How to attract and retain better staff

Finding it hard recruiting good workers? Follow these tips to build a team you can trust!

Economists say construction is on the up, that we’re heading into good years and that we should make the most of it. This is great news – except that there is also a looming shortage of skilled tradesmen.

For many smaller businesses, the shortage has already hit; it’s getting harder to recruit really good builders, with competition tough and larger companies attracting good staff.

To make matters more difficult, some employees are thinking about going it alone by starting their own businesses. You may even have taken the leap yourself in a previous economic cycle.

But, to grow your own business, you need your team to stay.

The following are four keys strategies I’ve observed that help building companies attract and retain great team members.

1. Recruit for team fit

Experienced recruiters know that qualifications, training and experience assure you a candidate has the skills required to do the job. However, they don’t assure they’re a good fit for a particular role in your company.

If you’ve been around construction a while, you’ll know that it takes a fully functioning team to construct a building and make a good profit. Although a dysfunctional team may get the job done, it’s likely to cause you headaches, reduce profits and potentially harm your reputation.

While being nice or fitting the company culture is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t necessarily ensure the candidate is a good fit for the role. For example, if you expect a builder with an outgoing personality to enjoy working alone, you will probably be disappointed. To work to their best, outgoing personalities often need to be part of a team. A more dominant personality will likely want to lead the team. Similarly, if you need someone to do your high-level detailing work, make sure you select someone whose personality is oriented towards doing things right the first time with good attention to detail. It might even be worthwhile to show them a structure with only slight detail defects and see if they can spot them easily.

Whatever your system, make sure your process matches people to their roles. Ask yourself what personality profile the role requires and choose accordingly.

The advantage in doing this is two-fold – you will have happier, higher-achieving staff and, therefore, less turnover.

To get a good idea of personality fit, you can try using one of the personality profiling tools available on the market.

2. Raise the standard of performance

Many people believe that, when the labour market tightens, you should lower the bar – they figure that anybody is better than nobody. However, this is not always true!

In most cases, it’s better to do less work properly with a small, trusted team than attempt heaps with a larger, less experienced team. You may end up with lower revenues, but you will endup with fewer problems. Higher revenues from shoddy workmanship do not usually result in more profit.

In fact, there’s really no excuse for shoddy workmanship at any time.Our country can’t afford it! Be patient and do the work required to find and employ good staff – they are out there ready to join good companies.

Go against the trend by deciding to maintain a high standard when selecting employees – by doing so, you’ll attract better builders.

3. Pay fairly

There is an old saying that “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. If you want to attract and retain better staff, you need to pay better than average wages. It may mean that you need to raise your charge-out rates but, if you have a team that is better than average, they should be able to achieve more per hour.

This means they’ll do more work in less time, in which case your client need not pay any more. It’s not rocket science, just choosing and training the right people.As a high-paying employer, you should soon find it easier to attract better builders.

“Take the time to get your team on board by sharing your vision for the company with them, keeping them informed of progress and dealing honestly with any problems that might arise

4. Keep your team onboard

Most people want to be part of something that is clearly going somewhere good, so tell them about where you are taking the company. Don’t oversell, just tell them what you envisage and ensure it’s an improvement on the current situation, even if the business is already doing well. Most employees want to hear your optimism. They need to know that you believe in what you (and they) are doing, and are doing what it takes to ensure the company keeps growing and developing.

It’s also important to invite them to be part of the development – people like to feel included and be part of a business’ growth.Communication is key to any team environment. Talk about any problems your team is having – it’s highly likely your team knows about them anyway, maybe even better than you do. If you pretend they don’t exist, they won’t trust you, and it’s essential that a team trusts its leader.

So take the time to get your team on board by sharing your vision for the company with them, keeping them informed of progress and dealing honestly with any problems that might arise.

Attracting and retaining good staff in a tight market is a real possibility, but it takes courage and commitment.

About the Successful Builder

Graeme Owen, based in Auckland, is a builders’ business coach. Since 2006, he has helped builders get off the tools, make decent moey and free up time for family, fishing and sports. Get his free ebook: 3 Reasons Builders Lose Money and How to Fix Them for High Profits at www.TheSucessfulBuilder.com