Arcoro set out to educate, inform, and energize its customers at its recent Elevate conference.

Nearly 39% of contractors operate with one HR team member and 18% pass HR onto admin, finance or payroll professionals, according to Arcoro’s State of Construction HR Report. With limited staff and increasing HR responsibilities (I-9 crackdowns, certified payroll, longer time-to-hires), construction HR professionals must work smarter, not harder.

Many turn to peers and technology to help remove paperwork bottlenecks and eliminate manual tasks, like data entry and writing job descriptions.

Arcoro Chief Customer Officer Megan Stillerman talked to a select group of Arcoro customers: Terence Harris from National Roofing, Bria Kelly from Farrell Roofing, Hannable McGarity from Construction Partners Inc., and Cathie Trautman from Laser Electric, about what’s happening in construction HR today.

The panel covered topics about what the future holds, company culture, worker development, AI in construction HR, and how technology is helping them do their jobs more efficiently.

Here’s a quick snapshot.

The workforce gap is closer than it looks

The construction worker shortage is not going away any time soon. It’s up to construction HR professionals to help turn the tide. One way to do this is by promoting the industry to the next generation.

“Two numbers keep me up at night. 2.8 million and 41. 2.8 million is the number of additional construction workers are projected in the evening in the United States in year 2030…. 41 really terrifies me. Because in the year 2032 to 2037, 41% of all current construction workers reach retirement age. My son’s generations, my 25 and my 20 year old, all their friends all have trades jobs and blue collar jobs. That makes me excited. I think we’re going to see a resurgence in American trades, and it can’t come fast enough.” (Hannable McGarity)

Hire for fit and build culture in the field

Culture comes from how people experience your company, not from what leadership says about it.

“I don’t hire the best qualified person to come work for National Roofing. I hire the best fit.” (Terence Harris)

“Your culture is really more how does the entire world perceive us? Not what you think.” (Hannable McGarity)

“I’m going out to the field. I’m wearing PPE. I’m out there just to have a connection and a conversation.” (Cathie Trautman)

Invest in growth and retention follows

Hiring enough workers is the number one challenge, according to Arcoro’s State of Construction HR report, making keeping the employees you already have an absolute must.

“I kind of like to think about it as investing in growth and development more. Because when we invest in growth and development, then retention happens naturally.” (Cathie Trautman)

Treat AI as a tool, not a threat

AI has eliminated the manual tasks that would have taken hours by hand, like fixing a payroll mistake. The panel is confident in its ability to aid HR, not take their jobs.

“We were able to use AI to actually take the time sheets and correct the payroll files. If you had to do that manually, it would have probably taken close to a week. But within four hours, we were able to have all that corrected and reimported into our ERP.” (Bria Kelly)

“Whenever we discuss AI or these tools, we maintain that it’s a tool. That it’s not a threat.” (Hannable McGarity)

Technology frees HR to focus on people

Arcoro customers share how HR technology has improved productivity by providing workflows that minimize busy work so they can focus on their employees.

“Technology has really simplified compliance and allowed us to spend more time focusing on creating a cohesive culture and communication across our six branches.” (Bria Kelly)

“Our HR system was file folders, but I was looking for peace of mind for myself, because I was a department one. How do I save more time and eliminate paper and using technology? From that, we roll into the Core system. Now everything's on the phone. We can do it in Spanish or English.” 
(Terence Harris)

Want results like Bria’s or Terence’s? See how Arcoro simplifies compliance across every jobsite. Talk to our team.