Joint action needed across organisations to improve employee wellbeing in the construction sector, experts say

Experts are calling for better strategies and actions from employers across the project profession to promote employee wellbeing for project managers in and beyond the construction sector, after new research explored how project-based firms care for employee wellbeing when implementing modern methods of construction (MMC).

The findings have been published in a new report by the Association for Project Management (APM), Caring for employee wellbeing in the rise of modern methods of construction.

The research was carried out by Dr Jing Xu, Associate Professor in Enterprise Management at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction in University College London (UCL), and Dr Simon Addyman, Associate Professor in Project Management at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction in UCL.

Wellbeing management in the project profession is receiving growing attention, with a rise in the number of employees reporting increased fatigue, stress and burnout in projects and project businesses. The research found that the rise of MMC in the construction sector has resulted in changes to working practices, decision-making and ways of interacting, with the goal of improving productivity and environmental sustainability. Yet, the human and wellbeing side receives little attention. Productivity, environmental sustainability and profitability are things that are important to any business. However, they do not need to be achieved at the cost of people, their health, or their wellbeing. How to address employee wellbeing is a question of morality and ethics.

Dr Xu (pictured) said: "Our research found that in construction, like many sectors, wellbeing is about having a decent and meaningful life, including work life. Unfortunately, under the current work culture, not many organisations see creating a meaningful work life and positive wellbeing for the employee as an ethical imperative."

Dr Xu believes that there are specific characteristics of projects and project organisations that make wellbeing management different from other types of organisations. For example, the temporary nature of projects makes building genuine relationships more difficult, and therefore they are more likely to lead to loneliness from a worker’s perspective. This feeling could be compounded by a highly competitive work environment.

Successful joint action

The research offers five recommendations for organisations to help them proactively (and strategically) address the impact of business activity on the wellbeing of employees. These are:

• Recognise wellbeing as an intrinsic part of value proposition for project workers
• Establish strategic leadership for wellbeing integration within project-based firms and client organisations
• Improve systems integration and cooperation between functions and at the firm-project interface
• Enhance diversity and inclusion management for care and wellbeing
• Support bottom-up learning and employee-oriented initiatives.

To successfully implement all five recommendations, Dr Xu wants organisations to engage in a collaborative and joint approach:

"A systematic approach and joint action across organisations is needed for our recommendations. For example, implementing the first recommendation (recognising wellbeing as an intrinsic value for project organisations) will require a complete change in the way projects are organised and worked on. This includes changing how to build a relationship with employees, workers, supply chains, how to procure products and services, how to plan and control etc.

"It’s currently very difficult to integrate these recommendations within project management practices because wellbeing management efforts are too fragmented. For example, human resource management and project management are so far away from each other; they do not work together to design, plan, and control projects from the perspective of the people and their wellbeing. These are changes that cannot be achieved by a single party or a single organisation, it requires collaboration and consolidation."

Challenging the perception of employee wellbeing is also important to ensure these recommendations and strategies are successful. Many organisations focus on employee health and safety through their legal obligations to protect workers from physical harm and immediate health risks. While there’s nothing wrong with that, employee wellbeing is much more than physical health. It has a psychological, social, financial, and emotional effect.

Dr Xu added: "In construction, common industry values include competition, self-reliance, flexibility, and efficiency. The reputation of some construction businesses are more related to financial gains than other elements such as employee wellbeing. Under this kind of work culture, is caring for employee wellbeing an ethical imperative for organisations? We need to influence organisations in this sector and get them to re-evaluate how they treat their employees and workers.

"We can take away some positives from the research, I found various efforts to care for people and their wellbeing coming from different directions, like health and safety, HR, and line management. However, a systematic approach is needed to integrate these efforts to address the structural issues and improve the overall wellbeing in construction."