How to Improve Worker Output for Your Contracting Business

A group of construction workers in hard hats standing in front of a building.

When you run a small contracting business, every worker is an integral part. You need all pieces of the puzzle working correctly, or you won’t have a complete picture at the end. But what happens when you have an employee or subcontractor who isn’t meeting your needs? Here are several things you can try to help them be in a better position to work for you.

Identify the Problem
If you start to realize that you are having a productivity problem with an employee, the first thing you should do is try to get as many details as you can about the issue. It’s easy to feel like someone isn’t working as they should, but outlining various aspects of it may be more complicated. For example, you can look at areas of the employee’s job function, such as:

In most cases, employees who are struggling may only have issues in one or two of these categories. It’s unlikely that they will be completely failing at everything. As such, rounding out the picture of the problem is important. That way, you can help them use their strengths to fill the gaps.

Talk Through Realistic Solutions
Working with an employee whose style doesn’t match with yours is a great opportunity to refine your management skills. It’s easy to assume that everyone should know what they’re supposed to be doing and simply do it without issue. But if you don’t know why things are going wrong, you’ll have a harder time coming up with a realistic solution. Sit down at a time when you’re not stressed or distracted, and think about the most realistic expectations that you can make for this employee. Give yourself time to evaluate it, so that you’re absolutely sure you’re not asking them to do more than is reasonable.

Create a Performance Improvement Plan
If the problems that you’re having with an employee are more than one-off, you may need to create a performance improvement plan to help clarify your expectations. Performance improvement plans are useful because they outline the problem, explain the employer’s role in helping an employee to fix it, and set goals to measure progress over time. For example, if you have an employee who continually takes breaks that are too long, you might create a performance improvement plan that involves measurable goals related to break time taken. Once the employee knows what they’re supposed to do, there will be less ambiguity about it.

Provide Additional Support
Of course, you can’t simply tell an employee that they need to stop doing something and expect that the problem will vanish on its own. Sometimes employees struggle with tasks because they lack the proper training. In other cases, they may have personal issues that make it difficult for them to arrive on time or pay attention to what they’re doing. In these instances, it’s important for you as the business owner to consider what you can do to help. Additional assistance in the form of training or mentoring doesn’t have to last forever. Your employee might just need a few extra weeks to get caught up.

Continue to Evaluate
During the time period outlined in the performance improvement plan, you should plan to keep tabs on the goals you set in the plan. Ideally, you’ll see steady progress toward the kind of productivity that you need from this position. This evaluation period might also show you that the employee is not a good fit for the position, or for work in your company. But in that case, at least you’ll know that you invested the time necessary to give them an opportunity to stay. Most performance improvement plans include a stipulation for employment changes, in the event that non-performing employees are unable to meet those goals.

Keeping a high level of productivity is important for your contracting business. If you know how to help your employees, you’ll have an easier time with it. To get started, contact CSLS today!