The construction industry is facing some steep hurdles today. Rising material and labor costs are cutting margins. But what exactly are the trends as it relates to employee pay? A new report gives some perspective.
Today at Work is a quarterly workforce report that blends ADP’s data representing 25 million people with monthly worker sentiment surveys from a random sample of 2,500 workers to provide a recurring, people-centered, and comprehensive view of the world of work.
Findings from the monthly survey of U.S. workers find there is a relationship between people’s feelings about their pay and whether they say they intend to leave their organization. What’s more, individuals who believe their pay is fair are 2.8 times more likely to be a promoter of the company’s talent brand than those who do not. Additionally, individuals who believe their pay is unfair are 2.9 times more likely to be a detractor than those who do not.
There is also a direct correlation between pay equity and engagement, resiliency, and their feelings of inclusion. While this likely seems obvious, there are some things that do not seem to matter when it comes to evaluating whether a worker believes their pay is fair or not. Interestingly, while tenure does seem to relate to measures of engagement and inclusion, a worker’s time with a company tells little about their feelings on pay equity. Also, a worker’s level of education does not appear to affect how they feel about their pay. Further, people who divide their time between home and onsite work are the least likely to say their pay is unfair.
Gender certainly enters this conversation. Across a full year, women are on average 1.6 times more likely to feel they are not paid fairly. Still, the higher up a worker reports within the organization, the more equitable they feel their pay is.
The numbers as they relate to construction paint an interesting picture. The report suggests construction workers weathered cost-of-living increases the best in 2022, with real hourly average wages up nearly 3%. Finance was the only other sector that saw positive real wage gains, up 1.6%.
All in all, the report shows how much a worker gets paid matters, and so do their feeling about it. However, some of those feelings may have more to do with other aspects of their working life, and less to do with the numbers on the paycheck.
All this to say, the benefits and perks of a job matter. Construction companies can take this information and use it to entice the right workers, for the right pay, to build the projects that will serve their communities in the years ahead.
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