New Data Indicates Construction Companies Struggle to Balance Recruiting and Retention Initiatives
New data from a 2024 Workforce Survey by Arcoro and the Associated General Contractors of America reveals that while construction companies actively recruit diverse groups including new graduates, minorities, veterans, women, career changers, and formerly incarcerated individuals, many struggle with effectively leveraging company culture and training programs to improve recruiting and retention amid a shrinking skilled workforce and ongoing project delays.
Construction employers need to think more strategically about how to incent and retain a shrinking workforce.
As construction companies push to overcome staffing challenges that have led to many project delays, Arcoro has released new data that sheds light on the recruiting and retention strategies being used to address a decrease in skilled workers.
The Associated General Contractors of America and Arcoro, the leading platform for construction and specialty contractor workforce solutions, conducted and released initial results from the 2024 Workforce Survey earlier this year. Nearly 1,500 firms completed the survey, which included several questions specifically focused on recruiting and workforce management to better understand how and where the industry is attracting talent and managing the talent they have.
“Construction employers are overlooking key opportunities that can help them strengthen their recruiting and retention efforts and, hopefully, come out on top,” said Chad Mathias, Senior Vice President of Sales and Strategy at Arcoro. “Technology, programs and resources represent a powerful combination for improvement.”
Never-before-released results of these workforce questions show that companies are making efforts to recruit from diverse candidate pools. Respondents reported actively targeting the following groups:
- 85% recruit new graduates
- 81% recruit minorities
- 80% recruit veterans
- 79% recruit women
- 51% recruit career changers
- 35% recruit formerly incarcerated individuals
However, there’s progress to be made in some areas central to recruiting and retention strategies in the tightest job market in decades.
When it comes to culture, 52% of respondents said they have and promote a well-defined culture, while 51% indicate their culture helps with their recruiting and retention strategy. Meanwhile, 20% said they either don’t have a defined culture or don’t promote it.
There’s also room for improvement in training and upskilling workers. About 24% of companies haven’t implemented any upskilling techniques. Among the 76% that have, a variety of methods are being used:
- 45% are strengthening performance management
- 27% have established new learning programs
- 25% are using technology to deliver and track training
- 34% are partnering with a third-party for courses
- 32% have implemented career pathing
Surprisingly, only 14% said they use a platform to improve performance management. Survey results also indicate that companies see the value of feedback and performance management, with 53% conducting annual formal reviews. Meanwhile, 36% said they have an informal review process, and 14% reported they have no formal process.
Equally surprising is the use of analytics in the industry. 49% of respondents said they don’t use any business intelligence (BI) or other data to help with their workforce planning and management, 35% indicate they have access to and use this type of data, 10% said they would use BI if it was available to them, and 4% said they have access to BI data but don’t use it.
“This new data makes it clear that construction companies will have to up their game to recruit and retain talent in the future,” said Mathias. “However, many companies have yet to adopt modern technology for core HR processes, like training or performance management. This represents a real opportunity for the industry to take advantage of HR solutions that enable them to be more efficient and effective.”
About Arcoro
Empowering the builders of our world, Arcoro is time tracking and an all-in-one HR technology platform purpose-built for the construction industry. As a trusted partner, Arcoro's solutions help construction companies manage their unique workforce needs, offering the most ERP integrations of any HR software provider. Backed by best-in-class customer support, over 7,000 companies rely on Arcoro to save time, improve accuracy, reduce risk, and lower workforce costs. Learn how Arcoro can elevate your business at Arcoro.com.
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