Simplify Your Construction Training Program With These 5 Strategies

The success of every construction company begins with effective training. Streamlining operations means nothing when project management and construction teams are technically unprepared to perform their roles.

Many construction professionals — especially blue-collar workers — learn on the job. Most employers in the industry focus more on meeting deadlines than spending precious resources on skills development. Although this strategy seems practical on paper, it drives up costs in other areas because poorly trained team members are more likely to make mistakes.

Developing effective construction training programs can be intimidating and overwhelming for construction managers, but adopting these five strategies simplifies this crucial task.

1. Use Credentialed Third-Party Training Providers

Outsourcing environment, health and safety (EHS) training to specialists is a convenient way to comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines.

OSHA doesn’t certify construction workers. Rather, it obligates employers to educate workers on the EHS aspect of their jobs. Many companies pass the responsibility of obtaining OSHA certification to job applicants.

An OSHA card is proof that a person has completed a necessary safety course through an authorized training provider. The problem is that some vendors are fraudulent and issue counterfeit certificates. The nature of these dubious documents can stay hidden until a holder gets involved in a workplace accident — an unfortunate tragedy that can disrupt projects, traumatize fellow workers and implicate the employer.

Construction companies should consider working directly with OSHA-authorized training providers. This strategy ensures every entry-level and experienced employee obtains a legitimate OSHA card after finishing a 10- or 30-hour safety course.

Retaining the services of an authorized training vendor can significantly affect construction companies’ budgets, but so can the financial losses associated with project delays, damage to equipment and worker injuries.

Management can minimize expenses by using competition to its advantage. Many OSHA-authorized training organizations offer custom quotes to corporate clients and may be open to negotiation to generate business. Companies should reach out to numerous vendors to find out which provider offers the best deal.

2. Analyze Skill Gaps

A thorough skill gaps analysis is necessary to ensure that a construction team has members with complementary capabilities. This process involves evaluating what employees can do and what they need to learn to perform their roles successfully.

Construction managers can use various methods to collect data. They can conduct surveys, prepare assessment tests and hold interviews. Direct feedback from workers can yield invaluable insights. Encouraging workers to be introspective can reveal what training areas offer the most room for improvement.

Management should note findings with business goals in mind, and decision-makers should develop training programs that align with realistic expectations for workplace roles.

3. Put a Premium on Mentorship

Mentorship programs foster speedy institutional knowledge acquisition. They are instrumental in accelerating the maturity of vocational school students. Construction companies relying on apprentices to alleviate the labor shortage can maximize the value of young tradespeople for a couple of years as they gain experience.

Vocational school students undergo hands-on training, so they should be more or less ready for real-world projects. However, they still need guidance to apply what they know without committing costly errors and to reduce the amount of formal training they need in the long run. Pairing them with seasoned counterparts — who make excellent role models — is the way to go.

Mentorship promotes camaraderie. Career mentors help more than 90% of employees feel happier and experience higher job satisfaction. This responsibility can be beneficial for mentors. They can expand their skill sets through instruction, which beefs up their resumes and boosts their qualification for supervisorial roles. Playing a pivotal role in a younger worker’s professional life can also give mentors fulfillment.

4. Provide Free Educational Resources

Training methods often center on memorization. However, experience is better at shaping behaviors and developing positive habits. Knowledge application raises a person’s level of understanding, which is why the value of information increases only when applied.

Construction workers may make more mistakes when forced to perform mental gymnastics in the middle of a job. They should be able to concentrate on the task at hand to improve productivity and prevent blunders. To avoid overwhelming employees with information, management can use printed and electronic resources to let workers consume information as needed.

Construction workers with access to on-demand resources require less training over time. They can consult educational materials when necessary to verify technical information and refresh their memory.

Some of the resources construction managers should prepare include the following:

• Owners manuals: These manuals help operators handle, maintain and troubleshoot equipment correctly.
• A glossary of terms: Such a glossary can clearly define structural framing members, units of measurement and other construction jargon.
• A list of acronyms and their meanings: This list should clarify common industry abbreviations and differentiate similar sounding ones — like IBC for International Building Code versus ICC for International Codes.
• Productivity statistics: These statistics highlight the team’s strengths and weaknesses to inspire mindfulness among workers.
• OSHA updates: Regulatory updates allow workers to stay current with government guidelines for occupational safety.
• Industry news: Relevant industry updates inform employees of trends and current events they should be aware of — such as supply chain disruptions and impending construction material price hikes.

5. Embrace Microlearning

Short, focused modules aid knowledge retention. The average attention span of older adults is 67 seconds — over nine seconds less than that of younger adults.

Only some topics merit lengthy discussions. One-page job aids, quick videos, engaging puzzles and interactive quizzes are good enough for many employees of all ages.

Dividing comprehensive training into multiple parts — like webinar chapters — can work wonders. This strategy lets workers process and apply what they learned before teaching them something new.

Good microlearning instructional modules should center on single concepts or skills and take only a few minutes to finish. The best ones are visual-heavy since imagery is more efficient in conveying information than text.

Optimizing these training materials and tutorials should be a top priority when indexing them since optimized resources are easier to sort by relevance and quality and find when needed.

Adopt Best Practices to Simplify Construction Training Programs

Construction training can be challenging, so make it simple where possible. With these strategies, management can promote a growth-based culture and pave the way for an uptick in productivity and efficiency.