The Contractor's Compass - October 2021

MONTHLY EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SUBCONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION

OCTOBER 2021

Construction Outlook

1004 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 | (703) 684-3450 | www.asaonline.com | communications@asa-hq.com

As risk management becomes more prevalent, subcontractors are often forced to fill lengthy forms for a chance to win the project

COMPASS is the first tool built for subcontractors to efficiently and securely satisfy General Contractor prequalification requirements using one standard form (1Form), updated once a year.

To support moving the industry to a universal qualification form, sign up for the petition below

https://forms.gle/CKoejWC7jCJowvPt9

1-800-689-6819 info@compass-app.com http://compass.bespokemetrics.com

FASA'S

EDITORIAL PURPOSE The Contractor’s Compass is the monthly educational journal of the Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (FASA) and part of FASA’s Contractors’ Knowledge Network. FASA was established in 1987 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity to support research, education and public awareness.

Through its Contractors’ Knowledge Network, FASA is committed to forging and exploring the critical issues shaping subcontractors and specialty trade contractors in the construction industry. The journal is designed to equip construction subcontractors with the ideas, tools and tactics they need to thrive.

OCTOBER 2021

F E AT U R E S Employers Prepare to Comply with the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements...................................................................10

by Jamie Hasty, SESCO Management Consultants

Construction Outlook: Retaining Top Employees Should Be Your Top Priority........................................................................................14

by Dale Carnegie staff

The views expressed by contributors to The Contractor’s Compass do not necessarily represent the opinions of FASA or the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (ASA).

Contractors: You Can Do More to Motivate Workers’ Compensation Insurers to Compete for Your Business...............................17

MISSION

Building Tomorrow Today: How You Can Shape the Next Generation of Craft Professionals.......................................................22

To educate and equip subcontractors and suppliers with the education and resources they need to thrive in the construction industry. Additionally, FASA raises awareness about issues critical to and about construction in the United States.

SUBSCRIPTIONS The Contractor’s Compass is a free monthly publication for ASA members and nonmembers. For questions about subscribing, please contact communications@asa-hq. com.

ADVERTISING Interested in advertising? Contact Richard Bright at (703) 684-3450 or rbright@ASA-hq.com or advertising@ASA-hq.com.

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS Contributing authors are encouraged to submit a brief abstract of their article idea before providing a full-length feature article. Feature articles should be no longer than 1,500 words and comply with The Associated Press style guidelines. Article submissions become the property of ASA and FASA. The editor reserves the right to edit all accepted editorial submissions for length, style, clarity, spelling and punctuation. Send abstracts and submissions for The Contractor’s Compass to communications@ASA-hq.com.

ABOUT ASA ASA is a nonprofit trade association of union and non-union subcontractors and suppliers. Through a nationwide network of local and state ASA associations, members receive information and education on relevant business issues and work together to protect their rights as an integral part of the construction team. For more information about becoming an ASA member, contact ASA at 1004 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314-3588, (703) 684-3450, membership@ASA-hq.com, or visit the ASA Web site, www. asaonline.com.

LAYOUT Angela M Roe angelamroe@gmail.com © 2021 Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, Inc.

by Bob Tuman, CCR Consulting

by Nicole Needles, NCCER

How to Proactively Manage Financial Risks for 2022..................................24 by by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com

An Inside Look at the Current State of Cost Management in Construction...................................................................................26

by John Biggs, writer

Mind The Gap: Addressing Age, Skills, ..............................................................29 Image Discrepancies in Construction

by Patricia Cuomo, Fonn, Inc.

People: The Big Story for Construction, 2022...................................................31

by Jack Rubinger, freelance writer

Going Through the Motions—An evaluation of REAL project planning that is more than checking boxes...................................................32

by Gregg Schoppman, FMI

D E PA R T M E N T S ASA PRESIDENT'S LETTER.......................................................................................5 CONTRACTOR COMMUNITY...................................................................................6 ALWAYS SOMETHING AWESOME.........................................................................8

QUICK REFERENCE ASA Awards Time......................................................................................................... 34

Coming Up........................................................................................................................34

REGISTER TODAY! www.subexcel.com

March 9–12, 2022

Onward!

Miramar Beach, Florida

PRESIDENT 'S LET TER Dear ASA Members: As we move into the Fall, I am continually reminded by the education opportunities that ASA provides. I was invited by the Houston Chapter to attend a lien and bond workshop on the new changes in Texas lien law that ASA was a part of making happen.

On a National level, I want to remind each of you of the in-person programs National presents via webinars, podcasts and in-person events such as SUBExcel. Additionally, many of these programs are recorded and available to you through your online access to the ASA website. .Later this month I will be attending the ASA Attorney’s Council fall meeting in San Antonio. This is an amazing group of lawyers, from all of the chapter’s across the country that are focused on meeting the needs of subcontractors and assisting you in protecting your rights. The work this group does has resulted in many notable publications such as the ASA fifty state guide to retainage laws. This group, at a Chapter level, presents many of the programs your companies have come to look forward to, such as Killer Contract Clauses and state-by-state lien and bond educational programs. These are just a few of the programs the members of the Attorney’s Council put forward, at no profit to themselves, that yield a direct positive impact to your company’s bottom line year after year. .The American Subcontractors Association is unique in the support and management of its Subcontractor Legal Defense Fund (SLDF), devoted to protecting the rights of subcontractors in appellate court cases across the country. The work of this group is often done at no-cost, or reduced costs by the attorneys that are members of your ASA Attorneys Council. Most recently, the SLDF was active in Oklahoma fighting to protect subcontractors against an attempt by a prime contractor to waive a subcontractors lien rights without the subcontractor’s knowledge or consent. Fighting to protect your rights from actions like this are of utmost importance, and every dollar you or your firm donates to SLDF goes directly to fighting in the appellate courts across the country to protect your rights. Just because a case occurs in another state, it doesn’t mean it won’t impact you! State Courts often look to other states for guidance on new or novel questions, and it is of utmost importance that ASA via SLDF be able to fight the good fight on behalf of every subcontractor.

I. hope the fourth quarter is strong for each of you. Remember, education is the key to being better subcontractors and better leaders in our companies.

Sincerely in your service, Brian K. Carroll ASA President 2021-2022

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

5

CONTRACTOR COMMUNIT Y New Address for Member Payments After October 12th!

To those ASA members who mail their dues or other ASA National payments to the ASA P.O. Box in Baltimore, please note that the mailing address will be changing on October 12th. The payment processor we use is moving to Philadelphia. The new address is: American Subcontractors Association P.O. Box 715418 Philadelphia, PA 19171-5418 Please note that ASA National has not moved, just the banking address has changed. We know that our friends at USPS are working hard to handle all of the mail that comes through, but please help us make things easier for everyone by using the correct address after October 12th.

OSHA Advances Employer Vaccine Mandate for White House Review On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID applicable to employers with over 100 employees was sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. We understand the review process will move quickly and have been told to expect the rule to be issued before the end of this month. We are also told it will have an implementation that will make it fully effective around the end of the year. More to follow.

OSHA’s New Heat Exposure Rule On September 21, 2021, OSHA announced efforts to address heat-related illnesses. Per OSHA, “while heat illness is largely preventable, and commonly under-reported, thousands of workers are sickened each year by workplace heat exposure. Despite widespread underreporting, 43 workers died from heat illness in 2019, and at least 2,410 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses.

Increased heat precipitated by climate change can cause lost productivity and work hours resulting in large wage losses for workers.” The Atlantic Council's

6

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center estimates the economic loss from heat to be at least $100 billion annually, a number that could double by 2030 and quintuple by 2050 under a higher emissions scenario.

OSHA is implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards, developing a National Emphasis Program on heat inspections, and launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard. Additionally, the agency is forming a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group to provide better understanding of challenges and to identify and share best practices to protect workers.

Recently, OSHA implemented an intervention and enforcement initiative to prevent and protect workers from heatrelated illnesses and deaths while they are working in hazardous hot environments.

The newly established initiative prioritizes heat-related interventions and inspections of work activities on days when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

The OSHA initiative applies to indoor and outdoor worksites in general industry, construction, agriculture and maritime where potential heat-related hazards exist. On days when a recognized heat temperature can result in increased risks of heat-related illnesses, OSHA will increase enforcement efforts. Employers are encouraged to implement intervention methods on heat priority days proactively, including regularly taking breaks for water, rest, shade, training workers on how to identify common symptoms and what to do when a worker suspects a heat-related illness is occurring, and taking periodic measurements to determine workers' heat exposure.

OSHA Area Directors across the nation will institute the following:

• Prioritize inspections of heat-related complaints, referrals and employerreported illnesses and initiate an onsite investigation where possible.

• Instruct compliance safety and health officers, during their travels to job sites, to conduct an intervention (providing the agency's heat poster/ wallet card, discuss the importance

T H E

of easy access to cool water, cooling areas and acclimatization) or opening an inspection when they observe employees performing strenuous work in hot conditions.

• Expand the scope of other inspections to address heat-related hazards where worksite conditions or other evidence indicates these hazards may be present.

This month, OSHA will be issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on heat injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. The advance notice will initiate a comment period allowing OSHA to gather diverse perspectives and technical expertise on topics including heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, exposure monitoring, and strategies to protect workers.

Get Recognized at SUBExcel!

Apply for ASA Awards ASA Awards are the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the incredible work that ASA members are doing in the industry each and every day. Nominate a colleague, another business, your local chapter, or even yourself for a wide variety of ASA Awards. Each award will be presented at SUBExcel 2022.

Available ASA Awards include:

• ASA Certificate of Excellence in Ethics • ASA National Construction Best Practices Awards • President's Award • Subcontractor Federal and State Advocate Awards • Attorney's Council Awards • John H. Hampshire Distinguished Lifetime Service Award • Timmy L. McLaughlin Exemplary Leadership Award • ASA Outstanding Service Award • ASA Chapter and Chapter Leadership Awards • ASA Safety Award Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to honor the amazing work being done by ASA members.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

It's always something TM

A Little Bit of Normal Feels So Special

by Mary Klett, ASA Communications Team

Want to see and feel the enthusiasm from a great group of subcontractors and general contractors when they are able to meet in person?

Then take a look at this!

On September 22, 2021, the New Jersey Subcontractors Association held their first “Meet the GCs Expo” since 2019. Typically held in March, everyone was eager to get going this year rather than waiting until 2022. And yes, they’ll be hosting another

“Meet the GCs” in March, having firm commitments from the GCs. While many “Meet the GCs” Expos have taken place in the past, we’ve missed them. There’s nothing like one-on-one talking, meeting, and the camaraderie of in-person events.

Yes, we have missed in-person events due to COVID-19, and thanks to Buddy Freund sharing NJSA’s video, we get a recent reminder of just how important they are.

Jai Pate with Loading Dock, Inc., summed up the essence of in-person events: “I came here with ideas to help others, and I’m leaving with more ideas than I was providing.”

8

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

The Contractor’s Compass is recognizing excellence in ASA’s ranks. Every month we are highlighting the activities, achievements, and actions of ASA members that might inspire others. Do you have something you want to share?

Send us an email at communications@asa-hq.com.

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

9

F E AT U R E Employers Prepare to Comply with the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements

by Jamie Hasty, SESCO Management Consultants

On Oct. 12, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sent a draft of the emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring vaccination or weekly testing of workers for employers with 100 or more employees to the White House's regulatory office for approval.

The ETS is expected to be reviewed and approved by the White House very quickly and employers will need to be prepared for implementation and compliance. By preparing now, employers can avoid possible penalties due to lack of planning.

These steps will help an employer be prepared to comply with the new requirements, which may become effective immediately upon release. Statements made by OSHA officials regarding anticipated requirements are included below but are subject to change under the ETS. As a reminder, private employers (businesses) with 100 or more

10

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

employees are likely to be subject to the following:

• For states without their own OSHA

state plan, an immediate effective date upon release of the ETS is possible.

State plans will likely be given a time frame in which to come into compliance, possibly as little as 15-30 days.

• Expected challenges: The governors

of several states have indicated they will challenge the mandatory vaccinations for the private sector, so it is possible some or all of the new requirements may be delayed until legal challenges are resolved. Employers should not assume their obligations will be lifted, however, and should prepare now.

• Employee threshold calculation:

Guidance is expected within the ETS as to how employees will be counted (i.e., at one location, total organization population, joint-employer implications,

T H E

parent company versus subsidiaries, etc.). Officials have suggested that the 100 employees will be based on total organization headcount.

• Testing: Who pays for the alternative

weekly testing is unclear. Most group insurance must currently pay for suspected infection or exposure testing, but routine testing is not yet addressed.

Some states also currently require any required medical tests to be paid by the employer.

• Paid time off: The ETS will include

requirements to provide paid time off to covered employees to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects.

Whether current PTO may be used for this is unclear.

• Fines: Employers who do not comply

with the ETS could face OSHA citations and penalties of up to $14,000 per violation.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

• Record keeping: If retention of proof

of vaccination and testing is required, OSHA has substantial record-keeping requirements. Employers should start to prepare to track and retain these documents.

Employers are encouraged to begin adopting the mandates before the release of the regulations. The following are steps employers can and should be taking prior to OSHA’s ETS issuance. Consider: STEP 1. DETERMINE EMPLOYER COVERAGE All private employers with 100 or more employees will be subject to the federal ETS or a state standard that meets or exceeds the requirements of the standard. Employers should count all employees individually, whether they are full time, part time or working on a temporary basis. Independent contractors and leased employees (where the client employer is not the employer of record) are not counted. Further joint-employment stipulations may be addressed in the ETS. If an employer's total headcount fluctuates above and below 100, the ETS will most likely apply if the total has reached 100 at any time during the year.

The ETS should provide specific details on this when released.

STEP 2. SURVEY CURRENT EMPLOYEES ON VACCINATION STATUS Understanding how many unvaccinated workers an employer has will help inform the best compliance approach for the organization. For example, an employer with only 10 unvaccinated workers might allow those employees to choose either vaccination or weekly testing, whereas a company with 100 unvaccinated workers may find the logistics of collecting weekly testing documentation too difficult, and therefore decide not to offer the testing option.

Surveying employee sentiment around required vaccination will also help an employer prepare for its communications around the policy they decide upon. Should unvaccinated employees disclose they will quit instead of getting a vaccine, this information can also be used to prepare for workplace staffing needs and associated costs.

STEP 3. RESEARCH TESTING Whether an employer will offer the option of weekly testing to unvaccinated

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

workers—or only use testing as a religious or disability accommodation— understanding the logistics of testing should be reviewed before determining the employer's compliance approach.

Accessibility Questions to consider:

• Are there testing locations near the

workplace? What are their hours and procedures for testing? How long does it take to get testing results there?

Contact these locations to determine which vaccines they offer and what their capacity is for handling your employee testing.

• Is onsite testing a more convenient

option? For employers with large numbers of unvaccinated workers, a vendor-run testing program at the workplace might be a good approach.

• What day(s) of the week will the

employer require testing? Will local testing locations be open and available to test all impacted workers? For example, if an employer requires a negative test result each Monday, will all employees be able to get a test near the worksite the week before, or will employees need to be tested on their off days? If testing during the workday is the only available option, how will employee late arrivals or early departures for testing affect productivity?

• Which test will the employer accept?

The ETS should offer some details on which tests will be acceptable but understanding the different options ahead of time is helpful.

• The rapid test (an antigen test)

yields results in about 15 minutes but can give inaccurate results. It appears to be most effective when someone is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.

• The PCR test (polymerase chain

reaction) is the gold standard test.

Results are usually available in two to four days. This is the most accurate test, for both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, which makes it more reliable for routine testing.

Home testing kits are widely available at pharmacies and online, some with mail-in options for results (PCR), while others give

C O M P A S S

results in about 15 minutes (rapid antigen test). The Biden administration supports the use of home testing and has secured commitments from Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to sell the kits at cost. The Food and Drug Administration has currently authorized several brands for home use.

Employers could obtain these and make them available for use at the workplace, or employees could use these at home. The latter, however, would require a great sense of trust in those employees.

It is possible that employers may be able to place the onus of testing completely on the employees, and just accept their documentation, but this might be confusing and stressful for employees and lead to disruption in the workplace and lower productivity.

Cost While the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, as amended by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, provides for free COVID-19 testing of insured and uninsured individuals when determined medically necessary by a healthcare professional, the law does not currently require free testing for general employment purposes. The ETS will hopefully address this issue as to whether employers or employees must bear the cost of testing, but OSHA cannot legislate insurance companies to do so. Therefore, understanding the cost implications of testing before implementing a policy is advised.

Cost questions to consider:

• Are there current state laws that

would require employers to pay for employment-related costs? For example, California requires the reimbursement to employees for necessary business expenses, which would apply here. Check all applicable states as employees are governed by the laws of the state in which they perform work, which may not be where company headquarters is located.

• What are the projected costs for both

the employee and employer for testing?

Contact local suppliers to compare pricing, including organizations providing onsite testing services. The IRS has stated that in-home tests would be reimbursable under flexible benefits plans such as flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts,

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

11

which may help employees manage costs.

• Will the cost of testing, if paid for by the employee, bring the employee's weekly pay below minimum wage? Both the Fair Labor Standards Act and some state laws would not allow this.

• Will an employer's budget allow for

employer-paid testing for as long as the ETS is in place (which would be six months to start, then it could be extended for another six months or made a permanent standard)? Or is mandatory vaccination, which is free, the better option?

STEP 4. CONSIDER PAID-TIME-OFF REQUIREMENTS President Biden's plan calls for paid time off (PTO) to be given for an employee to receive the vaccine and to recover from any side effects. While the ETS will provide details on this requirement, an OSHA official has stated that employers will likely be able to require the use of the PTO the employer currently offers to its employees, rather than require additional paid leave.

Nothing, however, would stop an employer from creating a new type of paid leave just for this purpose.

The regulations should address the proper actions to take if an employee who has already exhausted their paid leave needs time off to receive the vaccine or recover from it. Until then, employers may wish to consider whether offering a new bank of leave or advancing PTO to these employees might work better for their organization.

Additionally, state COVID-19-related laws might also require additional paid leave for time to get or recover from the vaccine.

For employers who include a testing option for unvaccinated workers, the time spent obtaining a COVID-19 test may be considered hours worked depending on the circumstances, such as directing employees to use a specific provider at specific times. Hopefully, the ETS will provide further guidance for employers.

While less likely, employers may also be able to require the use of PTO for workers who are unable to get tested outside of work hours. This would not be a popular option from a worker's perspective but could potentially induce them to choose vaccination over weekly testing.

STEP 5. ADDRESS REMOTE-WORKER REQUIREMENTS

12

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

While the executive order requiring vaccination for federal workers also requires most employees working from home to be vaccinated, the ETS may not. If an employer has remote workers who will never come into the office, employers may be able to use remote work as an option for unvaccinated workers.

If allowed by the ETS, an employer may choose to consider a full-time remote-work option, determine how many employees this would apply to, what the employeeeligibility requirements would be, what the associated costs with long-term telecommuting might be and any other data meaningful to the company.

STEP 6. DETERMINE A COMPLIANCE APPROACH AND CREATE A WRITTEN POLICY After examining the data in the steps above, employers should determine if they will:

• Allow unvaccinated workers the option of weekly testing in lieu of vaccination.

• Require vaccination for all employees without the option for weekly testing, except when allowed as an accommodation.

• Help employees find testing locations and provide cost information if applicable.

• Pay for testing, if not required by the ETS.

• Increase leave banks, if not required by the ETS

• Allow full-time remote-worker positions

to be excluded from the requirements, if allowed under the ETS. A clearly written policy should detail the requirements the employer has decided upon and the consequences for noncompliance.

Procedural requirements might include:

• Required documentation, both for proof of vaccination and for weekly testing.

The ETS will hopefully detail employer options.

• A process for employees to submit

required documentation and procedures on storage and retention of the information.

• Time frames for current and new hires to comply.

• A system for religious and disability accommodation requests.

T H E

• The steps to be taken if an employee

fails to comply, up to and including termination.

STEP 7. DEVELOP EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS Start developing employee communications now. A memo to employees about the upcoming ETS that explains the employer will be in full compliance with details to follow will help to set expectations. If an employer has already determined some compliance aspects it wishes to share, or if company policy is already in line with the forthcoming requirements, communicating that as early as possible would be advisable to build trust.

Communicate ahead of time where employees can go to get vaccines near the workplace, or how to find a location near their homes, and keep this information easily accessible. Detail whether or not employees must seek testing outside of work hours.

Some employees will most likely choose to leave the company rather than be vaccinated, and early communications may give them a head start, leaving employers with worker shortages. Knowing the percentage of unvaccinated workers and their sentiments as surveyed in step 2 above can help an employer prepare for this. However, any employer with 100 or more workers will be held to the same vaccination requirements, so a mass exit may not come to pass. If warranted, employers may want to communicate that a discharge for violating a company policy (such as mandatory vaccination or testing) generally makes an individual ineligible for unemployment insurance.

About the Author SESCO Management Consultants will continue to monitor and report on developments with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and will post updates in the firm’s COVID-19 Resource Center as additional information becomes available. SESCO specializes in human resources consulting services and federal and state employment law compliance. We welcome your call to discuss compliance questions as well as provide to you, as an ASA member, free telephone and email consulting for human resource related questions or needs.

Contact a SESCO Management Consultant today at (423) 764-4127 or via email at sesco@sescomgt.com.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

BUILT FOR INDUSTRY,

BY INDUSTRY. NCCER’s construction curricula lead to portable, industry-recognized credentials. Check out these recently updated titles:

• Core: Introduction to Basic Construction Skills • Concrete Construction Levels 1-2 • Electrical Levels 1-4 • Fundamentals of Crew Leadership • Heavy Equipment Operator Levels 1-3 • HVAC Levels 1-4 • Masonry Levels 1-3 The newly released sixth edition of Core features a new module, more rigorous performance tests and extensive updates on math, hand tools, power tools and drawings.

You can find more information on all of our available titles at www.nccer.org/curricula.

INTERACTIVE TRAINING Enhance your craft training program with NCCERconnect!

This virtual curricula offers many of NCCER’s most popular titles and lets instructors take advantage of digital content.

Visit nccer.org/virtual-training to get started.

©2021 NCCER

F E AT U R E Construction Outlook: Retaining Top Employees Should Be Your Top Priority

by Dale Carnegie staff Reports that we are about to see a wave of employee departures as the pandemic eases suggest that companies in many industries must take action or brace themselves for significant turnover. In a recent global survey by Dale Carnegie Training, we found that most employees (79%) are confident in their organization’s future. Many, however, do not intend to stay with them for much longer. In the U.S., for instance, a record number of people left their employers in April and high numbers continue to quit.

Reasons For Post-Pandemic Employee Departures Some of the departures are easily explained. A number were just delayed due to uncertainty in the first months of pandemic. Early on, many older workers took the opportunity to simply retire a little earlier than planned, reversing a decades-long trend. Some quit to take care of their own health or that of loved ones. Others found the pandemic experience changed their core attitude toward the purpose work has in their lives and are reassessing accordingly. But these explanations do not fully account for what appears to be a remarkably large group still at work who are currently looking to leave their current situation.

Employees Were Generally Satisfied with the Way Leaders Managed the Crisis When we asked more than 6,500 employees around the world how satisfied they were with the way their organization managed its business and people during the pandemic, 71% said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”. Fast forward to now and our examination of the emotional drivers of employee engagement, we found that, since the Covid-19 emergency, a

14

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

significant number of workers (roughly 6 in 10) actually reported feeling neutral to less connected, empowered, valued, and appreciated by their leaders and organizations than during the Pandemic.

In addition, job satisfaction during the pandemic has been high. As was reported in Forbes in May 2021, “many of the components of employee job satisfaction that companies directly control, such as the health plan, performance review process, flexible time plan, family leave plan, sick leave, and supervisor, significantly improved in 2020” with those changes carrying over into 2021. If all this is true, why are so many considering leaving?

How The Employee Experience Has Evolved Covid-19 has shattered the “employee experience” that organizations have spent years crafting to attract and retain talented employees. It made aspects of work life easier for some and tougher for others. Those working from home no longer share similar offices or workstations, lunchrooms, or even internet speeds. People in the field office have had to adapt to virus-driven safety guidelines.

Times of stress tend to be revealing.

When we asked how well their organization stayed true to its values when making decisions during the Covid19 emergency, just 62% said “well” or “very well”. Memories of this period will influence people’s feelings about their organization’s culture for some time.

Employees Have Come to Expect Empathy, but Leaders Find It Hard to Sustain The effects of the pandemic also resulted in empathetic behavior some employees never expected from their

T H E

leaders: offering to cover the costs for • Most employees are confident in their organization’s future. At the same time, there are a considerable number who do not intend to be part of it. Employee exits are on the rise.

• Clues to why this trend is occurring can be found in how leaders are handling the closing stages of the pandemic.

• For many organizations, it is time to evaluate and mend a fragmented employee experience. backup childcare, extra sick leave and “hero pay” for front line workers. Several companies have committed to cover education costs for the children of its employees who succumbed to the virus.

In fact, research shows that workplace empathy ratings rebounded in 2021 after years of decline. Yet as (what we hope is) the conclusion of the health emergency nears, many CEOs can’t wait to get back to the “old normal” that better suited their own preferences. However, these preferences often conflict with those of many of their employees. Empathy doesn’t come naturally to many senior leaders.

In their 2021 State of Workplace Empathy study, Businessolver reported that, this year, nearly 7 in 10 leaders admitted they fear they will be less respected if they show empathy in the workplace and about the same number said they struggle to consistently show empathy in their work life. On both points, there were big increases over 2020 suggesting many leaders are finding empathy especially hard to sustain over the long term. It wouldn’t be surprising if employees now feel a sense of betrayal as leaders’ empathy begins to

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

evaporate–while the problems they face themselves remain.

When compelled to by the crisis, companies allowed WFH (work-fromhome) and communicated more often and clearly, providing a window into an employee experience that some workers didn’t know could exist. Now there are a considerable number who are unwilling to return to a time when company leaders chose to ignore difficult issues such as burnout, childcare, mental health, and other challenges of integrating work-time with home-life.

Advice For Leaders to Build a Culture Of Empathy This is a critical time for employee retention. Here’s some advice for leaders: 1. Embrace and continue empathetic leadership. If it’s not a strength for you, make the effort to build the skill.

2. Actively listen and consider how the employee experience looks now for

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

each employee – and how decisions may once again change it for better or worse.

3. Gather good data and use it. Do not be misled by your own experiences and preferences; doing so may be detrimental to productivity, engagement, and the bottom line.

4. Remember that it’s all about expectations – you can’t turn back the clock. Employees know now what they want and it’s up to employers to deliver if they intend to retain top talent.

The pandemic’s effects have been different for each of us. Leaders, too, may need a little extra support. If you’d like to learn more about how you can help your organization, please check out your ASA Leadership Series.

C O M P A S S

About the Editor: Robert Graves, MBA, is a Dale Carnegie Certified Trainer for Rick Gallegos and Associates. His focus is Sales Leadership and Customer Service. He is the author of “Making More Money with Technology.”

He often writes on the evolution of Marketing, Sales and Service. Robert can be reached at robert.graves@ dalecarnegie.com.

About Dale Carnegie: Dale Carnegie is a global training and development organization specializing in leadership, communication, human relations, and sales training solutions.

More than 9 million people around the world have graduated from Dale Carnegie training since it was founded in 1912.

Dale Carnegie Training can help an organization build effective interpersonal skills that generate the positive emotions essential to a productive work environment and that lead to increased employee engagement.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

15

Shorter training sessions and special ASA Member rate to get all your leaders back on the job with world class

Develop Trust, Credibility and Respect Company-Wide Accountability starts with clearly defined performance objectives, and effective leaders measure individual and group contributions against those ends. Learn effective coaching techniques and other tools to help close the gap between expected performance and actual results.

Members: $199 Read More ASA 1 (2-hour) Session, Wed., Nov. 17 , 2021 Non-Members: $299

Create Your Work-Life Breakthrough for 2022 By analyzing our current levels of energy and focus in each aspect of life – work, family, health, community, spirituality, social life, and finances – we can determine how satisfied we are with each, identify potential stressors, and plan a course of action based on what is truly important to us.

Read More ASA Members: $199 1 (2-hour) Session, Thurs., Dec. 14, 2021

Non-Members: $299

Business Development: Handling Objections Give your salespeople practical tools to handle objections at all points in the sales cycle. This 2-hour sessions Live-Online, Instructor-Led Workshop will help you gain more customers to build your business.

Read More ASA Members: $199 1 (2-hour) Session, Thurs., Jan. 20, 2022

Non-Members: $299

Leading Strong Teams on the Jobsite Successful leaders seem to develop strong teams wherever they go, no matter what task their team is assigned. Everyone has a set of strengths that they rely on -- it's your job to spot and direct those strengths to the Read More ASA Members: $199 Non-Members: $299 benefit of your team mission .

1 (2-hour) Session, Thurs., Feb. 8, 2022 Live-Online, Instructor-Led, Dale Carnegie-Certified Training opportunities that develop leaders who keep the crew running right, support important clients, and who move your projects ahead!

F E AT U R E Contractors: You Can Do More to Motivate Workers’ Compensation Insurers to Compete for Your Business

by Bob Tuman, CCR Consulting In my almost 40 years as a construction safety consultant, I worked with hundreds of contractors and performed several thousand workers’ compensation Loss Control Surveys.

In completing the insurers’ Survey Report, I compared the newly insured’s ACORD and Supplemental Applications’ answers with my Survey findings, identifying and citing discrepancies. Surprisingly, I found numerous disconcerting discrepancies which, in some cases, resulted in cancellation for “material misrepresentation”. For example, numerous masonry and framing contractors with unfavorable loss experience and which did not have active scaffold safety and fall protection programs answered “Yes” to owning, building and using pipe scaffolding and to having trained and certified scaffold “Qualified and Competent Persons''- to build and inspect pipe scaffolding.

Given the number of fatal scaffoldrelated accidents nationwide (see OSHA’s weekly fatality listings in OSHA.gov), during jobsite visits I made a point of thoroughly inspecting pipe scaffolding. I observed missing guardrail, missing toe board/kickboard (falling object protection), scaffold frames not pinned to each other or secured to structures, and numerous fall hazards. These contractors also reported that untrained employees erected and dismantled scaffolding and could not provide scaffold safety inspection reports. I left these jobsite visits scratching my head. Why did the underwriters agree to insure these contractors?

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

History does tend to repeat itself. To illustrate worst case, a newly-insured façade restoration contractor with unfavorable loss experience, including falls off of pipe scaffolding, submitted a death claim in the second month of the new policy year when a 45 yearold employee fell off the unguarded end of pipe scaffolding and died the next day. The large loss investigation found no scaffold safety program, no documented scaffold inspections, and no scaffold-trained employees. Review of the Supplemental Application and accompanying notes revealed that the contractor stated that it owns and erects pipe scaffolding and has an active scaffold safety program in place, including scaffold Competent Person and employee scaffold safety awareness training.

I rated these new insureds BELOW AVERAGE, often issuing “Critical” recommendations, a recommendation which requires corrective action(s) 10 days from issuance. This increased scrutiny did not sit well with the new insured and its agent, and both often resisted the increased focus.

This forced underwriters to threaten cancellation for non-compliance. Bad feelings all around.

So…how can you prevent this from happening and increase your chances of being rewarded for your efforts to keep employees safe and healthy?

The answer: Provide insurers with documentation evidencing your efforts to control your injury and illness risks and exposures.

Let’s go through a standard “Workers’ Compensation Supplemental Application” and

C O M P A S S

review documentation you can and should provide during the application process. Too busy? Ask your agent for help. She or he is an experienced and knowledgeable professional who has a wide array of resources.

Operations and Benefits Driver safety: Provide: 1. Signed and dated driver safety training records, training materials, driver safety guidelines, and drivers’ acknowledgements that they understand and will comply with driver safety guidelines. 2. Proof that you obtain and review new hires and current employees’ Department of Motor Vehicles’ (“DMV”) driving records and at least annually. 3. Proof of enrollment in a program similar to the California Employer Pull Notice Program. With drivers’ advance written consent, this program authorizes the DMV to notify you as soon as possible after your drivers’ violation.

Early Return-to-Work: Provide: Your Early Return to Work (“ERTW”) program, including information on injured employees who returned to modified duty and, if it was helpful, a modified work schedule.

Just go through your “loss run” and describe what you did after each accident, including corrective actions.

Do you have a passive or proactive Early Return to Work program? A passive ERTW program generally relies on the temporarily-disabled employee’s medical provider(s) to release her or him to modified duty.

A proactive ERTW program is one where management is in regular

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

17

contact with the temporarily-disabled employee, her or his doctor(s), and the adjuster, and where management continually assures and reassures the injured employee that it wishes to get her or him back to modified work ASAP. Further, proactive loss management provides doctors, their injured employees, and adjusters with descriptions of proposed modified duty jobs and tasks, with caveats that management will continually adapt the proposed modified duty jobs and tasks to accommodate injured workers’ capabilities and restrictions.

Why is a proactive Early Return to Work program preferable to a passive program? Proactive efforts demonstrate employers’ caring, ability, and willingness to return injured employees to modified work and, if needed, a modified work schedule. Conversely, as adjusters and underwriters understand, passively waiting for medical providers to release injured workers to modified work or their regular jobs can and does take time, causing claims to drag on, requiring additional costs and increases in reserves. Loss prevention and LOSS MANAGEMENT go hand in hand. Some accidents may not be preventable (i.e. the roofing contractor’s employee who was struck by lightning twice- he lived, but sustained long-term neurological problems), but employers with proactive Early Return to Work programs can exert control over what is done to return injured workers to modified work.

I have not done a statisticallysignificant study of employers’ approaches to Early Return to Work, but I can state with certainty that clients who took the proactive approach enjoyed more favorable loss experience than those who waited for doctors to release employees to modified or full duty. Further, engaging the injured worker early and often (“How are you feeling? We have a

18

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

job for you whenever you’re ready to return to light/modified work. What can we do for you? Do you and your family need anything? Did you get your check? We’d like to visit. When will you be up for visitors?”) and regularly contacting medical providers (“Can you take a look at the light duty/ modified duty job we’ve created? If you don’t think your patient is physically capable of doing this work, can you provide our employee’s capabilities and restrictions so that we can modify the job- and arrange a modified work schedule- to make it more suitable?

We are committed to getting injured employees back to work in any capacity.”) cemented the relationship with anxious injured workers.

Hiring Practices–Employee Selection–Claims Hiring and applicant screening practices: Risk management starts with applicant screening. Describe your recruiting, hiring and applicant screening practices. Does more than one manager interview applicants?

Recruit from Craigslist? Labor services? Temporary help agencies?

Word of mouth referrals from current employees? Though I have not conducted statistically significant hiring and applicant screening longitudinal research, I can state with certainty that those contractors which hire applicants referred by trusted employees have more favorable loss experience, solid productivity, and employee retention than those employers who hire persons unknown to them.

Is job-specific training provided?

Provide signed and dated copies of job and injury-and-illness exposurespecific new hire and employee training records. If you were a workers’ compensation underwriter, would you insure a roofing contractor (and one with large fall-related claims) which does not have a fall protection program

T H E

which includes new hire and employee fall protection training and mandatory fall protection?

Subcontractors used? If yes, are certificates of insurance obtained and kept on file? “YES” doesn’t tell you much about your subcontractor certificate of insurance diary system.

Describe your subcontractor certificate of insurance diary system. Do you enter, and where do you enter, subcontractors’ expiration dates?

Paper spreadsheet? Manual system which tasks a designated employee to monitor? Database system which alerts you with a “pop up” in advance of expiration? How far in advance of expiration? Who is in charge of monitoring subcontractors’ certificates of insurance? How often does that employee look at expiration dates?

If you have a manual system, when does the designated monitor contact subcontractors to obtain renewal certificates?

All too often, contractors let their subcontractors start work before verifying that they have workers’ compensation insurance. Many contractors elect to withhold payment for work already performed until they receive a certificate of insurance, with them named as Additional Insured.

I know what you’re thinking- you’ve used the same subs for years, and you trust them. However, think about this: there are many reasons, most of them innocent, why contractors’ unintentionally let their insurance lapse and why contractors fail to request subcontractors’ certificates of insurance.

This can have costly consequences.

True story: An excavation and trenching contractor which had been coached by its agent on the importance of obtaining subcontractors’ certificates of insurance, forgot to obtain a certificate of insurance before it subcontracted excavation and trenching work to

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

another known and trusted contractor.

The subcontractor’s operator flipped his excavator, fell out, and the excavator landed on his legs, resulting in compound fractures, multiple surgeries, and the operator’s permanent and total disability. The workers’ compensation free care pool subrogated the six figure claim to the subcontracting excavating contractor, its insurer cancelled its workers’ compensation insurance, and the agent was forced to place this contractor in the assigned risk pool.

The contractor’s premium more than tripled in each of the following 3 years.

Safety Program and Organization Are owners active in daily operations?

Provide: The number of projects you work on during an average day, specifying how many of these are active, how often you visit each project, and specifically what you do when visiting jobsites. Walk the jobsite? Safety inspection- do you document? Corrective actions? Issue safety violation notices? Meet with the Super and lead Foreman to discuss project particulars? Participate in coordination meetings?

Prospective insurers want assurance that owners are hands-on managers or task jobsite managers to do whatever they can to protect employees, that they visit jobsites often, and that they devote some time during each jobsite visit to employee safety. Smaller contractors have designated Safety Officers. Owners should detail exactly what these Safety Officers do. Insurers and their Loss Control Consultants frown on contractors whose Safety Officers are in name only.

Active injury and illness prevention program? Sorry for the cliché, but ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. I have seen a great many safety manuals covered in dust.

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

Provide: A copy of your safety rules.

These should ideally be exposurespecific- “Fall protection is mandatory at all times when on roofs with no perimeter fall protection, signed and dated employee acknowledgements that they understand and will comply with your safety rules, and signed and dated copies of exposure-specific safety meetings (ladder safety, scaffold safety, trench safety, electrical safety, etc), safety training and safety inspections. If you were a workers’ compensation underwriter, would you insure a framing or roofing contractor which does not have a documented fall protection program with new hire and current employee fall protection training and mandatory fall protection?

Has Cal/OSHA or OSHA visited or cited your business in the last year?

Provide: Copies of the OSHA citations for the past five years.

Further, describe OSHA inspections which resulted in NO citations, and why there were no citations or fines.

Describe the corrective actions you took after the citation(s) and what you continue to do to ensure a safe workplace. I have noticed that Cal OSHA Compliance Officers visit work sites during summers to check on employers’ adherence to their Heat Illness Prevention Program. Several insureds which I surveyed received citations for inadequate execution of their Heat Illness Prevention Program Preempt discovery of citations, as every employers’ OSHA citation history is public and can easily be accessed by going to OSHA.gov, typing “Establishment Search” in the upper right hand search box, and entering the contractor’s name and other information in the designated fields.

Do you have a safety director or risk manager?

Provide: The name of the full-time or part-time Safety Director/Risk Manager/Safety Officer and what she or he does. Revises safety documents?

C O M P A S S

Performs jobsite safety inspections with timely corrective action?

Conducts jobsite safety meetings?

Safety training? Provide her or his signed and dated inspections, safety meetings, safety training records.

How much time (10%, 20%, 50% of an average day, week, month?) does this person devote to safety? What are her or his qualifications? All too often, and especially with small contractors, the designated safety director or risk manager is neither qualified (i.e. no formal safety training such as an OSHA 10 or 30 Hour Construction Safety course), nor does she or he actually do anything. If you were a workers’ compensation underwriter, would you insure a contractor whose safety director or risk manager is in name only?

Do employees receive safety training/orientation? If yes, how often? If yes, is the training formal/ documented or informal?

Provide: Exposure-specific signed and dated safety training/safety orientation records.

For example, if you are a site contractor or excavate and trench, you are undoubtedly aware of incidents where workers were buried in excavation and trench cave-ins.

You also may be aware of OSHA’s excavation and trenching National Emphasis Program (warrantless inspection of construction projects involving excavation and trenching) promulgated after years of fatal excavation and trench cave-ins. Given this awareness, if you were a workers’ compensation insurance underwriter, would you insure an excavation and trenching contractor which does not have an excavation and trenching safety program and practices, and which has NOT conducted excavation and trenching Competent Person training, including when and how to inspect excavations and trenches to minimize cave-in potential?

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

19

Any lifting exposures? If yes, less than 25 lbs., 25 to 40 lbs., 40+ lbs?

Provide: Descriptions of the heaviest objects, material, and/or equipment a single employee lifts each workday, how many times that employee lifts that object, material, and/or equipment, and what you are doing to minimize costly back and other bodily injury.

Let’s play this out. You are a drywall and stud contractor. Individual employees lift and carry one +/- 44 lb. sheet of drywall 10 times per day, 5 days a week, 40 weeks a year. Let’s do the math: 44 X 10 X 5 X 40. That’s 88,000 lbs. every year, year-in and year-out.

You’ve got to assure the insurer that you are doing as much as possible, including equipment-assisted and multiple-person lifting and holding supervisors, superintendents and alike accountable for enforcing safe lifting and material/equipment handling practices.

Forklift training provided? If yes, annual certification?

Provide: Signed and dated copies of forklift operators’ certificates of completion of “Powered Industrial Truck” training and retraining.

A general contractor’s rough terrain forklift operator accidentally backed up over the carpenter Foreman’s legs, resulting in compound fractures, multiple surgeries, and permanent and total disability. The investigation found that the operator’s training card had expired two years before and that the operator had been observed driving too fast and recklessly, both grounds for disciplinary action and rough terrain forklift retraining/recertification.

Written lock out/tag out/block out procedures in place?

Provide: Signed and dated copies of new hire and current employee “Control of Hazardous Energy/ Lock out/Tag Out/Block Out” training records. This should include documented retraining of employees

20

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

annually and in the event an employee failed to adhere to the program’s procedure and requirements.

Note: When underwriting electrical contractors or contractors which perform electrical work, ask for the same as above, and also ask for signed and dated copy(s) of National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”) 70E training record(s). Given the number of electrocutions and electric arc flash and arc blast-related burns and fatalities, NFPA 70E training and arc flash/arc blast protection must be a critical component of every electrical safety program.

Respiratory protection program in place?

Provide: 1. A signed, dated and employee-acknowledged copy of your Respiratory Protection Program for respirator wearers. 2. Signed and dated copies, without employee identifying information, of respirator wearers’ respirator medical clearance letters, respirator fit tests, proof of respiratory training- i.e. how to perform a respirator seal test, how to select the correct cartridge filter to minimize exposure to, for example, chemical fumes, dusts, lead, asbestos, and how to care for and maintain your respirator.

What is the maximum height at which you will work? What is used? Ladder?

Scaffold? Scissor lifts?

Provide (ladder safety): Signed and dated and employee-acknowledged ladder safety program, ladder safety meetings, ladder safety training records and ladder safety inspections.

Provide (scaffold safety): Signed and dated copies of scaffold Qualified and Competent Person(s) completion of training certificates, Competent Persons’ signed and dated scaffold inspections.

Provide (scissor lift safety): Signed and dated copies of operators’ completion of scissor lift training certificates.

T H E

Personal protective equipment provided? If yes, strict enforcement of utilization?

Provide: Your list of required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and how you enforce use. This could be a combination of incentives and penalties, or just “You are required to wear a hardhat, safety glasses, work boots, a Class II high visibility vest, protective gloves, and face covering, period.” Supervisors tire of having to remind employees to wear PPE, so many contractors mandate the aforementioned PPE, no exceptions.

This policy is much easier to manage.

Contractors Any use of cranes, booms or similar heavy construction equipment?

Provide (cranes): Signed and dated copies of recent (within the last 12 months) crane inspections, crane operator’s license, and the crane company’s “Pick Plan” for your project.

The Pick Plan details, among other things, where and how the crane contractor will site the crane, how they will set up a Controlled Access Zone to protect both their and other contractors’ workers, and how they will keep unauthorized persons away from the crane operations.

The international General Contractor, an employer which had received many prestigious safety awards, was awarded a multi-billion dollar contract to transform a major US city’s aging industrial and warehouse area into a new residential, commercial and retail mecca. They demolished all but one industrial building, using it to house offices, meeting rooms, and employee break rooms. They erected a tower crane, and initiated a plan to protect employees working under crane operations, including vacating and locking the office building before commencement of crane operations.

Unfortunately, the General Contractor relaxed its vigilance, stopped vacating the building and locking its doors.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

Instead of verifying that all workers were out of the building, they just used the PA system to ask workers to exit the building. And, instead of locking the doors, they intermittently strung caution tape in front of entry ways.

One day the crane was moving multiple steel beams into place when they came loose, fell and crashed through the roof, hitting the Site Safety Officer and a Project Manager, and killing both. The Site Safety Officer’s parents both worked on this large jobsite, and the Superintendent was tasked to tell them that their son had been killed.

Provide (boom cranes/aerial lifts): Signed and dated copies of operators’ completion of boom crane/aerial lift training certificates and statement that the contractor requires employees to wear safety harnesses while working in aerial lift work platforms.

Any work below grade? Maximum depth in feet? % of total work?

Provide: 1. Minimum, average and maximum depth to which you excavate and trench, and specifically how you protect workers against cave-in.

Note that electricians, plumbers, underground utility contractors, and other trades also work in excavations and trenches, and have to be protected against cave-in and spoils piles (excavated dirt and stone placed near excavations and trenches) falling into the excavation or trench, or collapsing trench walls. 2. The depth at which you require cave-in protection. 3. Signed and dated copies of completion of excavation/trench Competent Person training certificates, employee excavation and trench safety awareness training records/safety meetings, and recent excavation/ trench inspections.

Note that many excavation and trenching contractors hang their hats on cave-in protection when the depth is 5’ or greater. Not so, cave-in protection is required at shallower levels in other circumstances when the soil is unstable.

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

Note OSHA’s excavation/trench National Emphasis Program. Under Local, Regional and National Emphasis Programs, OSHA Compliance Officers do not need warrants or probable cause to inspect projects involving excavation and trenching.

Any confined spaces exposure?

Provide: Note: It has been my experience that unless contractors regularly work in manholes, duct banks, electrical vaults, tunnels, large vessels, culverts, and/or other spaces and structures with limited means of entry and exit, known or suspected hazards, and spaces not meant to live in, that they don’t know what constitutes a permit-required or nonpermit-required Confined Space.

So, how should you address “Any confined spaces exposure?”

Answer: Employees work in … manholes, electrical duct banks, electrical vaults, vessels, tunnels, deep excavations and trenches, culverts, and/or other spaces which only have one entrance and exit, which contain or may contain hazards (i.e. active manhole with residual methane fumes), and which are not meant for continuous occupation (? 5%, 10%, or other percentage) of the time.

Answer: Attached please find a copy of our Confined Space Entry safety program with Confined Space Entry procedure(s), copies of employees’ completion of Confined Space Entry training certificates, and recently signed, dated and completed Confined Space Entry Permits. We own and use a regularly- calibrated and recalibrated gas/oxygen meter, a tripod, safety harnesses, 2-way radios, blowers and vacuums (provide photos).

Many years ago, the occupational health clinic I managed received a call from a large manufacturing client that a 23 year old employee had died. The employee was found at the bottom of a silo-size vessel used to sterilize plastic products. This manufacturer sterilized plastics by injecting a special heavierthan-air chemical into a closed and

C O M P A S S

sealed large and deep vessel. This chemical displaces oxygen, and the manufacturer had failed to purge it all before authorizing this employee to descend into the vessel to clean it. The investigation found that the otherwise healthy employee had descended into a 10’ deep oxygen-free atmosphere, had lost consciousness, and had died within seconds. Mid six-figure claim, and OSHA cited and fined (six figure fine) the employer for its lack of a Confined Space Program and Confined Space Entry training.

Is it realistic to ask you to provide ALL of the aforementioned information and documentation? Probably not.

However, if you are an excavator, electrical contractor, framer, roofer, stucco and exterior building restorers, professional scaffold erectors and dismantlers OR any other contractor with inherently high risk of injury and/ or illness, providing injury and illness exposure-specific information and documentation will only help to tip the scale in your favor.

In closing, I would like to thank my contractor clients who willingly relented, despite repeatedly asking “Why do we have to…require safety harnesses, protect even shallow trenches against cave-in, wear safety glasses which fog up, document scaffold safety inspections, etc., knowing that these recommendations were made in their best interest.

And to all the contractors who taught me much more about protecting employees than I ever taught them, I am eternally grateful.

About the Author Bob Tuman is president of CCR Safety Consulting in California, providing safety consultation to construction contractors and performing Workers’ Compensation and General Liability Loss Control Surveys for property and casualty insurers. For further information or to contact CCR directly, please contact: 805-545-5976 or email bobtuman@gmail.com.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

21

F E AT U R E Building Tomorrow Today: How You Can Shape the Next Generation of Craft Professionals

by Nicole Needles, NCCER

The construction profession has been a generational and long-standing career path for many families. Others have found success working their way up from apprentice to journey-level to owning their own company. Using creativity, employing critical thinking skills and working with their hands to make something tangible leaves craft professionals feeling accomplished at the end of the day.

Despite all the clear benefits and lucrative careers in construction, there continues to be a labor shortage, with projections of remaining a problem as the next generation enters the workforce. In fact, the industry is facing an estimated 2 million skilled worker shortage through 2025.

Within the next five years, 19.3% of seasoned construction workers will retire, and 40.1% within the next 15, leading to an extreme shortage of

22

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

incoming workers with the skills needed to fill the gap. Not only is Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2009, facing higher rates of unemployment compared to generations past at their age, they are primarily working in the restaurant and travel industries. With the hurdles of difficulty finding employment and the lack of awareness about construction careers, it makes sense that there are many underrated and missed opportunities for young people in construction. So, where do we go from here?

Build Your Future (BYF) is striving to bridge this gap and bring awareness to construction and the opportunities it provides. By showing students the opportunities available, young people are led to their dream job that they may not have known they wanted.

Since 1997, BYF has led the charge of spreading the word about construction T H E

careers. Encouraging industry and education professionals to do the same, BYF provides career education resources and materials needed to reach the younger generation. We can all play a part in that.

With resources provided by BYF, it’s easier than ever to promote careers in construction. On the Industry Professionals section on the website, there are various recruitment and education resources. In particular, the Student Outreach document is a comprehensive guide on how to connect with teachers and faculty at schools and reach students at career day exhibitions.

Various other resources include the blog, featuring content for industry, education and students; video resources, highlight successful craft professionals; and a map of the craft demand in each state in the U.S., which is an eye-opener to the skills gap in the industry.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

In addition, starting in 2005, every October is celebrated as Careers in Construction Month, giving the industry a time to highlight the impact construction has on our lives.

Nationwide, states proclaim October as Careers in Construction Month, industry professionals share their stories and trainees and students

Show your commitment to connect with students by signing the pledge.

After doing so and participating in a virtual or in-person classroom engagement, you will be entered into a drawing for one of four $5,000 scholarships to be given to the secondary craft training program of their choice.

educate younger generations and the public about careers in construction.

Whether you are an industry leader excited to share what you do or to get involved behind the scenes, there is a way for you to step up, make this CICM the best one yet and shape the future of the construction industry.

Careers in Construction month is a great kickstart to get excited about the expansive opportunities construction offers all year long and to carry on the legacy and pride that marks the industry. The work has been done for the month of October, now it is time for all of us to work together in keeping the momentum.

About the Author Nicole Needles is the communications coordinator at NCCER where she assists with the Breaking Ground Newsroom and other marketing efforts.

She graduated in May 2020 from the University of Florida with her bachelor's degree in journalism.

show off their building skills in the I BUILT THIS! video contest. While BYF makes significant efforts year-round, this campaign rallies the nation to raise awareness about the world of opportunity for younger generations in the field. Here are three ways you can get involved: Sharing your story through networking, presenting and mentoring is a very personal way to impact those around you. Hearing your career story is often more memorable than general statistics or information. Gen Z wants authenticity — they want to hear real stories from real people, just like you.

Get involved by speaking at a school event, entering a mentorship program, hosting a site visit, sitting on a school advisory board and more!

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

Showcase your trainees’ work on the job site by submitting a video to the seventh-annual I BUILT THIS! video contest. This is a nationwide contest inviting construction trainees or apprentices to highlight their building projects to celebrate the art of building.

Trainees have the chance to win big from prize sponsors DEWALT, IRWIN and LENOX! Need inspiration? Last year’s postsecondary category winner was a masonry trainee who built a fireplace with a pizza oven, and 2019’s winners were a sheet metal apprentice and electrical trainees. The official rules can be found on byf.org. The contest closes on Nov. 14, so there is still time to enter!

October is just one month of the year that we can all work together to

C O M P A S S

About NCCER NCCER, a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) education foundation created by the construction industry, provides a comprehensive workforce development system that includes accreditation, training, assessment, certification and career development solutions for the construction and maintenance industries. For more information, visit www.nccer.org or call 888.622.3720.

About Build Your Future – Build Your Future (BYF) is NCCER’s national image enhancement and recruitment initiative for the construction industry. Its mission is to recruit the next generation of craft professionals by making career and technical education a priority in secondary schools, shifting negative public perception about careers in the construction industry and providing a path from ambition, to training, to job placement as a craft professional. For more information, visit byf.org.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

23

F E AT U R E How to Proactively Manage Financial Risks for 2022

by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com Year 2021 has been punctuated with various successes and struggles for the construction industry. While the COVID19 crisis continues to pose challenges not only to public health but also to the economy, many construction companies have had the time to adjust accordingly and get back on their feet.

However, this public health crisis is far from over. The risks of variants have introduced a completely different challenge. The uncertainty over when this pandemic will end still hovers above us, and construction companies should remain proactive in setting up their plans for the coming year.

Below are some tips for how contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers can mitigate potential financial risks for 2022.

Be conscientious when taking on new projects It is tempting to take on more projects to cover any possible losses that you have incurred in the last couple years.

However, you must continue to bear in mind the dangerous risks of overbidding.

The economic uncertainties brought about by the pandemic still looms, not only in the country but all over the world.

You are therefore strongly advised to bid only on projects that you can realistically manage. Do not overbid as this can cripple your business’ cash flow if left unmanaged. Furthermore, you should be careful not to bid on unprofitable projects as this can potentially lead to big losses in the long term.

Be ready to work remotely Shifting to remote work has been one of the biggest transitions for many construction office employees. Even though some companies went back to the office as soon as COVID-19 lockdowns were lifted, the possibility of switching back to remote work should still be considered.

For 2022, consider reviewing your current work-from-home policies and

24

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

assessing any pain points that are causing a decrease in productivity.

Implement a robust training process to ensure that all your employees are equipped with the skills, regardless if they are working from home or in the office.

Digitize your work processes Take advantage of technological advances that are specifically made for the construction sector. This is one of the biggest leaps that you can make for 2022, especially if you have not already done so yet.

Advanced technologies and software can help you automate your processes and avoid the challenges caused by human error. For example, having an automated invoicing software may help you send invoices on time. Using a mechanics lien filing software can also help you file a mechanics lien successfully.

Be wary of cybersecurity breaches Using advanced technologies has many advantages, but there it also comes with its own risks and drawbacks. As the construction industry continues to utilize more advanced software, the risks of cybersecurity breaches and fraud also increase for construction businesses.

When deciding on which software or technology to adapt into your business, be sure to take security as one of the biggest considerations. A software or tech device with unreliable security measures may just slow you down instead of helping you become more efficient.

Prepare for possible tax increases Part of mitigating financial risks is anticipating major changes, such as possible tax increases. For example, under the White House’s American Jobs Plan, the corporate tax rate is set to increase from 21% to 28%. The additional tax is intended to be used for infrastructure and clean energy projects, among other things.

T H E

You should understand how these new policies will affect your business on the whole. Not only can they help you plan your financial strategies accordingly, but they can also inform you of possible business and project opportunities.

Implement a mechanics lien policy to protect your payment rights If you have not already done so, you must develop and implement a mechanics lien policy to ensure that you can recover your payments from delinquent clients. Ensuring you file the appropriate preliminary notices required by your state protects your right to file a lien and an eventual claim, if needed.

Filing a mechanics lien is the one of the most effective ways to get your difficult clients to pay up, and it can spell the difference between getting paid for your hard work or not.

It is, therefore, extremely important that you protect your lien rights in every project, especially during uncertain times.

One way to mitigate a potential risk of non-payment is to serve a preliminary notice as required in your state. Not only will this open communication lines between you and the project owners, but it will also let your clients know that you take your payment rights seriously and you are willing to take all legal means to ensure that you get paid.

About the Author Patrick Hogan is the CEO of Handle.com, where they build software that helps contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers with late payments. Handle. com also provides funding for construction businesses in the form of invoice factoring, material supply trade credit, and mechanics lien purchasing.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

Fonn is the new way to manage your construction projects.

TM

Request a demo hello@fonn.com

30,000 projects, 18,000 users and counting...

“

There are many functionalities of Fonn that we know to be the best. The intent of using a Project Management software is to have everything in one place.

Fonn has done an impeccable job of building a software that does just that.

- Project Manager Roche Constructors

Easy to communicate while in the field with team instead of having to write things down and communicate when back at a computer or text from phone.

- Office Manager Todd Bonneau Homes

For more information reach out to your Fonn ASA representative: Eric Crawford eric@fonn.com, M: (970) 980-5734

F E AT U R E An Inside Look at the Current State of Cost Management in Construction

by John Biggs, writer

The wave of new construction technologies has been dramatically transforming the industry. On today’s construction sites, robots conduct building inspections, drones buzz overhead capturing a project’s progress, and every drawing and plan is accessible to workers in real-time through the cloud and mobile devices.

Still, despite construction’s significant digital transformation, it seems cost management has lagged behind.

“Today, we live in a world where nearly every tool used to manage a job is in some way digitized. However, construction’s digital transformation has focused on digitizing drawings and documentation management while largely ignoring cost management,” said Katie Rapp, Procore Senior Product Marketer.

A new industry report by Dodge Data & Analytics commissioned by Procore took a close look at the industry’s current state when it comes to cost management.

26

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

The study aimed to learn how owners, general contractors, and specialty contractors manage their costs, what tools and technologies they leverage to gain the insights needed to keep costs in check and uncover areas that need improvement.

The Confidence Factor The report revealed an apparent gap in confidence between general contractors and specialty contractors in terms of their cost management capabilities, with GCs 12% more likely to be satisfied with their current tools than trade contractors.

General contractors have traditionally taken on most of the responsibility for managing project costs and so are generally more familiar with the tools.

However, effective cost management requires all hands on deck.

We can’t get there without trade contractors being really participatory partners along with general contractors to help everybody manage costs,” said

T H E

Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Research for Dodge Data & Analytics.

“At the end of the day, they’re actually spending the money. They’re putting the labor on the site. They’re actually buying the materials, and they’re dealing with the fluctuations in both the labor and the materials markets firsthand in the trenches, so it’s got to be a partnership here.”

It’s also worth noting that owners, perhaps not surprisingly, were more confident than any other group when it comes to their cost management capabilities.

One Tool to Rule them All Spreadsheets have their place, but today there are bespoke, custombuilt tools that are made for specific challenges, such as assessing risk related to potential changes, controlling project cash flows, and status reporting during the project. In terms of user satisfaction

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

across various roles, workers in the field expressed a much higher satisfaction for the tools they use to navigate these and other cost management activities.

Most said they prefer to use a single tool for their top cost management challenges, with around two-thirds of respondents reporting they either use one tool or several. For instance, 73% of contractors use a single tool to establish a cost accounts system, and nearly four in five owners use a single tool when managing change orders and documentation.

Field users were far more likely to use a primary tool than office workers. They were also more confident than office users in the tools’ ability to solve their top cost management challenges.

“Just by the sheer nature of their jobs, they’re probably more inclined to gravitate to those types of tools in order to make their lives better,” said Jas Saraw, Procore’s Canada VP. “When you’re in an office, you almost have the luxury of having different tools.

When you’re in the field, ‘give me one tool, man,’ come on,” Jones added.

The high level of confidence and satisfaction shown by field users in using cost management tools compared to those in the back office highlight the ongoing shift in putting the power of cost management into the hands of the folks who are out in the field doing the projects.

The Future of Cost Management While many of the survey responses found owners and contractors in agreement, the top needs for future improvement were where the groups diverged.

For instance, 23% of contractors cited the ability to confidently compare original estimates to actuals to improve future estimates as a high priority for improvement, while only 8% of owners agreed. On the other side, 40% of owners said dynamically tracking every dollar budgeted was something on their nearterm radar, compared to just 23% of contractors.

Across all survey respondents, the most frequent areas cited as in need of improvement over the next three to T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

five years included dynamically tracking every dollar in the budget and managing collaborative workflows. Forecasting critical costs with real-time data from the field was the top answer given.

“You’ve got to tie the field back into all the other systems, right? It’s just got to be looked at not as two different worlds.

It’s got to be looked at as a holistic ecosystem,” said Jones.

Procore’s Financial Management Solution Whatever cost management challenges your business is facing, Procore serves as the connective tissue between your realtime financial management needs in the field and your accounting system. Thus, it ensures that everyone, from office to field, has access to important project financial information at all times.

Where Procore focuses is how we can make our cost management solution incredibly collaborative with all of the different kinds of folks you need to get your job done,” said Geoff Lewis, Procore’s VP of Product Management.

“Think of a project engineer interacting with a project manager, interacting with a project executive, interacting with an accountant, all of whom work at the same company,” added Lewis.

Procore is built around both internal and external interactions, allowing for seamless and secure collaboration around every aspect of a project’s financials. As part of its ongoing investment in building the best platform in construction, Procore has added some exciting new enhancements to its financial management solution.

Procore’s new Work Breakdown Structure gives any size contractor the ability to organize, tag, and report on their financial data. This new enhancement adds the ability to create 10 new custom segments, taking it a step beyond sub job, cost code, and code type to improve the way project financial data is captured, organized, and analyzed.

Procore’s new approval workflow solution gives companies the financial control to configure and administer workflows within Procore.

“When I think back to my time in the field, invoicing approvals were always a very manual process. Processes were

C O M P A S S

stopped in their tracks because one piece of paper went missing or someone didn’t realize that the ball was in their court,” said Mikala Larez, Strategic Product Consultant, Procore.

“With this new enhancement, you can foster transparency and collaboration throughout the entire invoicing process, easily define the roles that need to be involved, outline the process, and trust that team members will be notified when the ball is in their court for approval.”

Conclusion Cost management is something every project stakeholder plays a part in, but they need to be given the right tools to be successful. Project managers spend much of their time thinking about the schedule, scope, quality, and RFIs. With a comprehensive set of financial tools at their disposal, it becomes substantially easier to calculate those factors’ impact on a project’s bottom line.

“A project manager has to spend all their time thinking about these interactions between these different things,” said Lewis. “What we think is so powerful is that rather than having your scope and schedule on one system and your cost in another, by bringing it all together into one system like Procore, you can really start to drive this insight of how these things are affecting each other.”

If you’d like to learn what the most important cost management practices to improve on over the next three to five years, be sure to listen to this on-demand webinar: Cost Management The State of the Industry.

For additional thoughts and insights from the report, you can download “The Construction Cost Management” ebook here.

About the Author John Biggs is an entrepreneur, consultant and writer. Biggs spent 15 years as an editor for Gizmodo, CrunchGear, and TechCrunch. His work has appeared in Men’s Health, Wired, and the New York Times. Biggs runs the Technotopia podcast about a better future. This article originally appeared in the Procore blog on October 5, 2021.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

27

SAFETY QUALIFIED

Stay safe. Stay focused.

Focus on what matters to be safer on the jobsite. Procore Safety Qualified gives you comprehensive and practical recommendations for staying healthy and focused.

WELL-BEING Stay safer with tips for hydration, nutrition, and injury prevention.

MINDSET Keep your focus and do your best work, even when stress is high.

REGISTER NOW

CULTURE Learn why incidents happen and how to prevent them going forward.

procore.com/safety-qualified

F E AT U R E Mind The Gap: Addressing Age, Skills, Image Discrepancies in Construction

by Patricia Cuomo, Fonn, Inc.

Construction as a Growth Engine

beginning with lack of development and appealing career paths.

Despite a prolonged economic downturn marked by redundancies, instability and the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction industry has been one of the main engines of growth in recent years. Globally, the construction market is expected to grow by approximately 70% by 2025¹. However, not unlike the situation in other nations, the construction workforce is steadily aging, and the industry is failing to successfully promote careers in the trades that attract qualified professionals with both technical and trade skills. The construction industry has historically been slow to adopt technology and several underlying factors are contributing to the gaps in age and skills,

Innovation in a Rigid Field Construction work can be perceived as rigid— “This is the way we’ve always done it” and “It’s worked this way for the last 120 years,” are heard far too often on projects.

Young workers are looking for change and ways to innovate and improve. They want advancement and excitement in their chosen field of work. Just as a young person who has begun a career in tech wants to see a clear path to advancement and promotion, why shouldn’t a Level 4 Advanced Apprentice want to see a clear path to becoming a project manager, project coordinator, project executive and project support

officer? They need to see the benefits of pursuing a career in a skilled trade such as construction, reasons to stay in the field, and ways they can bring innovation and positive change. By showing young people the benefits of working in construction and modernizing construction techniques through technology, there will be an increase in the appeal for young people that are evaluating longer- lasting roles when choosing a career path.

Gap in Skills Means Delays and Lost Business Another, and perhaps more obvious issue, is the shortage of skills. The gap in skills often results in additional costs, delays in production, and sometimes even lost business. The US construction

¹ HM Government: Construction 2025, Industrial Strategy: government and industry in partnership, July 2013

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

29

workforce is an aging one. Between 1994 and 2024, the percentage of U.S. workers aged 55 years and older is projected to double, increasing from 11.9% to 24.8%.

Between 2016 and 2026, the average age of the U.S. workforce is expected to increase from 42.0 to 42.3 years—“the highest level ever recorded”. ² The trouble is, as these plasterers, painters, brick layers, and plumbers retire, the same percentage of young people are not entering these professions. The construction industry covers careers in architectural design, engineering, and project management along with on-site trades. All of these roles require specialist skills—whether it’s the design of a building or the physical making of it. Although there are endless opportunities in various trades, only 3% of young people aged between 18-24 have searched for a job in the construction industry.³ But why?

Construction as a “Least Digitized” Industry While construction is one of the fastest growing industries, studies suggest it’s one of the least digitized.

Many construction businesses struggle to invest or implement new technology.

Hence, it’s no surprise that a global report from McKinsey Globe Institute recognized construction as the second least digitalized sector in the world.

(The least digitized being noted as agriculture and hunting).⁴ The lagging use of technology puts many companies at a disadvantage when it comes to executing their projects in a cost and time-efficient manner. The younger generation of workers needed to fill this gap were practically born with a mobile device in hand. They’ve grown up with technology and the industry needs their technical prowess. They don’t know a world without lightning-fast broadband, smart devices, and instant access to information. Subsequently, if the young people needed to fill the gap don’t see, or experience familiar apps and other technological advancements being used by trade workers, it stands to

reason they won’t be interested or even relate to a career as an electrician or plumber, for example. The government is already recognizing this with a number of initiatives launched last year aiming to help the sector adopt newer technologies and increase productivity levels.

The Dirty Truth And finally, let us not ignore the image of construction work. For many years now, young people leaving school have been encouraged to “better themselves” and go to college—get a degree.

Construction has a reputation for being dangerous and dirty work as well as an industry of middle-aged white men. The skills shortage in construction may be— in part—a demographic one; with women and ethnic groups feeling construction is not the place for them, and an industry that does not embrace diversity. Also influencing the available number of workers is that construction may also be perceived as an unskilled field—just a job and not a career.

Digitization—For Young and Old It isn’t all doom and gloom. In an increasingly digitized world, we have the capacity and availability to introduce workers—both young and those who are aging—to new digital tools and technologies. Collaboration between educators and construction companies who are already using these technologies and willing to provide apprenticeships, is instrumental in closing the gap. Utilizing software solutions and apps that are web- based, and easy to use can help both fresh graduates and long-term workers come to grips with game-changing technology.

Products such as construction management software can enhance projects from start to finish, ensure better accuracy of the construction project, use materials more efficiently and help

create safer working environments. It also allows young people to feel more at ease in an environment that recognizes and respects the digital skills they bring and share while teaching them a trade.

Widening and diversifying the talent pool for recruitment and acceptance into the industry is another way to stop limiting the number of people entering the industry. Pushing back against the perceived idea that construction is a “boy’s club” and challenging gender inequality in construction will make the industry more appealing to women, vastly increasing the number of people interested in a career in construction.

An Objective Look for Construction Technology As an industry, we must be willing to examine our hesitation to adopt resources that have launched the rest of our world forward.

Embracing digital technology will help transform construction by ensuring the planning, building and maintenance of our infrastructure is done in a more profitable, collaborative, and sustainable way. If a side effect of this adoption also helps us fill a major gap in skilled labor, we would be foolish not to take an objective look at what’s available in construction technology.

About the Author Patricia joined Fonn in May 2021 bringing with her 20 years of experience in Marketing, Business Development and Communications in various business verticals including enterprise software, medical devices/biotechnology, healthcare, and creative marketing agencies. She is passionate about brand building and thrives on creating strategic, fully integrated marketing initiatives that support sales efforts. Fonn has just earned "High Performer with G2". And find out more about Fonn here: What Is Fonn?

² Building a Sustainable Construction Workforce Rosemary K. Sokas, Xiuwen Sue Dong, & Chris Trahan Cain. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Nov; 16(21): 4202. Published online 2019 October 30. Doi: 10.3390/ijerph16214202 ³ https://www.globalinfrastructureinitiative.com/ sites/default/files/pdf/The-digital-future-of- construction-Oct-2016.pdf 4 https://www.chas.co.uk/blog/tackling-construction- skills-shortage/

30

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

F E AT U R E People: The Big Story for Construction, 2022

by Jack Rubinger, freelance writer People — caring, feeding, nourishing and retaining — are the big story for the construction industry as we head into 2022.

While other industries have done a great job keeping people happy, healthy and in good humor, the construction industry has lagged behind in these skills. Driven by deadlines, increased pressure to come in under budget and concerns about supply costs, construction companies have traditionally focused more on recruiting.

Recruiting is an ongoing cycle. Once you get into it, you never get out of it. You’re always posting ads on Indeed, at unions, on websites and other places. Ads are costly.

Responses may be weak and “respondees” may also be less than qualified.

So how do you get out of the recruiting cycle?

The answer is retain vs. recruit.

Joe White, from AEU LEAD had some outstanding insight into the fine art of retention. According to White’s research, Gen Z differs greatly from previous generations. They want instant and ongoing feedback from their supervisors, otherwise they feel unappreciated and they start looking for new opportunities.

“People don’t leave because of the companies,” said White. “They leave because of the supervisors. If supervisors aren’t leading, employees are leaving. In our line of work, we’re now focusing on the Employee Experience. In construction, no one has more impact on the employee’s overall experience than supervisors.”

That experience is multi-faceted. In terms of feedback, for example, preferences vary by generation. White and his team have developed 5 – 8 minute microlearning modules to help supervisors better understand how and when feedback is preferred. The traditional annual or semiannual review session, dreaded by so many, won’t work for incoming generations.

According to White, “if you don’t provide ongoing real-time feedback, younger

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

employees aren’t going to stick around.”

White also projects a need for greater focus on mental health. “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ your supervisors are going to encounter employees dealing with stress, anxiety or depression - it’s a matter of ‘when’. Often, the answer is nothing more than asking some basic questions: “Is everything okay?

Would you like to talk? How can I help?” It’s not about solving employees’ problems. It’s about helping them through rough patches and steering them towards available resources when needed.”

This dramatic shift in thinking and action is shaking up the industry at a time when finding skilled labor and skilled crafts people is getting more and more difficult, but it makes a lot of sense and is more cost-effective than recruiting.

“Beyond basic needs, when employees have a sense of belonging and feel valued and appreciated, they’re far more likely to stay. That’s the key to retaining talent. It’s also the answer to the recruiting problem,” said White. “They’ll talk about how cool their company is and use social media to express themselves.”

White’s company has helped a crosssection of construction companies, including South Bay Sandblasting and Tank Cleaning, Turn Services, Frazier Industrial, Pride Industries, Nugent Sand, and Wallenius Wilhelmsen.

In one case, according to Patrick Dean from Associated Builders and Contractors, of the 280 new hires at one company, 229 were employee referrals.

“The best companies have a handle on the employee value proposition,” he said.

“It’s all about creating a culture where people like to work at companies that treat people fairly, promptly, with compassion and understanding and are transparent about opportunities to grow.”

White’s company offers industry resources like blog posts to read and podcasts to check out, because that’s

C O M P A S S

where Gen Z goes to get their information.

Another construction industry challenge that can improve with better communication has to do with supply chain management and the cost of materials, which are sometimes passed on to customers.

Dean has noted that while lumber costs are coming down, “the supply chain is really messed up.” In regards to contracts and escalations he said that those who have contracts signed with rising material prices are in trouble. “It’s not wise to sign contracts without having an escalation clause when material prices are unsettled.”

As far as communication goes, Dean recommends involving supply chain partners early on in the negotiation process and being transparent in goals, intentions and the potential for price increases.

“Everyone benefits from overcommunication,” said Dean.

As for the future of the construction industry, things work in cycles. Once one problem is solved, often another pops up.

But the “people problem” is really one steeped in practicality.

Treating people well is really nothing new, but it’s got to be practiced, perfected, and performed daily.

About the Author Jack Rubinger is a freelance writer, with more than 10+ years of workplace safety and construction industry research and writing experience. Looking for an article on a specific construction topic?

Contact: jackrubinger814@gmail.com or call 503-964-4877.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

31

F E AT U R E Going Through the Motions—An evaluation of REAL project planning that is more than checking boxes

by Gregg Schoppman, FMI

All organizations are busy. Most likely the understatement of the last decade but a true definition epitomizes the state of the industry. Even in the deepest recessionary market, rarely are construction firms sitting idly with little to do. Frequently the feeling of elation on “Bid/Tender Award Day '' is quickly replaced with deep anxiety – who will manage the project, who will supervise the project, what crews will we use, how we will EVER do it for that number?

Whether the time from award to mobilization is two days or two months, the ability to position an operational team for success should be of the utmost focus. However, how many great organizations ``Yadda Yadda” their way through a true preconstruction process.

32

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

Put another way, is your preconstruction planning more about pencil whipping a meeting agenda, setting the world speed record for project strategy rather than devolving into a foundation for excellence?

Ask the challenging questions There is no question that a standardized agenda and process are essential to any organization’s operations. Consistency in application provides fertile training ground for new associates as well as some measurable component to create performance standards for all associates. The first question a leader should ask themselves

T H E

is this – Do we have an operational standard for preconstruction that every project manager, estimating and superintendent/foreman utilizes? If the answer is “no”, that is the first obstacle to overcome. However, many firms have agendas and meetings which brings us to the second question – Is the process stale and stagnant? Is the process too focused on checking boxes and less about constructive dialogue about project challenges? Does the process resemble more of a DICTATION rather than a COLLABORATION? Short of this being three questions and not one, leaders must address the albatross draped over the neck of their project teams.

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

• What crew blend maximizes utilization, productivity, efficiency, quality, etc.?

drives the appropriate use of resources at the right time. The effective use of this process begins at the preconstruction stage, whether in conjunction with a general contractor/construction manager or even within the confines of the trades.

The first work plan of the project that defines the labor requirements, trades, equipment, etc. should be done in the first preconstruction meeting between the field leader and the project manager.

This establishes the right cadence for the project from the outset. There is also an important clarification – this is the plan NOT the schedule. Far too often, contractors solely rely on a schedule that may or may not reflect reality. In the end, the plan – set from Day 1 – should be a reflection of how the team will accomplish said schedule.

• What is the greatest risk – safety or otherwise - to project and how will that be addressed?

When the people change, hit the reset button

The questions shouldn’t end here.

Better yet, the “hard” questions should be posed to the project teams before they mobilize: • How will you address budget shortfalls?

• What trade provides the most cause for concern?

• How will you mitigate “rocks in the road” as they percolate to the surface?

• How will margin be enhanced during the project?

• What innovative ways will this project be constructed?

• How will this customer become a net promoter for the firm?

• How will the team develop itself internally – put another way, what is the internal plan to groom new superstars?

Often, preconstruction planning goes through the perfunctory elements related to schedule, deliverables, submittals, permitting, contact information. This is definitely important information, but it just clips the surface of the project and fails to brainstorm a true winning project approach and certainly fails to move construction organizations forward with an innovative approach to project delivery. Tomorrow’s construction project will not be built successfully by saying “We’ll figure it out when we get there,” as if it was a weekend warrior project.

Connect it to short interval planning Another disconnect that often arises lies in a firm’s ability to go from the “knowing to the doing.” Put another way, there is a semblance of a plan constructed in a conference room but when it hits the trailer, it falls in the circular file. Lean construction advocates the concept of pull planning and some planning mechanism that

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

While this hardly happens – ahem – there are times when personnel on a project changes, even before a project breaks ground. Another important reflective question is this – when a project team changes, did it hit the reset button on the planning process? It is foolish to take credit for an admirable job on project planning with one team only to change out that team with alternate players. Checking the box is immaterial and it is the equivalent of going to the grocery store to buy healthy foods but coming home and gorging on chocolate.

The road to success is NOT paved with great intentions – it is paved with a great paver!

Challenge the assumptions No one particularly likes being challenged. It creates perceived conflict and friction. It also evokes imagery of being an armchair quarterback. Consider the estimator or preconstruction group that has feverishly put together a substantial proposal with incredible time constraints. Now think about how that group likes to here “What were you thinking when…” Of course, that has a different tone than “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” but it still has a tinge of interrogation to it. Challenging an estimator’s assumptions is not meant to drive a stake in their heart

C O M P A S S

and spirit, but rather a vehicle to create constructive dialogue about how a firm will excel.

The concept of “Red Teaming” as developed by Bryce Hoffman in his book Red Teaming is an excellent process that explores the use of a specialized internal team to challenge a firm/project strategy as if it were an enemy force on the battlefield. This is excellent for both the estimator/project manager/ superintendent interplay but also a practical exercise to incorporate into the preconstruction process. Consider having a team that serves as the “enemy” or devil’s advocate, poking holes in a project plan or even having that red team serve as the customer or designer for critical decisions that are required.

Studies about that positively correlate the amount of time spent planning and the return on that planning investment.

Lobbing a set of plans over the wall simply to feel good about accomplishing a meeting is not an effective use of time nor does it achieve the goal it was intended for in the first place. Checking the boxes or pencil whipping will only serve the pencil and use a lot of lead.

About the Author As a principal with FMI, Gregg specializes in the areas of productivity and project management. He also leads FMI’s project management consulting practice.

He has completed complex and sophisticated construction projects in several different niches and geographic markets. He has also worked as a construction manager and managed direct labor. FMI is the largest provider of management consulting, investment banking, and research to the engineering and construction industry. FMI works in all segments of the industry providing clients with value-added business solutions. For more information on FMI, please visit www.fminet.com or contact by email at gschoppman@fminet.com.

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

33

Coming Up in the November 2021 issue of FASA’s

Theme: Change Orders, Documentation, and other Necessities of Business

• Change orders: Important

steps for Subcontractors to Protect the Right to Payment

• Getting organized • and more...

ASA Awards Time

ASA Awards are the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the incredible work that ASA members are doing in the industry each and every day. Nominate a colleague, another business, your local chapter, or even yourself for a wide variety of ASA Awards. Each award will be presented at SUBExcel 2022.

Available ASA Awards include: •

ASA Certificate of Excellence in Ethics

•

ASA National Construction Best Practices Awards

•

President's Award

•

Subcontractor Federal and State Advocate Awards

•

Attorney's Council Awards

•

John H. Hampshire Distinguished Lifetime Service Award

•

Timmy L. McLaughlin Exemplary Leadership Award

•

ASA Outstanding Service Award

•

ASA Chapter and Chapter Leadership Awards

•

ASA Safety Award

Look for your issue in November.

To access past issues of The Contractor’s Compass, please click here.

For questions about subscribing, please contact: communications@asa-hq.com

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to honor the amazing work being done by ASA members.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: NOV. 15, 2021

34

O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S

ASAdvantage 2020-2021 Program

35

J U N E

2 0 2 1

T H E

C O N T R A C T O R ’ S

C O M P A S S