How To Effectively Manage Employees Who Have More Tenure Than You

Effectively managing employees who have more tenure than you can be challenging. They may be more focused on your limited experience with the organization than how you can help them achieve their goals.

The employees you manage might have preconceived notions about your competence or ability to lead. This impacts the level of trust between you and your team.

As a result, you must demonstrate your ability to coach your team, provide guidance, and navigate forward. The following suggestions can help.

Implement these tips to effectively manage employees who have more tenure than you.

Talk With Your Employees

Schedule time to talk with each employee about their daily routine, challenges, and feedback on the department. Show you want to collaborate with your team to make decisions.

Employees who have more tenure than you typically know things about the company that you do not. Therefore, asking for their input helps effectively manage them.

Your employees have different skills and more experience with the organization than you do. Use these advantages to work together to reach company goals.

Confidently Make Decisions

Express confidence in making business decisions. This shows your team you are highly competent in your role.

Include your employees in as many discussions as possible. Show that their knowledge and input are valued and appreciated. This promotes feelings of authority and respect.

Promote Learning

Encourage your employees to prioritize learning. This helps them advance within the organization. Your employees will appreciate your support for moving forward in their careers.

Accept Responsibility

Admit when you make a mistake. Determine what went wrong. Learn how to do better next time.

Leading by example sets the standard for your employees. It models the behaviors you want to see from them.

Support Your Employees’ Success

Clarify your expectations for your employees. Provide the resources needed to perform the work. Hold your team accountable for their results.

Acknowledge your employees’ knowledge and abilities. Ask how you can help your team better perform their work. Respond accordingly.

Publicly acknowledge your employees’ successes. Privately provide constructive feedback to improve performance.

Looking For Help Hiring?

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Workplace Safety Month: Keeping Your Construction Team Safe

Did you know that June is National Safety Month? Safety is so important for your construction employees that an entire month is dedicated to increasing awareness of the issue.

Working construction in Summer increases the need for additional safety measures. More sunshine, heat, and humidity means you need to take additional precautions to protect your employees.

Implement the following tips to increase safety for your construction employees during hot weather.

Guard Against Heat Exhaustion 

Heat exhaustion is caused by the body becoming overheated to the point where it cannot cool itself down. This can turn into heat stroke if left untreated.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion include the following: 

  • Intense sweating 
  • A rapid or weak pulse  
  • Low blood pressure 
  • Cool skin with goosebumps despite the heat 
  • Muscle cramps 
  • Nausea  
  • Headaches  
  • Fatigue, dizziness, or fainting

Protect Against Heat Stroke  

Heat stroke can occur when the body is exposed to excessively high temperatures for an extended time. The body’s natural temperature regulating mechanisms fail, causing a fever and the potential to lose consciousness.

Symptoms of heat stroke include the following: 

  • A core temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher 
  • Change in sweating patterns 
  • Rapid heartbeat 
  • Headache  
  • Red skin 
  • Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, or delirium  
  • Nausea or vomiting 

If left untreated, heat stroke can lead to muscle, kidney, heart, or brain damage or death.

Monitor Your Employees’ Work Schedule

Try to avoid having your employees work during the hottest hours of the day. For instance, have your employees begin work earlier in the morning, before the sun has had time to increase the temperature. This can reduce the time spent working outside during the midday heat. Also, if parts of the job require indoor work, consider having your employees work inside during the hottest hours and outside when the temperature is less extreme.

Provide Regular Breaks

Ensure your employees take frequent breaks. Continuous engagement in demanding work increases the odds of your employees becoming injured or ill. This is why they need additional breaks as the day gets hotter.

Remind your employees to sit down in the shade during breaks. If there are no trees or other natural sources of shade, you may need to put up tents, awnings, or other items to create shade.

Provide Water 

Remind your employees to drink lots of water throughout the day. Staying hydrated in the heat is vital for your employees’ health.

You may want to make available large coolers packed with ice and water. Also, ensure your employees are drinking water at least once every 15 minutes throughout the day. This applies even when employees don’t feel thirsty. Regular hydration promotes proper sweating to regulate the body’s core temperature.

Want to Add to Your Construction Team?

Trade Management has the construction workers you need to complete projects. Contact us to learn more today. 

How to Optimize Your Construction Workflow

A construction workflow is the coordination of tasks among people in an organization. This includes the passing of data and information to guide the appropriate action.

A construction workflow typically follows a hierarchy of approvals and privileges based on job description. Optimization of the workflow is designed to maximize the company’s profits. Examples include the processes for accounts payable, payroll processing, submittals, RFIs, and closeouts.

Most companies look for ways to improve these processes. There typically are methods to improve efficiency and work quality. The use of fewer resources to maintain customer satisfaction leads to greater profit.

Because improvements in your construction workflows take time, you want to get started on the process today. The sooner you begin, the sooner you can start to see results.

The following information can help you optimize your construction workflows.

Common Workflow Issues

The majority of construction workflow problems fall into one of three areas: 

  • Communication: Data and information must be efficiently transmitted and communicated in the field or back office. 
  • Data management: Data needs to be stored and accessed in a centralized location to provide the correct information needed to complete tasks.  
  • Visibility: Transparency in each workflow and the progression of events is needed to keep track of where an employee or team is in a process.

Methods to Improve Workflows 

You can use collaboration, automation, standardization, and elimination (CASE) to correct construction workflow issues. 

  • Collaboration: Employees need to work together to uncover and resolve siloes, inefficiencies, and redundancies in the workflows. Employees can complete more work in less time. 
  • Automation: A reduction in data entry, approval pathing, and general clerical tasks would increase the efficiency and accuracy of workflows. Responsibilities that take two employees may be completed by one employee.  
  • Standardization: The collection and storage of data in one platform increases employee access and ease of use. This reduces compartmentalization and the potential for error.  
  • Elimination: Get rid of redundancies, inefficiencies, compartmentalization, siloes, and human error as much as possible. These actions increase efficiency and accuracy throughout your organization.

Want Help with Hiring?  

Trade Management can provide you with the construction workers you need when you need them. Get in touch with us today.

Building Positive Team Culture as a Foreman

TradeManagement_August

TradeManagement_AugustYour role as a foreman includes setting the tone for your crew’s interactions. Because you need everyone to work together to stay on target, collaboration is necessary. One of the best ways to encourage teamwork is by creating a positive team culture. Your crew is more likely to perform their best when they feel like part of a united team.

Follow these guidelines to promote a positive team culture as a foreman.

1. Lead by Example

Demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors you would like to see from your crew. Your workers are likely to behave according to what they see you do. This is why you should openly commend your team members for their hard work, kind actions, and meeting or exceeding expectations.

2. Huddle Your Crew

Gather your workers at the start and end of each day. Talk about the day’s work efforts, safety reminders, and other work-related topics. Ask your crew to provide their ideas for completing the day’s tasks. Encourage them to talk about the challenges and shortcomings before they leave for the day. This shows your workers’ contributions are valued and respected.

3. Get To Know Your Team

Find out which work tasks each of your crew members likes and dislikes, how your workers adjust to others, which forms of learning are their favorites, and how they prefer to receive feedback. Use this information to personalize your requests and expectations for each crew member. You should benefit from enhanced relationships, increased motivation among your team, and greater performance.

4. Change up Partnerships

Regularly assigning different crew members to work together enhances teamwork and learning. Your workers get to know each other better and gain new perspectives on how to complete tasks. This encourages everyone to continuously improve their performance.

5. Provide Proper Tools and Equipment

Your crew needs tools and equipment to be in the best working condition to produce the desired results. Purchasing the necessary items and ensuring they are correctly handled and regularly inspected shows you want your workers to succeed and encourages them to respect the tools and equipment.

6. Express Appreciation

Regularly thank your crew members for their hard work. Show how their dedication added to the progress made each week. When a job is completed, point out specific ways each of your workers contributed to the finished product. Reward them with lunch, bonuses, raises, or promotions when appropriate.

Hire Skilled Workers

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Rebuilding Your Workforce – The Benefit of Hiring Contingent Labor

With new safety procedures required for companies to reopen, it is time to get back to work; however, that might mean rebuilding your current team. When determining how to hire, you must understand the uncertainty surrounding current projects and the potential for plans to change. The solution may be finding workers on a contract basis. Consider these benefits of hiring contingent labor.    

Get the workers you need faster   

You are trying to make wise decisions, but you do not want a long process in making them. After evaluating the scope of the project, you know the tradespeople required and want to onboard them as soon as possible. Typically, this would begin an exhaustive search for permanent hires, but with contingent, you can focus on the skills that matter and recruit workers fast. With the assistance of a staffing agency, you can locate these individuals and get the project started faster.    

Hire for specific skills   

Another benefit of contingent labor is the skill–sets workers bring to the table. You are looking at their specific abilities to do one specific job, or maybe several tasks related to your project. You can focus your search on what you precisely need.    

Opportunity for permanent hire   

You set the terms of how long you need the candidate for, and you can offer a contract-to-hire option if desired. This means you are only looking for a tradesperson for a set amount of time, but there is the potential for a more long-term relationship should the opportunity be there.    

Help from niche staffing agencies   

Previously, the benefit of a faster hire was mentioned, and a staffing agency is the best way to do it. Most agencies focus on an industry to better understand the needs of their clients. When sourcing, they are constantly looking for the top workers who are able to meet a wide variety of needs.  

We can help you with your trade staffing needs 

Trade Management exists for this reason. We know you need time to focus on what makes you profitable: building and bidding, so we take care of the rest. We continually source and screen the quality personnel needed for today’s skilled trade and construction workforce. Want to learn more about how we can help you?  Contact Trade Management today!