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When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Shawna Guevara, managing director of Landmark Structural Builders in McKinney, Texas, wanted to send as many people home as possible.
“If the position or job title was not contractually required to be in the workplace, then we opened it up for that person or that position to become remote,” he said.
Despite changes in the workplace to better manage the pandemic over nearly four years, the remote option has not changed for off-site workers, such as estimators, he said.
“We noticed the ability to change a little bit and allow remote work to still be possible,” he said.
Landmark is not alone. Here’s what hybrid and remote work looks like in construction today.
A challenge, but not impossible
In 2019, 3.15% of construction workers had a mixed or hybrid arrangement and 8.01% worked from home, according to the US Census Bureau. In 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, hybrid work increased slightly to 3.41% and work from home to 10.16%
This number of working from home is lower than the national average of 17.9%, according to the Census Bureau. Given the practical nature of construction, this is not surprising.
Brad Squibb
Permission granted by Adzuna
“Hybrid work arrangements can be challenging in the construction industry due to the inherent nature of the job,” said Brad Squibb, vice president of North America at Adzuna, a site aggregation company based in Minneapolis that manages jobs in several countries. . “The hands-on, collaborative nature of construction projects often requires real-time coordination and communication, making it difficult to seamlessly integrate remote work.”
This does not mean that it is not possible, or preferable, and a more flexible work environment can give a company a competitive advantage.
“Offering hybrid or remote work can be a valuable differentiator for employers,” Squibb said, which can help contractors attract top talent and foster a “dynamic, forward-thinking work culture.”
In fact, some workers value the option of stay at home rather than a pay rise. Employees equate telecommuting policies to an 8 percent pay increase, research from Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Mexico’s Autonomous Technological Institute found.
From essential to beneficial
Like Landmark, Messer Construction Co. also sent its office staff to work from home during the pandemic, said Steven Bestard, chief operating officer of the Cincinnati-based company.
In June 2020, corporate and regional offices reopened according to prescribed guidelines, and the company considered the individual needs of employees when it came to remote work in the following months.
Steven Bestard
Permission granted by Messer Construction Co.
For the past year, Messer has valued flexible/remote work as part of its benefits. Currently, office staff can stay home one day a week and have the flexibility to select their schedule each day. The company also offers other incentives and payments related to attendance and vacation time for employers whose job duties do not allow them to work remotely.
The company hasn’t reduced its office space even though not everyone can be in the office at the same time, Bestard said.
Keep in touch when apart
While going remote was a pandemic necessity, Landmark realized the arrangement was beneficial.
Right now, about 60 percent of its workforce is remote, Guevara said. The company has offices in northern and southern California and Texas. They haven’t opened one in Florida yet, though they’re actively working there, because their remote policies made it unnecessary, though they plan to open an office in Florida in the future, he added.
The company also found that older employees were quicker to embrace remote work than younger employees, and that younger employees still want to be able to learn on the job. Landmark matches younger workers with a mentor, although the office arrangements differ from when the mentor entered the industry.
Transparency and communication are key to making these types of deals work, Bestard said. A trial period to see if a remote or hybrid arrangement is suitable can also be a good idea, because it can “create an opportunity for feedback and adjustments if necessary”.
Analyzing employee preferences can help organizations determine which roles lend themselves to remote or hybrid options, and which ones benefit most from in-person collaboration, experts say. It’s not a one-time decision, though—follow up by tracking levels of engagement and job satisfaction to help employers adjust and fine-tune the policy over time.
Managers should also “build a system where feedback is encouraged,” Squibb said, which can help employees with challenges they may have with remote work or share any concerns they have that remote or hybrid policies aren’t fair. for everyone
Doing so would provide a channel to “proactively address concerns and foster an inclusive environment, ensuring any resentment is quickly identified and addressed,” Squibb said.
