What does a career in construction look like? What are the benefits? What are the challenges? Can construction professionals find job satisfaction, growth, and good compensation in this career? Naturally, the answers to these questions vary, depending on which segment of construction and which position, but there are some interesting general takeaways worth considering.
First, let’s look at the data from a recent survey. TollFreeForwarding.com researched online review data for 200 companies across industries and ranked them based on the following criteria: culture and values, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, compensation, career opportunities, and senior management satisfaction.
Using these rankings, TollFreeForwarding.com scored each industry on a scale of one to 100 for each category, as well as an overall average. The research found the construction industry to have the most satisfied employees of any industry, earning an overall score of 72.20 out of 100.
This is interesting because the construction industry has a labor shortage challenge it is facing as well. But we know, at the same time, workplace satisfaction is more important than ever before. Good workplace satisfaction can help to retain employees. In fact, a survey finds 77% of workers were more likely to stay with an employer if they were satisfied with their company’s organizational culture.
Why Construction?
While the benefits run the gamut, there are a few areas in particular that are likely contributing to construction’s high scores, according to the survey. Based on the survey results, construction ranked a number of areas high including increasing job opportunities, greater job security, the availability of diverse roles, and rising wages, which have seen a more than 20% increase since 2021.
Here at Constructech, we have been writing for decades about how construction is a good industry to consider. It offers opportunities to help contribute to the greater good by building homes, buildings, and infrastructure—all things that are critical to ensuring our world goes round.
Construction is certainly a great industry to consider, but there are still hurdles. For instance, only one-fifth of federal investments in postsecondary education support workforce development for fields like construction and manufacturing, while the rest of the money goes to traditional degree programs according to a new report on federal workforce funding level.
Perhaps a better question in all of this is: Why not construction? Certainly, in the past, there have been difficult work conditions. Today there are opportunities to overcome this with new technologies such as robotics, AI (artificial intelligence), drones, machine learning, and more. Another hurdle is in the past the industry has been male dominated. Again, new technologies and processes such as prefab can help make the industry a bit more inclusive, opening up greater opportunities.
We are coming to the point where the benefits of working in construction are beginning to outweigh the hurdles. Now is the time to consider a career in construction. If not now, then when?
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