Category: Latest News

5 Tips to attract and retain employees in the housebuilding sector

Posted on by pandc-admin

With a well-reported shortage of construction skills, housebuilders are struggling to find and retain staff. Lloyds Bank’s Housebuilding report states that 26% of respondents highlighted a lack of skilled construction workers as one of the main issues facing their business.

We are bringing you 5 tips that should not only help to retain staff, but also attract new employees.

Diversity
A workplace that is diverse increases innovation, encouraging current employees to stay and making companies attractive for prospective employees. People would like to work for a company where they relate to staff currently employed. However, there is still a long way to go in the construction industry – currently women make up just 11% of the workforce and just 1% of workers on- site. Ways to promote diversity within your company include having a policy in place that requires contractors to demonstrate commitment, as well as profiling diversity of the workforce to find opportunities for improvement.

Pay
This might be an obvious one, but with construction skill shortages, pay has never been so important. Offer competitive salaries to retain and attract new staff. Annual pay reviews and other benefits such as pension schemes, overtime pay and bonuses will help you to retain staff.

Provide training / personal development opportunities
32% of respondents in Lloyds Bank Housebuilding report say apprenticeships will be the main focus on their investment, however we believe that is beneficial to provide training for all levels of staff within your company, starting with senior management. In the construction industry there is a lot of micro-management: offering your most senior employees the opportunity to complete management courses will improve this and also allows skills to be cascaded down through to the entire workforce. It also a good suggestion to understand what other employees are doing within the company; cross-training is vital in order to maintain a successful workplace. The Construction Industry Council hosts a range of events throughout the year, which this year included speed mentoring and women’s networking events. Find out more here.

Work-life balance
Employees are more than just workers for your company: they are probably also busy family members with obligations. Create a culture where people feel that if there is an issue outside of work they can speak to their manager and that the workplace is flexible and willing to help if needed. This could be a challenge, especially with the industry heavily dominated by males who are often reluctant to seek advice. Providing the right support will help.

Personal growth
Most people are looking to evolve and grow in their career; having a clear strategy that develops and grow staff will help you maintain and attract new staff.

Have you got any tips that work well for your company? Let us know!

5 tips for housebuilders to maintain a healthy cash flow

Posted on by pandc-admin

With labour and material costs rising resulting in lower margins, there are significant financial challenges ahead for UK housebuilders. Now more than ever it is important to have a healthy cash flow. So here are our top tips for you to consider moving forward in the future:

  • Use bookkeeping and a comprehensive accounting system, this will help give you a precise idea of what income and expenses are expected in the future. For more information go to Lloyds Bank Business Toolbox.
  • Spreading costs when buying materials will leave you with more cash for operations. Negotiate prices when buying large quantities and get quotes from different suppliers as well as asking for a discount.
  • Labour costs: retaining staff is cheaper than hiring new staff especially with rising construction skill shortages. We also recommend saving money by investing in technology to automate repetitive tasks.
  • House builders receive a significant amount of invoices. Switching to an electronic, integrated invoicing system will save you important funds over time, money that could go back into your business.
  • Staff training: In the housebuilding industry 85% of the cash comes from work in progress, which means performance depends on the project manager’s cash flow management.

Are you looking to grow? We partner with small housebuilders and developers who are developing on average between 5-175 units per year. For more information visit our criteria page.

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Ensuring an inclusive environment for our colleagues and communities

A key part of how we seek to deliver our purpose is to strive to create a fully inclusive environment for all our colleagues, partnerships and communities, one that is truly representative of modern-day Britain. Quite simply, a more inclusive society is a more prosperous society, and a diverse business is a better business. That means that we also speak up and act when something feels wrong – for example, we know it’s not enough to simply not be racist, we need to find ways where can be actively anti-racist by providing allyship to our partners and colleagues. We’re an anti-racist organisation and do not tolerate hate. We will take action against discrimination and inappropriate behaviour, whether racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or ableist, regardless of whether this happens in our offices, over the phone or online on our social media channels. Quite simply, we believe in doing the right the thing. We know we won’t always get things right ourselves, but we are committed to always striving to do better, for our colleagues, partners and communities.

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