You just won an incredible construction bid, but as you look out over your crew, you aren’t sure they can handle the load. If you’re facing this, or a similar scenario, it might be time to pull in a few high-quality temporary workers. Sometimes temp employees, especially on a construction site, can make your permanent crew nervous. They may think their jobs are in jeopardy or that they aren’t working hard enough. It’s up to you – the management – to keep morale high when bringing in temporary construction workers.
When you want everyone to work together as a team, managers and supervisors have to set the tone. By taking the time to smooth the transition, you can boost relationships between temporary and permanent employees. When you make this a part of your onboarding process, you minimize lags in productivity, fear of job loss and any underpinnings of aggressive attitudes that might infect your workplace environment. Here are three ways to improve relationships between temporary and permanent workers.
Get everyone on the same page – at the same time and in the same way
Your construction crew might be concerned that you might think they aren’t working hard enough. They may wonder if these temp workers are really their new co-workers or new replacements. It’s management’s responsibility to explain why new talent is coming in and how that will affect workload and productivity. Don’t separate them into two groups to explain this – you’ll just further widen the gap. Gather everyone together, treat them all the same and be very, very clear about your expectations for a job well done.
Define the roles of your temporary workers
Know who is coming in, what their background experiences are and what they will be responsible for during their time on your construction team. Speak individually with the temporary crew members to clarify what their job duties will be and introduce them to the best person to answer questions. When your temp crew knows what to do and when to do it, there’s less of a burden of training and onboarding on your current, permanent staff. They’ll respect these temporary workers more when they see that they are prepared for the work at hand.
Set up mentoring programs
Assign partners or small groups that mix the new hires with the permanent staff. Connect them and get them involved so that the team mentality is is strong right from the start. Temporary or not, all employees must work together to create a productive construction site that stays on deadline and produces the high-quality work your company is known for. Helping them build a network among themselves will motivate them to support their peers.
Construction business owners and job site managers know that a company is only as successful as its employees, and that means temporary and permanent, workers and managers. Adding temp employees to your workforce can make a huge difference, but only if you prepare your whole crew for the surge of new faces. You can find premium talent to help you to tackle a heavy construction job, as well as free up your own time to take on decision-making tasks. Interested in exploring how temporary hires can improve your workforce productivity? Give CCS Construction Staffing a call. Our proven solutions have established us as the number one workforce resource for the construction industry.