WORK BALANCE LIFE IN CONSTRUCTION?

The aim of this presentation is to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of challenges. In particular, work style , work balance life in construction field.

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.........The image of the construction industry has suffered from these

developments, not least in the eyes of its potential workforce. In much of the

world, work in construction is not regarded as “decent work”. Lack of

opportunities for training and skill formation contribute to the

unattractiveness of a career in construction. Attracting new entrants is a major

problem in countries where workers have alternatives (mainly, but not

entirely, the richer ones). In both developed and developing countries

difficulties are experienced in recruiting young, educated workers, as the

quote at the beginning of the report makes clear.

……. Labour shortages and lack of skills can also create pressures to

replace labour by machines, through prefabrication and mechanization,

thereby threatening the long-term potential of the construction industry to

generate much needed employment.

Construction Industry

Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

........A similar process is happening in India today, where unskilled work in the

construction industry is one of the few job opportunities available to migrants

to the towns from the less developed states. A survey of 670 workers on 11

construction sites in Delhi in 1999 found a majority of construction workers

were first-generation migrants. The two major reasons given for migration were

unemployment and poverty (Anand, 2000). Recruitment is through labour

agents and is based on family, caste and village ties. It is not uncommon to

identify worksites by the caste or the village or the language of those

working there. Often the whole family, including children and the old, migrate

to work in a kind of caravan that moves to the construction site (Vaid, 1999).

Construction Industry .....

Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

Construction is a job you can

do without much schooling

Construction has the ability to “absorb the excluded” (de Souza, 2000). It provides employment for those with little education or skill, many of them from the poorer sections of society. Recent surveys of construction workers in a number of Indian cities have revealed that they are predominantly young, from the lower castes and the Muslim community, and poorly educated (Vaid, 1999; Anand, 2000). A significant proportion is illiterate: 69 per cent of the workforce in Delhi, 56 per cent in Pune, 40 per cent in Mumbai and the entire workforce in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were found to have had no schooling (Vaid, 1999). In many of the larger cities the construction workforce is now locally born, but the majority is still from the most disadvantaged sections of society.

Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

There is evidence from various parts of the world to indicate that

construction workers do not view their employment in a very favourable

light. Construction is regarded almost everywhere as a low status job.

Construction in the eyes of the workforce

A recent survey of 2,600 construction workers in five towns in India found

that 90 per cent were working in construction because they had no choice,

but they did not want their children to work in the industry (Vaid, 1999).

Only 3.8 per cent of respondents in another survey in Delhi thought that

construction was a suitable occupation for their sons (Anand, 2000).

Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

.........A similar situation is reported from India, where it is rare to find

women in the building professions (except architecture). In a survey

designed to find out why this is so, one government engineer summarized

the situation as follows:

Construction is the worst model of patriarchal culture. The contractor, the

gang leader, the mistry (foreman) all believe in male domination. But why

talk of contractors only! I know so many engineers – chief engineers – who

ill do their worst to make sure that a competent woman in the organization

is pulled down and made to quit. These engineers don’t mind women

clerks and typists but a woman engineer is an anachronism to them

(NICMAR, 1996, page 6).

These views were echoed by the director of a construction training

institute who employed three women lecturers. He spoke of “concerted

efforts made by men to pull down women, show disrespect for their views

and by loose talk” (ibid).

Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

‘work–life balance’ is now receiving a great deal of attention, much concern

remains about Britain’s long hours’ culture. Organisational trends towards

flexible working arrangements have emerged at the same time as increased

global competition pressures and the search for ever more ‘efficient’ ways of

working, resulting in what has been described as an intensification of work

(see Burchall, Lapido & Wilkinson, 2002).

A Great Deal for Business ,Family & National wealth Development

Occupational stress has long been a concern of some employers and employees but is increasingly discussed in terms of not only the workplace, but also in terms of the effects this has on families (Lewis & Cooper, 1999; Sparks, Cooper, Fried, & Shirom, 1997).

Occupational stress

Work–life maturity model

This model may be useful for companies to benchmark their

performance and provide construction, and other industries, with a

better understanding of how they perform in terms of work–life

balance. It may also be useful in providing employees with vital

information to assist them in their employment choices.

Consistent with attempts to measure various aspects of organisational culture,

researchers have developed several measures of a work–family or work–life culture.

While some early scales considered work–family culture as a single construct,

Thompson et al. (1999) developed a multifaceted measure, incorporating three

components of work–life culture:

1 organisational time demands and the expectation that employees prioritise work

over family time;

2 managerial support and sensitivity to employees’ family responsibilities;

and

3 the perception of negative career consequences associated with utilising formal

work–life benefits.

Supportive workplaces

Organisational norms and expectations about work hours are likely to

have a significant impact upon employees’ work–life balance and are an

important component of work–life culture. Drew and Murtagh (2005)

suggest that the problem of ‘presenteeism’ is particularly acute among

managerial employees for whom working long hours is the only way of

demonstrating management commitment, and leaving early is seriously

frowned upon.

Managerial support and sensitivity Supervisors’ support is a critical factor in reducing work–life conflict for the

people they manage. Thomas and Ganster (1995) report that supervisors play an

important role when they support their subordinates’ efforts to balance their work

and non-work lives, and the consequence of good support is less work–family

conflict. Wayne et al. (2006) found that employees who believed their managers

supported their efforts to balance their work and family also reported fewer

turnover intentions. Managers, in particular supervisors, can encourage or

discourage the use of formal work–life benefits by subordinates. Hopkins (2005)

suggests that supervisors play a number of supportive roles in assisting

subordinates to manage their work–life balance. They play a ‘gate keeping’ role in

providing subordinates with information about, and access to, formal work–life

benefits, as well as helping them to access resources that will help to manage

work–life balance. Supervisors are often the first people to whom subordinates

turn when they are experiencing work–life balance difficulties, and subordinates

often rely upon their supervisors’ knowledge of organisational work–life policies.

An approving work–life culture.

Allen (2001) also examined managerial support as a key component of

work–life culture but drew a distinction between perceptions of

support from one’s supervisor, and support from the organisation as a

whole. Dikkers et al. (2004) further developed the notion of work–life

culture, breaking it down into two components, work–life support

and work–life hindrance. They also added support from one’s

immediate co-workers into the definition, arguing that employees feel

more entitled to use formal work–life benefits when their direct

colleagues are sensitive to their non-work responsibilities and express

positive attitudes to benefit use.

We recommend that construction organisations try to identify their current

organisational cultures in this grid and work to move towards an approving

work–life culture.

The current culture of the construction industry does not appear to be very supportive of

workers with family responsibilities. Participants in various Australian studies undertaken by

the authors and referred to throughout this book spoke of ‘the long hours culture’, the

‘blame culture’, ‘presenteeism’, etc. As one private sector participant in a qualitative study of

work–life said: ‘The other thing is the culture . . . you know leaving early and not feeling

guilty . . . The culture, particularly with the older managers is that they are not used to a

father running errands, they consider that to be the wife’s job . . . there is a culture that you

are at work and you shouldn’t consider other things’ (Francis, Lingard and Gibson, 2006:

26). Research by Watts’ (2007a) also indicates significant cultural issues in the UK industry

and, in particular, the difficulties of changing culture. She says ‘The construction culture that

glorifies employees who work as if they have no personal life appears to be relentless in

silencing those who may raise concerns about the personal costs of overworking and the

effectiveness of time-intensive work practices. Where employees’ jobs in construction

companies depend on constant work renewal and the associated willingness to put work first,

the questioning of the long hours culture is particularly difficult’ (Watts, 2007a: 17). Francis’s

research into the work–family culture experienced by civil engineers is presented in Case

example 7.1.

Source:Work-life balance in South East Asia: the Indian experience Ujvala Rajadhyaksha Department of Business Administration and Economics, St Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

A typical engineer’s day may look like that shown in Fig. 3.2. [Yes, it is

my typical day. It is not glamorous, and there is little time for deep

thought. A typical engineer may juggle anywhere from three to twenty

projects/ studies at the same time. Forty years ago, there was the luxury in

some companies of having one big project at a time. You could spend a

day thinking about a step. This is not the case in the 1990s. Downsizing has

pared engineering staffs to the bone. You are expected to work well over

your official 40 h work week. We have been asked to give 48, minimum.]

Source : ENGINEERS’ GUIDE TO TECHNICAL WRITING

www.asminternational.org

The big issue facing the sector is how to raise the image of the

industry and make work in construction more attractive to young

people. This is not just a question of finding a good public

relations consultant. There are real issues here that have to be

addressed.

Work Balance Life is also one of the big issue in the contract

construction industry .

Governments should be make welfare acts and appoint

monitoring agency.

Conclusion: