1. Start as you mean to go on
A solid employee engagement strategy starts at the very beginning of the recruitment journey. HR has a huge impact on how individuals feel about the company and its culture as soon as those initial recruitment activities start. Taking the time to present a positive and accurate view of the business and how it operates is vital – but have you also looked specifically at your onboarding process?
With so much competition for the best and most skilled candidates, HR should do its utmost to protect its fledgling relationship with new employees from the moment the offer is made and accepted. Onboarding software puts you right at the forefront and gives a positive impression immediately. Formal letters of offer and acceptance by post are no longer needed: an automated onboarding process is much slicker and more effective for both parties. And what makes a real difference for the business is that the paperwork and compliance activities associated with onboarding are easy to complete in advance. This gives a super-efficient impression to the new recruit and ensures that they are in the right frame of mind and ready to get cracking from day one.
2. Give employees more control
It’s challenging to fully engage staff who are distracted by day-to-day frustrations that directly impact them or affect their ability to get on with their job. A prime example in the construction sector is the reliance on a manual timesheet process. This is often an irritating administrative task, not only for employees having to complete paper forms on site, but also for supervisors and managers who need to chase up paperwork and check that it’s been done correctly. And then, of course, there’s the office-based processes involved where information must be input in the system manually. This is all prone to human error and can cause real problems when it affects an individual’s pay packet.
Introducing self-service for this and other HR oriented tasks such as booking holiday or accessing policies or forms, for example, makes the whole experience much easier for everyone and improves efficiency too. HR software can be introduced to reflect your specific company needs and ways of working – which means everyone benefits, not just HR, and engagement will certainly improve as a result.
3. Streamline payroll and expenses and everyone will be happier
Understandably, pay is the one element that everyone wants to be right because no one wants to feel short-changed. But if you do get it wrong, even just once, it can cause a lasting poor impression. The problem is that pay can often be a complex area to manage in the construction sector due to the prevalence of transient workers, shift working and multiple pay frequencies for example.
Introducing integrated HR and payroll software not only makes the process much more streamlined, but it also reduces human error, usually results in a decrease in queries or questions, and provides a much more automated and therefore faster process.
Building employee engagement is an ongoing challenge for HR managers in the construction sector. These three ideas only scratch the surface, but they could help to set you on a new path towards a more engaged workforce. For more ideas for HR to consider on this, as well as other core areas such as compliance and adding value, download our free guide:
HR in Construction: New ways to address your core challenges
You can also check out our robust people management suite of tools for the construction sector.