On-Board Your Trade Workers Seamlessly

05 November 2020

On-boarding workers. The process can take a lot of time.

The work involved in introducing new trade workers to your project can cost you valuable time and money when not done right. When bringing new people onto your project, you should have a solid understanding of the three core aspects of on-boarding trade workers; teamwork, paperwork, and content.

Once you have a clear understanding of these areas, you’ll be better suited to decide on how it is your project or company can manage subcontract workers on-boarding.

Having the right processes in place avoids delays and cost overruns. That’s why we’re exploring the top three requirements for effective subcontract worker orientation management.

How to cut down worker on-boarding time:

The process of bringing new contractors and temporary employees into your company can be a challenge. 

Contractors and temporary employees may spend much shorter periods on your workforce, requiring a different set of individual skills. These workers need to be on-boarded using a method that keeps them safe and increases their productivity from the earliest stage possible. 

1. Teamwork: Treat your subcontractors and their workers as part of the team

Hopefully you’ve seen ‘Ted Lasso’ & you’re sold on the importance of team work. Maybe you always remember the poster at school that reminded you that there’s no ‘I’ in team. Whatever it is, you know that creating a team culture on your project is essential to it’s success (and not to mention your overall construction company’s image). 

Like some of the best coaches and business leaders demonstrate, understanding human nature is key in creating a team environment. Teamwork and worker buy-in should both celebrate workplace safety and pride itself on project efficiencies. When you’re working as a team, projects run faster.

The often short-term nature of a subcontract workers’ job means that there is often no structured plan to welcome them onto many of the projects they are employed to do work on. As a result, workers are left scrambling, figuring out what their next step should be, what to do, who to talk to, and more.

You can change this and achieve collaborative, synchronized productivity from this set of workers by first making them aware of your own personal and mutual aims. Let subcontractors and workers know what’s expected of them, how you will be communicating with them, who to speak with for questions, and what to do when accidents arise. Empower this workforce by setting expectations and providing clear direction for every person on the job site. 

2. Paperwork: Managing on-boarding documents, avoiding outdated processes and eliminating manual administration

Due to the short nature of a contractors’ job, companies often allow the ‘free-flow’ of their details or paperwork without safely storing documents. However, these documents could be required again in the future. 

Properly documenting contingent employees and subcontract workers’ information can offer vast benefits. By digitizing this process, you can measure cost and effectiveness, calculate future needs, and the opportunity to recognize higher-performing agencies and contractors.  

3. Orientation: Including important information in your orientation and tailoring the learning experience to best suit subcontract workers

Because accidents tend to happen more to workers who are less familiar with their surroundings, there is an even greater need to educate contractors and temporary employees on the hazards they face while carrying out their work.  

Due to the short-term work periods, traditional learning and development methods are more difficult and less practical to apply to contractors. Using technology to quickly dispense safety training to workers, which still ensures that the required standards are reached, is positively encouraged. Self-paced learning, knowledge testing, and repetition of essential details, means that contractors can begin their first day with a clear understanding of the task at hand and any hazards involved.  

Why Online Orientations?

Top construction companies use technology to prepare their subcontract workforce in advance of their first day, where the worker completes paperwork and training from the comfort of their own home. Mobile technology simplifies this process even further by minimizing accessibility issues and allowing users to take photographs for uploading documentation. 

Reputable, trustworthy construction brands treat their temporary employees and subcontractor workforce with the same care they afford to their direct employees. By choosing online orientation platforms like GoContractor, you’re able to reduce on-boarding costs and times and avoid clerical errors. 

Sonya Sikra

Sonya is the Brand Strategy Manager at GoContractor. She specializes in communicating how implementing tech in construction can drive productivity and profit.

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