Framework for Identifying Competencies of Construction Workers

Any occupation requires a certain set of competencies at a given employment level. Although in the construction industry the competency requirements for mid- and upper-level employees are very well defined, such clear definitions at the workers’ level are missing. Literature suggests that along with practical skills, workers require additional socioemotional, cognitive, and technical competencies to perform their work efficiently. Therefore, through a nationwide survey of 598 industrial professionals in India, 6, 9, and 13 competencies were identified for unskilled, semiskilled, and skilled categories of workers, respectively. These competencies included attitude, motivation, and physical strength for unskilled workers; self-confidence and technical knowledge for semiskilled workers; and writing, reading, mathematical, and problem-solving skills for skilled workers. These results will have threefold implications. First, they will assist training providers designing an effective worker training program. Second, they will help the development of a career progression path for the workers. Third, if the identified competencies are considered in workers’ categorization process, then the latter will become more robust than the existing one, in which only practical skills are considered.