Keeping skilled people in the business is getting harder. The CIPD puts average UK staff turnover at 27.5%, and in construction it is often higher. At the same time, the cost of replacing a single employee has been estimated at over £30,000 once recruitment, training and lost productivity are taken into account. For businesses working on tight margins, that is a serious and ongoing cost.
Personal Group has published a new white paper, How Employee Benefits and Protection Strengthen the Construction Workforce, which looks at these issues from a practical, commercial point of view. It focuses on how construction businesses can support their workforce in a way that works on site, is affordable, and makes sense for the business.
One of the paper’s starting points is that construction still depends on people. Citing research from Indeed, it notes that only a very small proportion of construction skills can be fully automated, meaning the sector will continue to rely on skilled, experienced workers for the core work of building, maintaining and operating equipment and sites.
The paper also highlights a gap in how benefits are typically offered. Traditional benefits such as private medical insurance or enhanced sick pay are often aimed at office-based or senior staff, while site-based teams are less likely to be covered, despite facing greater physical and financial risk. This leaves many businesses with a familiar question: how do you support and protect the workforce without adding more pressure to costs?
Personal Group’s answer is to combine a digital benefits platform with simple workplace protection products, making support accessible to all workers, including site-based and deskless teams. The paper points to client data showing that employees who take out workplace protection are more engaged with their benefits overall, and uses an illustrative example to show how improved engagement can link to lower turnover and reduced absence.
The white paper also looks at the growing importance of social value and ESG in tendering, particularly in public sector work where these factors can account for a significant part of bid scoring. It argues that benefits and protection that extend beyond the employee to families and households give businesses something practical and measurable to point to, rather than just policy statements.
As part of its work to support members on workforce and business sustainability, the CEA has partnered with Personal Group to make Hapi, its employee benefits and wellbeing platform, available to members. Hapi is designed to work for site-based and deskless teams as well as office staff, giving employees straightforward access to benefits and wellbeing support in one place.
Viki Bell, CEO of the CEA, said:
“Most of our members are dealing with the same pressures around skills, retention and absence. This white paper outlines practical ways to consider how benefits and protection can support both the workforce and the business. That’s why we’re working with Personal Group to offer Hapi to CEA members, as part of a wider focus on supporting both employers and their teams.”
CEA members can download the full white paper from Personal Group here:👇
https://www.hapi.co.uk/resources/insights/construction-workforce-benefits-protection
For more information about Hapi and how CEA members can access the platform, please visit👉 https://thecea.org.uk/workforce