It's Time to Rethink Employee Values
Why we need to reinvent workplace culture to thrive in the marketplace of the future.
The pandemic has altered many aspects of the construction workforce. While the full extent of those changes is still taking shape, it’s clear that both employee and employer values have evolved.
“As one of my colleagues put it, the pandemic has allowed individuals to rethink the value of an organization’s values,” says Jordan Rodney, president of MaxPeople HR. “In the past, company values were just hung on a wall or posted on a website, and they weren’t really given much weight. More recently, though, values have become essential in how organizations differentiate themselves from others.”
This renewed focus on values has also impacted the success of companies in weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. “Those that genuinely live and breathe their values, and understand the expectations and behaviours of their people, fared better over COVID and continue to have a better chance at attracting talent,” adds Rodney. “Values such as work-life balance, fair compensation, and diversity and inclusion were all gaining resonance before the pandemic. Now, however, they have become an important part of what defines an “employer of choice.”
This, says Jim Thornton, territory manager for Toromont, is something that aggregate employers must keep in mind as they struggle to find skilled talent. “We keep going to the market looking for people, but we’re not necessarily asking ourselves what they want,” says Thornton. “The generation that’s out there looking for construction has choices, so we have to ask ourselves ‘Why would someone want to work at a quarry compared to other jobs? What values are they looking for, and how can we match those?’”
FINDING BALANCE
Work-life balance has surfaced as one of the most important values today to emerging industry talent. In the case of the aggregate industry, pit and quarry crews have always known the job to be demanding. But today’s employees are emerging from the pandemic with less patience for long hours and demanding work.
Affording greater work-life balance can be a difficult task for an industry with long days and hard work built into its DNA. “There is still a lot of ‘old guard’ around who are used to the lifestyle of waking up at six in the morning and coming home at seven at night. It’s what they’re used to, and they don’t want to change, but today’s generation won’t accept that philosophy,” says Thornton.
What will today’s generation accept? That’s a question Rodney has been investigating with clients across all industries. In construction, as in many sectors, the answer is arrangements that do better to accommodate an employee’s personal life, be it schedules that enable workers to be more involved with their family, more vacation time, or remote employment options for staff who don’t need to be in the field.
“The concept of working from home evolved significantly over the pandemic,” says Rodney. “Before, it was a perk to work one day a week from home. Now, when you’re hiring people, it’s table stakes. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to construction jobs where you need to be physically present, but if you tell someone applying for an office role that they need to be in the office every day, good luck finding talent.”
Aggregate employees are also seeking more flexibility regarding time off. Industry demands can make it challenging to accommodate vacation requests throughout the year, yet it’s another value that deserves consideration. “When you work in aggregates, you can’t stop. We’re all really busy,” says Thornton. “That said, there are some small construction companies that shut down for a week or two in July or August, not because they don’t have the work, but because they know it will help with worker retention.”
WHAT DO YOUR EMPLOYEES VALUE?
To win the war for talent, employers must encourage consistent communication, and use workforce feedback to inform recruitment and retention efforts. “There’s no such thing as too much communication,” notes Rodney. “As a company, you need to be communicating your vision and values regularly. At our company, for example, we do daily huddles every day at 9:15 in the morning, where we talk about accomplishments, successes and challenges. Those huddles have been really important to keeping our culture together.”
Staying in communication is equally essential, adds Rodney, but so is acting on workforce feedback. “What matters are the actions you take as an organization to meet those values and drive things forward. It might be recognition programs, training or development opportunities, but it’s important to not only listen to your people but follow through.”
At the end of the day, there are merits to becoming a values-based organization. Doing so means taking stock of what matters most to today’s talent and making those values part of your organization’s DNA. “This is a long-term play,” says Thornton. “This isn’t something we’re going to fix in a year or two. This is about creating a strategic vision that’s going to make our industry more attractive to construction talent for years to come.”
“We’re all fighting for the same labour force. The question is what values do we need to work on and embrace to stand out from the pack?”
EMERGING VALUES
Talk of workplace values tends to focus on work-life balance. Still, there are other values that are also gaining importance.
MENTAL HEALTH: The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of Canadians. As skilled labour looks for work, they are placing more value on employers who recognize these challenges and take active steps to support employee well-being, be it through meaningful dialogue, employee assistance programs, or tailoring aspects of the job to individual needs.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: Recent years have seen significant social change. Employees are more inclined to sign up with employers who understand that change and are committed to building workplaces where every individual feels welcome and engaged, no matter their background.
“Today’s employees expect a culture of diversity and inclusion,” affirms Jordan Rodney, president of MaxPeople HR. “Companies need to build that culture to be credible in the marketplace for talent.”
BELONGING: A sense of community and belonging is also increasingly important among newer generations of workers. It’s not enough to conduct engagement surveys and make surface course corrections. Employees want to align with employers who embed meaningful and sustainable initiatives that foster a culture of belonging.
RESILIENCY: The aggregate sector felt the impact of pandemic shutdowns and restrictions. As such, skilled talent places a high importance on an organization’s demonstrated ability to push forward and stay the course.
TOTAL COMPENSATION: Money still matters to employees. Yet while employers offering higher wages than the company down the street may have an advantage, there is more emphasis on what else comes along with a job offer. “Today’s employees are like free agents who can command whatever the market is prepared to pay,” notes Rodney. “To differentiate themselves, companies must talk about total compensation. That means not only offering competitive pay, but more benefits, creative offerings and work-life perks.”