November 2018

by Tradesmen International

No one needs to tell you there is a severe lack of available skilled craftsmen. In fact, The Construction Labor Market Analyzer® projects commercial construction will face a deficit of 1.1 million workers over the next decade, and the need for skilled construction employees is projected to grow at twice the rate of all other industries.

Obviously, as that challenge to find job-ready candidates escalates, so do expenditures related to attracting candidates to your business. There are expenses for job-board postings, print want ads, social media efforts, and referral or sign-on bonuses. Then there are costs associated with screening applicants, reference checking, and interviewing. When combined with on-boarding costs related to background checks, skill assessments, drug testing, physical exams, company orientation, safety training, benefits and payroll/HR processing, the overall per-employee hiring cost can easily exceed $2,000. And, that does not even include carrying costs related to lost productivity initially realized with new employees until they are fully acclimated to the company and project at hand.

So, what are contractors and subcontractors doing to reduce recruitment-related costs and to increase project productivity? They are incorporating contract skilled craftsmen into their overall staffing strategy.

As their need for skilled craftsmen grows beyond what their permanent skilled workforce can handle, more and more contractors and subcontractors are relying on partnerships with construction-specific staffing firms. “Subsequent to the economic collapse in 2009, and still holding very true today in 2018, our business witnessed a major shift in the hiring practices of small to very large residential and commercial contractors and subcontractors,” said Ed Rojeck, Tradesmen International’s director of Marketing. “Whereas they previously relied primarily on their superintendents, foremen, project managers, and other internal resources to bring on short- and long-term skilled employees, they’re now treating us as their primary recruiting source. They include our recruitment and staffing experts in their on-going project-specific labor planning sessions; they treat Tradesmen International as their, or as an extension of their, internal human resource departments. Doing so enables us to gain detailed, first-hand knowledge of our client’s project workforce requirements well in advance of the actual start date. This is key, as it enables us to plan ahead, to reserve specific types and numbers of trades from our massive field-tested employee database, and to improve our client order fill-rate percentages with proven craftsmen who meet unique project labor specifications.”

For contractors and subcontractors, reliance on contract labor only makes sense. Construction staffing services invest heavily in multiple recruitment advertising channels above and beyond what many construction businesses can realistically handle financially or even manage from a human resource department perspective. In addition, these services have numerous construction-experienced recruiters whose sole job it is to attract, screen, hire, and retain proven craftsmen. In Tradesmen International’s case, they employ nearly 200 full-time construction-experienced recruiters out of 171 locations across North America. Each recruiter, on average, face-to-face interviews 25 craft candidates weekly, hiring only those who meet strict hiring guidelines. As a result, Tradesmen and other staffing services have exceptionally large employee databases—extensive trade-specific pools of safety-minded, job-ready contract skilled labor—that can be tapped into to meet a contractor’s or subcontractor’s local, regional, and/or national workforce needs.

“Tradesmen International has more than 11,000 employees on residential and commercial jobsites right now,” said Rojeck, “and, by using our proprietary employee tracking software, we know when these individuals will be coming off their current assignments and available for dispatch or mobilization to another client’s project. This technology, combined with our applicant tracking software that helps us manage and maintain constant contact with tens of thousands of other pre-screened craftsmen candidates in our various trade pipelines, gives us the power to meet client labor deadlines. And, with craftsmen who more accurately meet skill-set needs of the contractors we serve.”

Essentially, reputable construction staffing services are busting through the seams with growth as the labor deficit expands and construction businesses incur skyrocketing hiring costs and labor-costs related to workers’ compensation, unemployment, benefits, and so on—all of which are covered by companies such as Tradesmen International. In addition, staffing businesses are growing because contractors and subcontractors are recognizing that the quality of contract skilled labor has advanced substantially over the last decade or so.

It is also important to note that craft professionals themselves now recognize the heightened role staffing companies play in the industry and that they value employment opportunities with these organizations. “The stigma of contingent craft employees as being inferior has been stamped out,” said Matt McClone, Tradesmen International’s vice president of Workforce Development. “Craftsmen recognize that credible staffing services have stringent hiring procedures that have effectively sharpened the overall quality and reputation the nation’s contract employee. We don’t just hire anyone. Our continued leadership, and ultimately our company brand, is reliant on our ability to consistently serve contractors with safe, productive and highly skilled workers. And, at the same time, taking very good care of our valued employees.”

Tradesmen International helps ASA trade contractor and subcontractor members meet skilled workforce requirements, increase workforce productivity and reduce labor-related costs through custom staffing solutions. The company has met the skilled labor requirements of commercial, residential, and industrial contractors for 25 years. During that time, Tradesmen has remained focused purely on the skilled trades. This ongoing emphasis, coupled with continual advances in their employee recruitment, development and retention efforts, has resulted in one of the construction industry’s leading craft workforces which now exceeds 10,000 employees who emphasize safety, productivity and craftsmanship. For more information, visit www.tradesmeninternational.com.

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