The Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (CICT) recently released two major reports that highlight key cultural issues in the industry, which include long hours, high turnover, lack of diversity and poor mental health. The CICT developed its draft Culture Standard to address these cultural challenges and create transformative cultural change in the industry across three key pillars – time for life, wellbeing and diversity and inclusion.

The Taskforce, established in 2018, is a strong partnership between industry and government, led by the Australian Constructors Association and the governments of NSW and Victoria. Infrastructure agencies across both governments are playing a crucial leadership role in the Taskforce partnership by participating in piloting the draft Culture Standard to drive these important cultural shifts.

Chair of the CICT and interim Chief Commissioner of Infrastructure Australia, Gabrielle Trainor AO, said cultural change was at heart transforming the construction industry.

“Cultural change in the industry is one of the key ways to address the acute skills shortage that has led to escalating labour costs and stagnant productivity in an industry which has so many other reasons to be a place to have a great career,” Ms Trainor said.

The Taskforce’s Culture in Construction Pilot Projects: Interim Report, led by RMIT University and released in May 2024, explores workers’ experience and preferences in relation to work hours and the benefits of a 50-hour cap over a five-day work week. Data was collected from five public infrastructure projects, three in NSW and two in Victoria, where the draft Culture Standard was implemented. Integrated strategies were used by the pilot projects to improve time for life flexibility, diversity and inclusion, and the mental health and wellbeing of workers.

Overall, the report shows clear links between the three pillars, with mental health and wellbeing and work engagement significantly and positively linked to gender diversity, respect and organisational fairness, as well as time for life.

Despite the focus on creating inclusive workplaces, the report highlights that some women experienced banter and behaviour that they viewed as either sexist or inappropriate. However, it also shows that, when reported, these issues were dealt with quickly and effectively with the appropriate support from the management team.

Results were overall positive on wellbeing, though findings demonstrate the need to address work hour pressure holistically. Indeed, an interesting finding in the report is the impact of the compression of the work into a 5-day week on worker stress levels.

Time for life

The report found that an average of 50-hour work weeks, arranged over five days, had strong support amongst site workers and did not appear to adversely affect site productivity. 84 per cent of salaried respondents and 61 per cent of waged respondents preferred this schedule over the current industry norm of longer working hours where workers typically exceed 50 hours per week and Saturday work is routine.

Ms Trainor said the lack of work-life balance faced by many construction workers can cause significant stress, relationship issues, reduced productivity and was a leading reason people left the industry.

“The five-day work schedule preferred by the workers in the study allowed them to spend more time with their kids, play sport, see friends or relax, and a two-day weekend also ensured they were better rested and recovered from the work week,” Ms Trainor said.

“Monday to Friday is clearly shown in this study to be the ideal. But the Culture Standard provides for the reality that not every project can work five days. These findings also demonstrate the positive benefits of a deliberate and accountable focus on ensuring no-one works excessive hours and flexibility is built in, and where measures on diversity and wellbeing are also in place to support the other key aspects of cultural change women and young men are looking for.”

Before the implementation of the draft Culture Standard on the pilot projects, some waged workers were concerned about the effect on their pay. However, once the Culture Standard was in place, many of these same workers commented that the effects on their pay had been minimal and, even though they may have experienced a small reduction in their earnings, the benefits of spending more time with their family and friends far outweighed the costs.

Young people and construction

Another significant finding of the Taskforce’s research has been that young people are deterred from joining the construction industry because they don’t believe the working hours can deliver them a work-life balance. The Taskforce’s report Intention to Pursue a Career in Construction/Infrastructure was released in April 2024 and surveyed male and female trainees aged between 17 and 23 who spent two years working in the infrastructure industry via the NSW Government Infrastructure Traineeship Program (NSWITP).

The NSWITP was established by the NSW Department of Education and the other NSW Construction Leadership Group members. Now in its fourth year, this unique whole-of-government pathway program introduces Year 12 school leavers to the construction sector through two years of work-based placements and the completion of a Certificate IV in a universal high-demand qualification to bolster entry into the construction sector. It also has a focus on bringing diversity into the sector to expand workforce growth by actively targeting female students, and young people who identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, have a disability or live in rural and regional areas.

The results of the RMIT led research indicate that workers are significantly more likely to decide to pursue a career in construction when they perceive a good fit between their priorities and what a construction career can offer. Trainees identified job characteristics associated with having a healthy and balanced life as being important in their career decision making. Only 31 per cent of surveyed trainees felt they could achieve the balance between career and outside work commitments within the sector.

These findings provide evidence that suggests the construction industry must adopt new ways of working, that enable time for life, improved health and wellbeing and increased diversity to attract and retain young workers.

The construction sector currently employs 1.32 million people yet is facing a shortfall of at least 229,000 skilled public infrastructure workers to build future projects. Failure to attract and retain a diverse range of new workers is narrowing the construction industry’s talent pool and reducing its capacity to deliver the nation’s $237 billion infrastructure pipeline by 2027.

Ms Trainor said the findings were concerning as construction skills shortages have already contributed to escalating labour costs and stagnant productivity.

“This has serious implications for the industry’s productivity. Skills shortages translate to higher costs. We believe working hours, the dreadful statistics on health and wellbeing and on diversity in construction are interrelated and must be tackled together,” Ms Trainor said.

“Construction is in so many ways an exciting and immensely satisfying industry, and if it offered better work-life balance, including more flexible hours, and wherever possible a five-day Monday to Friday week, we would be significantly more likely to attract young people, notably young women.”

Government support

Both the NSW and Victorian governments are supporters of the Culture Standard.

NSW Government agency Health Infrastructure pioneered early research into the benefits of a five-day work week for construction workers with partners UNSW and Roberts Co in 2021. Health Infrastructure has since implemented a five-day work week on 25 project contracts totalling approximately $2.2 billion.

“The five-day week is one of a range of initiatives that are working together to improve the experience and appeal of working on our project sites,” Acting Chief Executive Health Infrastructure Emma Skulander said.

“We consistently find that providing flexible working arrangements for construction workers improves their work-life balance – and importantly, makes no material difference to the economic viability of our projects.”

The agency’s Sydney Children’s Hospital Stage 1 and the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre participated as a Pilot Project. It continues to apply the Culture Standard across its portfolio, refining it over time in line with feedback from the project team and supply chain.

Health Infrastructure is also partnering with the NSW Government’s Women in Construction program to place project officers with head contractors to attract, upskill and retain female employees on key sites. The agency now has Officers in place on most of its major hospital redevelopments including Liverpool Hospital, Westmead Hospital, Children’s Hospital Westmead, Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, St George Hospital, Shoalhaven Hospital and John Hunter Hospital.

“Our project teams are benefiting from the skills and capabilities of women who see construction as a compelling career choice. The Culture Standard aligns with Health Infrastructure’s values and directly supports our delivery agenda. We are proud to be improving the working experience of all the valuable individuals involved in our projects and are committed to continuing to innovate in this area,” Ms Skulander said.

 

 

Source: Infrastructure

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