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Mike Bellaman is the president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors. The opinions are the author’s own.
We’ve all heard of multitasking. But new research suggests that multiskilling may be the real way forward for construction.
With a massive labor shortage and headwinds that include rising material costs, economic uncertainty and high interest rates, it is critical that the construction industry continues to modernize and adapt to keep building the construction projects America needs.
A workforce strategy that is already used across the industry and is now supported by new national field evidence is multiskilling.
A newly released series of studies on multidisciplinarity in the construction sector demonstrates the opportunities it generates for the worker.
Mike Bellaman
Authorization granted by Associated Builders and Contractors
Produced by the Simplar Foundation in collaboration with faculty from the University of Kansas, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Arizona State University, it is the largest national data set ever. multipurpose work strategies and performance results It shows the benefits for everyone: workers, employers, project owners and ultimately taxpayers.
The basics of multiskilling
So what is multiskilling?
Multi-skilled workers acquire skills in multiple trades that they can then use in the workplace. In the research, the typical worker observed used about three different skills, and some workers used as many as six in one day.
Multi-skilling does not mean that each worker does all the tasks. It does not mean eliminating specialization, dispensing with craft expertise, or assigning work without regard for safety, competence, licensing, or quality.
It means that trained, accredited and qualified workers can perform adjacent or complementary work when the project, task mix and work sequence support it.
Some examples of multi-skilling observed by the study’s research team include:
- A concrete finishing crew that built and dismantled formwork, tied rebar, welded anchor bolts, and operated various types of heavy equipment.
- A team of insulators who applied paint coatings and then mixed and applied epoxy flooring materials.
- A team of sheet metal workers who also erected scaffolding, insulated pipes and carried out pipe fitting activities.
- A heavy civilian crew whose workers interchangeably performed rigging, crane-lifting, welding and pile-setting activities.
Multidisciplinary results
Overall, the most important findings show the significant value that multiskilling can create for the worker: increasing skills, finding more satisfaction, earning more, and having more opportunities. Workers also enjoy broader career paths and leadership opportunities. They have the potential to work on more types of projects and benefit from longer project assignments.
This also has a substantial return on investment for the workplace. Research showed that multiskilling increased the proportion of crew time spent directly advancing construction work by 39%. This means less downtime and faster job completion.
The opportunity can be even greater when contractors and owners plan with versatility in mind, identifying areas, sequencing and handoffs where skilled workers with complementary skills can keep work moving and reduce unnecessary waiting.
It’s no coincidence either industry leaders in health and safety performance they are investing in versatility. For approximately 33.2 million man-hours, participating contractors reported above-average safety performance, with total recordable incident rates well below the industry average and no fatalities.
Using fewer workers and equipment in a tight work area also reduces congestion and coordination pressure, which can lead to improvements in safety performance.
The new research series shows that multiskilling can provide benefits for the entire construction industry, including greater opportunity for workers, greater flexibility for contractors and owners, and greater ability to build the roads, hospitals, schools and energy infrastructure America needs.
