How to Hire (and Retain) the Next Generation in Construction

What’s new: application rates for construction and technical jobs are in flux, especially for Gen Z workers.

What you can do to attract younger workers: recruit at job fairs, highlight the benefits of trade work, offer better perks, and create an anti-toxic work culture.

Next generation, new expectations

Associated Builders & Construction, Inc. (ABC) estimates that the construction industry alone will need to bring on roughly half-a-million new workers in 2026. And that’s just construction; it doesn’t include most of the trades.

A lot of those new workers will necessarily be young people entering the workforce for the first time, largely people who fall into Gen Z.

However, if you’re looking to hire Gen Z, you’re up against a lot of obstacles. In a world with an increasing number of formally educated young people, you need a strategy to hire (and retain) younger workers.

Keeping your company fully staffed and building your reputation among potential workers will take some work, but it’s worth doing. We recommend three steps:

1. build a better workplace culture
2. offer more perks, including a competitive market salary or wage
3. recruit younger and show off the value of trade work, especially in terms of job security

Why young people aren’t choosing construction

Education

You’re starting on an uphill battle: Gen Z is far more likely to attend college than pursue a trade.

There’s a reason Gen Z is the most college-educated generation yet: parents and schools prioritize and push a college degree.

Once Gen Zs have earned that degree, they’re more likely to stick to their field of study and not consider other career options.

Fewer family-owned small businesses

Another reason more young people pursue college is because they don’t have a trade or business ready for them to step into.

Gen Z’s parents, typically Gen X, are less likely to own their own trade or construction business than Boomers were, so Gen Z may not have the option to take over a family business.

Generational divides

Generational divides are a big problem in any workplace, but they’re an even bigger problem when your potential workforce is in such high demand.

Gen Z is often stereotyped as lazy or as “snowflakes,” especially in tougher industries. If you believe that young people are lazy, your chance of retaining them as workers drops significantly.

Regardless of any feelings your team may have about Gen Z, it’s important to drop them in the workplace and let their work speak for itself.

How to attract and retain new workers

Getting Gen Z to choose your company and stay long-term depends on two things.

How you differentiate your business from the competition. Why should young people choose your company? What makes your business worth choosing as an employer?

How you show your industry’s value over other lucrative career options. Why would they leave potentially lucrative options (ex. college) on the table and work for you?

You can make your company look appealing by promoting a positive environment, offering competitive salaries or wages, and providing on-the-job training.

Provide Training

Paid training is one of the easiest ways to ensure you get access to hard-working potential employees. You’ll engage hard-working people of all ages and backgrounds by offering to train them, even if they wouldn’t have applied to your company otherwise.

Exchanging training for a contracted amount of time working at your company is a fair trade. But once those contracts are up, it’s up to your company’s culture and salary to encourage employees to stay.

Build a Positive Environment

Attracting younger workers to your company requires a top-down approach. You’ll have to start building a more positive work culture with your current workers before you can retain younger employees.

A healthy work environment is a huge draw for Gen Zs. Most aren’t willing to tolerate a toxic environment, especially not when they’re in demand. Since they’re likely to have fewer financial responsibilities than older employees, they’re able to leave these environments easier.

What makes an environment toxic?

• Disrespectful culture (lack of consideration, courtesy, and dignity for others)
• Non-inclusive
• Unethical
• Cutthroat (backstabbing behavior and ruthless competition)
• Abusive (bullying, harassment, hostility)

 

Building a positive environment means prioritizing an ‘antitoxic’ workplace. It’s easier than it sounds.

Weed out toxic behavior.

Don’t tolerate disrespect, abuse, or exclusion on your jobsite, and don’t prioritize productivity over people.

Build a culture of thriving.

Focusing on your workers’ mental health and on-the-job happiness will increase their productivity. A positive work culture will lead to happier employees who make fewer mistakes.

Improving your company’s environment also helps your older workers who may be dealing with mental health crises.

Rely on employee feedback. 

Current employees are a great source of information about what needs to change. Are your employees dealing with a micromanaging foreman? Do they feel ill-equipped to do their job? Is someone making inappropriate comments that make it harder for them to work?

Offer anonymous surveys for your employees to fill out or use existing Glassdoor reviews to help you get a better picture of internal issues.

Once you have that information, work to fix any issues. Don’t get defensive and accept that your employees’ statements often have some truth. Finding a solution will help build a better work culture all-around.

Provide a Higher Salary and More Benefits

It’s a cliché, but it’s true: money talks. Offering higher salaries will attract new workers and limit turnover, saving you money on recruiting, hiring, and training.

You should also promote your company’s medical benefits in a way your younger workers can understand. Gen Zs are likely to be dealing with health insurance for the first time at your company.

If you can explain how your plan will save them money and protect them from expensive out-of-pocket costs, they’ll be more likely to stay.

Recruit Locally and Offer Career Paths

You can be a young person’s first look at working construction or in a trade. Apply to run a booth at a high school or tech school’s career fair, and you have a captive audience that is looking for answers about their future.

Explain the job: Meet students where they’re at, answering their questions and concerns about the job’s physical toll honestly.

Brag about your culture: Now’s the time to show off the positive work culture you’ve spent time creating. Bring employees along and let them speak about their day-to-day with your company.

Show value: Emphasize how they’ll have more money to start a family and buy a home if they’re not paying off college debt. Offer 401k plans (and explain what that means for potential employees) so your young employees can start building for their retirement early.

Takeaways

You know how to hire younger people in construction and the trades, but a lot of it still comes down to how your company treats its workers. Gen Z workers are less likely to stay in a job where they don’t feel appreciated or compensated fairly.

Your company alone can’t solve the upcoming worker shortage, but by offering your workers a competitive wage and giving them paths to success, you can encourage new and current employees to stay with your company for years to come.

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