The ability to hand out overtime can help to keep your construction business running smoothly. When a deadline is looping, it’ll allow you to bring all hands on deck. But if you’re leaning heavily into your overtime, then it might be a sign that you’ve gotten things wrong at the planning stage. We should be wary of overreliance on overtime, since it can lead quickly to burnout, and in turn to a loss of productivity and a rise in staff turnover.

So, exactly how might a construction business reduce its overtime?

Plan ahead

Planning a construction project in advance means having a clear idea of the amount of work that needs to be done. As such, you’ll be able to source the appropriate kinds of labour in the appropriate quantities. This means setting a schedule, establishing a budget, and communicating everything to your workers.

Reducing Admin Time

With the help of modern automation technology, you’ll be able to get more productivity from fewer hours. This might mean installing payroll software, or other human resource management systems.

Provide clear instructions

The best plan you could possibly devise will be next to useless if you can’t adequately explain it to the people who will be actually executing it. Being able to disseminate your instructions throughout the workforce means hiring management staff with good communication skills. Get it right, and you’ll avoid unnecessary confusion and arguments.

Provide the right tools

If your workers don’t have access to the right tools, then they’ll be less productive. As a consequence, they’ll need more time to carry out the same work. If you’re armed with an impact driver, then you can screw dozens of fastenings in the time it might take a hand-operated screwdriver to fix one.

Hold fewer meetings

If you’re holding dozens of meetings every week, and they’re each lasting for more than ten minutes, then it follows that your meetings aren’t doing their job efficiently. Try to cut back on the number of meetings, and make sure that you get straight to the point every time.

Focus on training

When your workers have received proper training, they’ll be able to do their jobs more effectively – and they’ll be able to avoid the kinds of practices that lead to delays, wasted time, and setbacks. While training might be a time investment in and of itself, you can arrange your training during quiet periods, when you don’t need all hands on deck.

Track time accurately

If you don’t measure the amount of time your workers are spending at work, then you’ll be unable to determine whether the measures you’ve implemented are actually going to be successful.