BBI Services’ Chief Operations Officer, Marc Roberts, explores productivity in construction, and some key steps companies can take to improve it.

Research shows that productivity is flatlining in the construction industry. In fact, data from the Office of National Statistics reveals that productivity in the sector has increased by just 12% in the last 22 years, while in the overall economy it’s seen a 53% rise¹.

So what’s causing such disappointing results?

At least in part, the explanation is surprisingly simple. Many companies just aren’t measuring productivity – or if they are, they’re not measuring it in the right way or indeed at the right level.

In business, we’re often guilty of obsessing over the outputs – like the number of activities carried out or amount of work completed. But this only tells half the story.

To really understand how effective we’re being, we have to set our sights much wider. If we want to achieve the drastic improvements in productivity our sector desperately needs, we need to be doing the right activities, with the right resources, at the right time.

Here’s just a few examples of how we can do things differently.

Changing the perception of productivity

In construction, there’s a widespread belief that focusing too much on productivity is actually a bad thing, because it leads companies to compromise on safety.

In fact, there’s strong evidence that it does the opposite.

A business that’s better organised, that works efficiently, and consistently gets it right first time is always going to be much safer than one that doesn’t – after all, more than a third of all construction injuries occur during rework. The more productive you are, the less frustrations, showstoppers and delays you experience.

Productivity is not about working faster – most of all, it’s about working better. When it’s applied correctly, it can not only improve safety but also profitability and quality of work. A focus on productivity can also improve sustainability and lower carbon footprints through reduced physical waste, deliveries, energy consumption, material movements and activities. It all goes hand in hand.

Eliminating time stealers

One of the key factors that impacts productivity is waste. I don’t mean the amount of physical waste produced on site, but other things that are frequently wasted like time, effort and resource.

Fundamentally, it’s all about keeping things simple, and looking at the best way to eliminate the time stealers that are affecting people’s ability to do things right first time.

A ‘waste walk’ is a powerful way to do this. Use it as an opportunity to question, challenge and review everything. Explore how the team work to see the value added and discover what things are impacting their ability to get stuff done.

It’s crucial that people are clear on their scope, measures and targets. Do they understand their roles and responsibilities? Are their concerns being listened to, and most importantly, actioned in the right way? If a business can get these essentials right from the very beginning, they’ll be set up for success.

Productivity revolves around people

But if they want to boost performance, companies shouldn’t just focus on processes. Above all, productivity revolves around people. You need to harness the talent and experience of the teams you work with and channel this to realise their full potential. Very often, your team know the issues that are preventing them from being as effective as they can be, but they aren’t given the opportunity to surface and resolve them.

One key reason productivity is stagnant in construction is because of the existing reporting culture. Issues are often escalated upwards, but very little action is taken to resolve them. When things are fed up through the chain, there’s rarely any follow-up support to help identify the best way to tackle, stop and prevent these problems from reoccurring.

At BBI Services, we work with your whole team to help everybody tackle their greatest frustrations, creating a more productive working environment with happier people and happier customers.