover reflects that the HRM of the companies are not able to lead to the employee’s satisfaction due to which they do not remain in the organization. 

In the construction industry, HRM makes the effective strategies that help them in attracting and retaining the employees. Most of the employees don’t stay in the construction companies when they find the new and attractive opportunity in the market. The four steps that are associated with the human resource planning include the analyzing the labor demand, supply, forecasting and balancing the organizational goals (Pournader, & Baloh, 2015). The HRM of the construction companies needs to make strategies through which they can attract the candidates towards their companies. The candidates get attracted when they find the better option for them which is not possible in the construction industry.   

HRM generate awareness for the opportunity in the labor market along with the high salary packages, more employees benefit and other strategies to attract the employees. The human resource management ensures they are aware of the problems and issues faced by the employees within the organization (Cascio, 2018). This will help them in improving the workplace environment. The workplace environment contributes in retaining within the company due to which it is essential for the human resource management to engage the employees within the organization. In addition, the HR of the companies provides the effective training to the employees. This will help the employees in improving the skills and knowledge which can be used by them to improve the operations of the company that leads to the productivity of the construction organization. 

Recruitment and selection of the employees are directly related to the attracting and retaining the employees. Recruitment and selection are two different terms and concepts in which the recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for the employment and stimulating them to apply for the jobs within the organization (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). On the other hand, the selection includes the series of the steps which the candidates are screened for making the choice for the most suitable person (Bratton & Gold, 2017). HRM in the construction sector faces many issues while recruiting and selecting because the recruitment of the employees is not possible until and unless the organizations are not able to attract the employees towards them. The candidates who have interest and knowledge of the construction sector will only like to enter into the field. Thus, this will make the selection of the employees difficult because they are very less number of candidates are available in the market who have interest in the construction field. HRM of the company finds that the recruitment and selection of the employees in the construction industry is one of the biggest issues due to which the companies are not able to retain the employees (Influx, 2016).

Job Design and Workforce Retention

HR generally hires the employees on random basis because they are not able to attract more candidates due to the less number of the choices. The researcher reflects that his market has less attractiveness due to which the selection of the employees leads to the trouble. HRM of the company finds that the hired employees are leaving the company because they were not having the skills, knowledge, and interest in the construction industry. Therefore, the recruitment and selection of the candidates on the random basis leads to the issues for attracting and retaining the employees within the organization. Thus, it has been observed in the research that the HR of the companies should hire the employees on the basis of their interest and skills in the construction sector. This has been observed by the research associates that the candidates who are willing to work in the construction industry don’t leave their jobs which means they stay for the longer period of time. 

Retention of the employees is one of the important factors which are considered by every employee because the employees of the company work as an asset. One of the issues which are mainly faced by the HRM of companies while attracting and retaining the candidates includes relations with their senior within the organization (Fong, et.al, 2011). The employees want-satisfaction which only comes when they are able to communicate with their superiors and are able to share their issues. This will improve the relationship of the managers with their employees. The relationship of the managers with their employees contributes in resolving all the problems which are the only way through which they can get satisfaction with the work that they are performing within the organization. 

The employee’s satisfaction will help the HRM in retaining the employees within the organization. The relationship between the employees and the supervisor also leads to the rise in the productivity of the employees which is essential for accomplishing the goals of the organization. Though, in the construction sector, the problems of the effective relationship are faced by the numerous employees due to whom the conflict within the construction organization can take place. The opinion and understanding of the supervisor and their team members might vary which leads to the issues in the team (Tooksoon, 2011). This conflict might affect the working environment due to which the employees can leave the organization. Therefore, the analysis comes to the end with the conclusion that the construction sector leads to the many issues due to which the relationship between the employees and managers get affected. This brings the changes in the working environment of the companies and makes the employees leave the organization.

Human Resource Planning

HRM of the company makes an important role in resolving the issue that is faced by the employees by understanding the perspective of both and taking the mutual decision which is the only way through which they can resolve the conflict between the manager and their team members.

The employees don’t get satisfied with the construction filed because they are not motivated or rewards for their work most of the time. This is the reason which leads to the problem of the retention within the organization. HRM of the company finds that there are numerous numbers of people in the construction industry who are not satisfied because of their salaries and the working that they are allocated with (Danish & Usman, 2010). Therefore, the HRM of the company should ensure that there is a facility of the rewards and compensation to the employees for the work that they are performing additional for the organization (Gupta & Shaw, 2014). Moreover, the employees in the construction sector never get the motivation towards the work. In simple words, the employees never get the appreciation for the work that is performed by them in the construction sector which leads to the turnover of the employees. This is the fact that there is a saturation point which is faced by the employees in their job life. Therefore, at a point in a job, they need the motivation towards the work which helps them in performing the activities effectively. Along with this, they also get the motive to remain in the organization. 

The overall analysis reflects that the HRM of the organizations that fall under the construction sector faces numerous challenges related to the attraction and retention of the employees within the organization. There are different candidates who are not willing to work in the organizations that fall under the construction industry. There are numerous reasons due to which the employees are not willing to work which include a design of work, Legal, Ethical and Safety Context and HR planning. All these aspects which contribute to raise the issues of the attracting and retaining the employees are discussed in the paper. Along with this, some of the strategies are also discussed in the paper which might provide the support to the HRM to retain and attract the employees within the construction sector such as motivation, rewards, and compensation to the employees. Along with this, the effective HR planning will also support the HR of the construction sector to perform the operations effectively and to attract and retain the employees within the organization.  

References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Cascio, W. (2018). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Castagnino, S., Buehler, M. & Odeh, I.S. (2017). 8 ways the construction industry can rebuild itself for the 21st century. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/construction-industry-recruit-talent/

Danish, R. Q., & Usman, A. (2010). Impact of reward and recognition on job satisfaction and motivation: An empirical study from Pakistan. International journal of business and management, 5(2), 159.

Del Puerto, C., Guggemos, A. C., & Shane, J. S. (2011). Exploration of strategies for attracting and retaining female construction management students. In 47th ASC annual international conference proceedings (pp. 6-9).

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Gupta, N., & Shaw, J. D. (2014). Employee compensation: The neglected area of HRM research. Human Resource Management Review, 24(1), 1-4.

Influx. (2016). What Are The Problems With Poor Recruitment And Selection. Retrieved from: https://www.influxrecruitment.com/poor-recruitment-and-selection/

Investopedia. (2018). Human Resource Planning – HRP. Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/human-resource-planning.asp

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Lingard, H., Francis, V., & Turner, M. (2010). Work–family enrichment in the Australian construction industry: Implications for job design. Construction Management and Economics, 28(5), 467-480.

Norhidayah, N., Kasim, D. & Shamsudin. (2012). Framework of human resource planning (HRP) influencing factors for local workforce supply in Malaysian construction industry. Journal of Technology Management in China, 7(2), 177-197.

Pournader, T., & Baloh. (2015). A three-step design science approach to develop a novel human resource-planning framework in projects: The cases of construction projects in USA, Europe, and Iran. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 419-434.

Scott, S. (2017). Ethical Issues Facing HR. Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-issues-facing-hr-10821.html

Tooksoon, H. M. P. (2011). Conceptual framework on the relationship between human resource management practices, job satisfaction, and turnover. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2(2), 41-49.