has your building firm experienced any of the following?
lack of safety training
labour shortages
Compliance issues
slow technology adoption
slow productivity
high induction costs
attempts to improve safety induction training
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the aboveConstruction inductions, specifically online inductions, are one of the best investments you can make to facilitate the administrative process in the construction industry. Online inductions will simplify the process of training your workforce and prove to be more time efficient and cost effective.
Challenges in administering a construction business.
You might be thinking, how exactly will inductions help me? Well first, let’s target the issues.
Skilled labour shortages
The growth rate of the construction industry is currently overtaking the amount of skilled and qualified workers. Which means that there doesn’t seem to be enough workers to keep up with the growing demand for construction, and it’s getting harder and harder to recruit certified employees. This is due to the fact that construction workers are retiring at a faster rate than the younger generation is producing workers for the industry. Younger Australian generations don’t find construction jobs as lucrative or appealing and are choosing other career paths. Which will continue to cause issues for firms as they seek to meet growing demand, since the construction industry is still so heavily dependent on manual labour.
Labour shortages can also propel further issues for a construction business such as safety issues if hiring unqualified and unprepared workers. Or when over-staffing and overexerting workers in attempts to keep up with demand.
Safety training
The most significant issue for all those involved in the construction industry is inadequate safety training. For the workers insufficient safety training could lead to serious injuries or even worse, fatalities. From an administrative standpoint safety training is crucial because should workers injure themselves the construction company could be held legally and financially responsible.
Construction is one of the leading industries in Australia for work related fatalities and injuries. Construction companies often cut corners regarding safety to increase profitability. However, worker injuries actually decreases productivity as approx. a third of worker injuries require time off and it’s much harder to replace workers given the high demand for construction. Also, non-compliance to safety procedures and laws could be highly prejudicial to construction companies which risk litigation and insurance costs.
Technology Adoption
Construction companies, particularly small businesses are lagging far behind when it comes to adopting new technologies. Technology remains under-invested in the industry, rendering many practises in construction and construction administration outdated and much slower than necessary.
Keeping up with technology plays a key role in administering any company, especially one with so many parties involved i.e contractors, sub-contractors, clients, managers etc. and has many benefits for running a business and managing construction projects. Failing to keep up with technology is encumbering construction company’s abilities to efficiently and effectively manage their projects. And is holding them back not only in daily operations but also when competing for projects.
Slow productivity rate
Productivity in the construction industry also prove to be outdated and under-invested. With little difference in the rate of productivity since the 1950’s, productivity in this industry has remained stagnant for approximately 80 years. This can be attributed to a number of shortcomings. Such as inadequate planning and scheduling, lack of communication between the parties involved in the project, time wasted waiting on materials and supplies to be delivered. The labour shortage has also contributed to the lack of productivity recently. As employers struggle to find workers with the necessary skills and experience or by companies try to do projects with insufficient amounts of workers.
Our solution: how online inductions can remedy this
Training your skilled labourers – Induct for Work’s online inductions are the best way to train and prepare your construction workers. Due to the decrease in skilled and experienced labour, it’s extremely important to ensure that your workers are trained by you upon joining your company or a project so that quality work can be achieved. As a result of the skilled labour shortage construction companies are improving their in-house training and apprenticeship programs and online inductions is the next step in that process. Using our online inductions, training becomes easy, accessible, time efficient and cost effective. And the best part is that our rapid inductions will help bridge the gap between unprepared workers and the skills they require. It’s an easy way to ensure consistency in quality amongst all your workers and it allows you the peace of mind that they’re being trained to your standards.
Safety compliance – Safety training is the best way to keep employees safe on the worksite and keep the company protected. Training workers to be familiar with their worksite, aware of safety precautions and knowledgeable on how to safely complete tasks is a huge part of accident and injury prevention. Our online inductions allows for workers to be fully trained and well-prepared on these matters before even setting foot on the worksite. The workers can review the information at their own pace and re-visit inductions to refresh their memory. And you can include tests or questions to check their knowledge. This helps ensure their safety knowledge is always fresh and that they are trained to standard. More importantly our online induction software can be utilised not only for the worker’s initial induction to the company or worksite, but can be used to ongoing training. Continuous training is necessary throughout a construction worker’s career to prepare them for new worksites, constantly refresh their safe procedures skills and ensure they’re always prepared for the job. Any time there is a change to the company or to company procedures you can easily administer online inductions to your entire workforce to keep them up-to-date and ready.
This will also emphasise the importance of safety in your business and create a safety culture. There’s no such thing as being too careful. Accidents can be easily avoided when hazards are managed and safe work practices are vigilantly enforced.
Technology adoption – Using our online induction software will help keep your business up-to-date by incorporating this crucial and easily manageable technology to your administrative process. Our software is accessible from any smart device with an internet connection. The inductions are all administered, tracked and collected online, which will facilitate keeping on top of your workers inductions. A more organised tracking method combines time efficiency, peace of mind and productivity all in one. These are all key benefits of incorporating technology into your administrative process. Using online inductions will help you stay ahead of the game by modernising your business and worker management.
It will also contribute to the company image, making your business look more professional, well equipped for big projects and in keeping with the times. Our software is an incredible asset to fast track your training process, your paperwork and documentation and your employee assessments and safety briefing.
Increases productivity – Opting for online inductions will greatly improve your organisation’s productivity and time management. You can quickly and effortlessly administer inductions to newcomers and your entire workforce. Easily stay on top of accreditations and licenses utilising our software, and keep all important legal and verification documents in one convenient uncluttered location. Track and monitor staff induction progress. See when your staff have completed inductions, how many attempts were required and how many times the induction was accessed. Equip your administration with the best technology for quick access to all induction related information and vastly cut down on administrative time and stress. It will help improve your planning, scheduling and overall organisation, freeing your administrative time for more profitable endeavours than inductions and safety training, whilst still remaining safe and compliant. Most importantly, save yourself from hassle and ease the burden of record keeping and paperwork. As well as providing a one-stop solution to your major construction administration issues, Induct for work also provides countless additional benefits which make it a worthwhile investment.
Cost effective – Not only is Induct for Work the most affordable online induction options out there with so many amazing features; including free or assisted set up, licensing management, mobility and limitless reach to name a few. It’s also one of the most cost effective training options overall. Training your inductees and current workers for each project, work-site, upon hiring them and for updates or changes of company policies takes time and often money.
There are many ways to go about with such as hiring out a warehouse to induct them all at once, or taking workers and inductees through their training one by one on-site. But all these options take up your worker’s valuable time which you’re paying them for, and which could frankly be put to much better use being productive and completing actual work.
They take up administrative time, which is your time or the time of your management team which would also be better utilised dealing with more important issues and being overall more productive and profitable.
Not to mention the cost of materials or hiring a ware-house. By administering online inductions workers can complete their training at home in their own time, and your administrative time spent checking these inductions will be reduced immensely by the simplicity of tracking online inductions.
Online inductions prove much more cost effective and they save time. Induct for work
also offers a great range of prices and induction sample packages starting with our
FREE TRIAL.
Our software is also a preventative measure in money management because failure to adequately train your workers may lead to litigation for negligence and compliance shortcomings in the event of injuries. Especially those which are preventable with the correct safety training.
Peace of mind – Through the use of Induct for work’s rapid induction software, you gain peace of mind that your inductions will maintain consistency in their quality. All your workers will be administered the same training and can be easily monitored to ensure they’re up to date on their required training.
You can employ the testing features to ensure your employees are absorbing the information correctly. It’s also possible to check the number of unsuccessful attempts of each employee and track their progress to better gage your workers’ comprehension of their training. And if you’re unsatisfied, you can simply ask them to retake their induction.
Inductions can and should be made available and mandatory for all employees so your current staff can retrain and refresh their memory or be updated on company changes, this allows you the peace of mind that in any circumstances your staff will be well trained.
Most importantly, inductions allow for the peace of mind that you are being compliant.
Providing evidence of training and that workers have been adequately informed on OH&S regulations, how to be safe in their workplace and that they’re aware of company policies regarding not only safety but conduct. In any situation, the progress history, uploaded documents and information in each induction will serve as proof of compliance. It’s evident that Induct for work can greatly assist in a number of crucial business operations, including:
● Saving time and improving workflow to better your organisation’s productivity, it’s
profitability and administrative process
● Contribute to the organisation and planning conducted by your business
● Checking qualifications, accreditations and licenses so you can hire the best equipped workforce and easily file all this documentation
● Providing proof of training for compliance and insurance purposes
However the most important reason to join the Induct for Work team would be to comply with safe and responsible construction practises . Investing in your worker’s safety benefits everyone. It creates a supportive working environment for your workers, giving your company a great name in the industry. This will inevitably help attract quality work amidst this skilled labour shortage crisis.
It will also help protect your business from any legal implications, which would also be very detrimental to your business’ reputation.
Looking out for your workers will also encourage them to do their best work. It’s proven that workers that feel supported and mentally well in their workplace contribute much more to their jobs than workers who are unhappy at work. This also affects the productivity and as a result, the profitability of your business..