How To Attract And Retain Workers In The Future, Part 4: The 4-Day Workweek
By Ted Garrison, Garrison Associates
The 10-hour, four-day workweek is essential to creating greater flexibility.
Labor shortages and competition will force the construction industry to become more attractive to potential workers. While some may believe the 10-hour day will cause chaos, in reality it will create substantial benefits through greater flexibility.
I spent two summers framing houses. During the second year, one house forced us to go to 10-hour days, but once we adjusted to the longer day, everyone including the boss desired to continue it for the rest of the summer. Why did everyone rally around this approach?
Benefits to the contractor
The direct benefits to contractor of the 10-hour workday include the following:
• Increased productivity. Surprisingly for some, the longer workday actually increases productivity. Sometimes there is a minor reduction during the first few days, while workers adjust, but that quickly disappears. However, working longer than 10 hours a day over extended periods can reduce productivity. Factors that contribute to increased productivity include the elimination of one start-up, one shutdown, one morning break, and one afternoon break per week. Each of the above consumes about 15 minutes. Plus, anytime someone is interrupted and has to restart, it takes about 10 minutes to get back into the activity at full speed. Therefore, eliminating the above items can save the contractor about an hour and a half per week, or nearly 4 percent.
• Rain days. The four-day week allows contractors to make up lost rain days without working on weekends. It also leaves Saturday for overtime if it’s needed or if multiple rain days occurred during the week.
• Overtime. At critical times in a schedule a contractor might require some overtime to maintain the schedule. This approach would allow overtime to be performed on a Friday. Contractors may find more employees less resistant to overtime on a Friday than a Saturday.
• Ability to attract and retain workers. Greater job flexibility will attract more workers. Further, it potentially will allow contractors to attract better workers because competition will require greater accommodation for the best workers.
Benefits to the worker
Greater job flexibility is a major consideration for today’s younger worker. The construction industry needs to accept this and adapt to the Gen Y’s requirements because the baby boomers are going start retiring and Gen X is a very small group. This means the industry needs to attract Gen Y to survive. In essence, the industry is in a buyer’s market and the employee is the buyer.
Professor Barbara Jackson of Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo told me if the construction industry doesn’t change, Gen Y will leave. To understand the problem, let’s examine the situation from their perspective.
• The younger generation wants more time off for their friends. Creating a three-day weekend is an ideal solution.
• Further, I would suggest that contractors, especially on larger projects, keep the project open 10 hours a day for five days a week as a norm. While a large number of workers will elect the schedule of four 10-hour days, there will be others who require different flexible hours. This may include a single parent who must remain on an eight-hour day in order to drop off a child before work and pick up the child before closing. Others may have a doctors’ appointments.
• Further, some workers may prefer to work on Friday and take off on Monday.
A few other thoughts
• Of course, contractors can find many reasons this approach is unworkable, but they need to get off that wagon. Instead, contractors must ask, “How can we make this work?” Other industries have solved this problem, so I’m sure the contractors can figure it out.
• If the project is open for five days, the contractor can collaborate with the workers to increase the workforce during busy times and lower it during slower times. If done correctly, everyone will still be able to work 40 hours a week. This greater flexibility can offer substantial benefits to both contractor and workers.
• Of course, this will require management to think in a different way, but when managers understand the benefits of greater flexibility, they will realize the effort is worth it.
• This approach is merely a suggestion. Contractors will do what they want, but the pending labor crisis will make these kinds of changes essential. Contractors must make the job attractive to enough workers, or their schedules will increase, resulting in increased overhead costs. This will cause the contractor to become less competitive and threaten its very survival.
For Part 1 of this series, click here. For Part 2 of this series, click here. For Part 3 of this series, click here.
Ted Garrison, president of Garrison Associates, is a consultant, author and speaker to the construction industry. Ted is the host of the Internet radio program, New Construction Strategies. He can be reached at Ted@TedGarrison.com.
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