Ten Principles For Securing A Sustainable Construction Workforce

Part of our mission at Construction Citizen is to push for a sustainable construction workforce.  We developed the following set of 10 principles to demonstrate the overall qualities that we are striving for.  We are sharing them to establish the starting point for an expanded dialog.  This is another step in making contact with those individuals, companies and organizations who agree with the principles, who are already practicing them or who want to embrace them and who are willing to join us in creating a sustainable workforce for the future.

1. We believe that the future of a viable high quality construction industry depends on the collaboration of construction industry stakeholders – owners, contractors, specialty contractors, unions, supporting organizations and the workforce.
2. We believe that the future quality of the construction industry will depend on our ability to recruit, train, retrain and motivate a more highly skilled workforce.
3. We believe that we have a social responsibility to our workforce to provide them with a competitive wage, benefits and a safe working environment.
4. We are concerned that the current use of day laborers, undocumented and 1099 workers who are not employees could erode our ability to provide quality construction services in the future.
5. We are committed to join together with our peer companies to improve the workforce for the future.
6. We are convinced that we can create a stronger workforce through an organized industry-wide program to provide workers with certification that is both recognized and transferable throughout the industry.
7. We believe that we must educate and recruit from within the high school ranks to find new workers to ensure the future of the industry.
8. We understand that we will have to utilize all forms of social media and new creative strategies in order to attract new talent and achieve our goals.
9. We believe that the government, at all levels, has a critical role to play in this process by eliminating wage theft, misclassification and by recognizing the enhanced quality provided by socially responsible companies.
10. We are concerned that the state of the construction workforce in the next five years will deteriorate to critical levels unless greater action is undertaken today.

If you agree with these principles and want to help spread them throughout your area of the country, let us know and we will add your name and logo to this website for your peers, prospective clients and workforce to see.