In a recent poll, we asked construction professionals who had moved jobs within the last 12 months if they would feel confident about moving to a new job now, and 75 per cent said they would feel either confident or very confident. One of the unwritten rules of taking a new job is keeping it for at least a year – even if you hate it. The thinking goes even if the environment is tough, you need to show professional commitment and stickability before moving on. People used to be worried about what future employers would think, as an employee who stays at least a year is a better investment than one who doesn’t.
Well, I can tell you construction professionals aren’t worried about that in the slightest now. If a job isn’t to their satisfaction, they know they can walk straight into another one.
It’s gotten so bad that nine in every 20 managers in the UK (45 per cent) would now rehire an employee they’d previously let go.
The results reflect the pressure on employers suffering from Covid-driven labour shortages and the brutal employee churn brought about by the Great Resignation. Employers are getting desperate in the face of such a dearth of talent.
Of course, by hiring someone you have let go - rather than someone who has just left the organisation - not only are there the obvious problems associated with trying to operate alongside someone who didn’t work-out the first time round, there’s the added risk of annoying the good people who have stayed with you - nudging them to leave in protest.
Comebacks are not unknown in business - the late Steve Jobs’s return to Apple is a celebrated example. But Jobs was the exception, not the rule. If you rehire people you’ve let go, you’re more likely to be bringing back a Jack Dorsey than a Steve Jobs.
The problem is that very few construction professionals moved jobs during the first stage of the pandemic - the so-called “missing quits” -despite the fact that 54% of employers in the sector were hiring A lot of people who wanted to quit just hadn't and they led to a deluge of resignations. Another factor is burnout. Some teams have been running too hot for too long. And Covid has changed how some people think about life, work, and what they want out of both. It’s made people step back and rethink their lives, reminding them that life is too short. The number of vacancies out there means that not only do they now want to change one of the key aspects of their life - their jobs - they can.
Employers are also under pressure because of staff absences. While the self-isolation period for Covid cases has finally been cut to five days, this isn’t looking like the huge boost for construction businesses as we thought. Mainly because those are ‘five full days’, so really employers are only looking at getting workers back one day sooner than they were.
Despite all this, employers needn’t despair or, indeed, compromise so far as to recruit people they have ousted in the past. The talent is out there - it’s just harder to find.
Employers looking to avoid a mass exodus and having to rehire someone they have let go, should start by re examining their remuneration levels. It might be a new world of work but employees say that when it comes to job loyalty, the factor that is most important for keeping them at their current job is money. So make sure you are still paying as much as your peers.
The research also highlighted the sustainability of the construction talent pool - with 16% of workers saying they planned on leaving the industry within the next 3-6 months.
Employers can help retain staff by making sure that they have meaningful work, feel valued by their manager, that they foster a sense of belonging and ensure people have a sense of advancement within the organisation. Research demonstrates that employees value these much higher than many employers realise.
So, despite how you might feel, there are solutions out there before you have to resort to flicking through copies of your old P45s.
Simon Harris
senior director of operations at randstad construction and property