Transforming Construction Engineering Education through Inclusiveness Training and Managing Expectations
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
The engineering, architecture, and construction professions have lost talents to other industries because millennials and Generation Z tend to misapprehend the workplace expectations of inclusion and work-life balance (WLB). Construction careers are highly stressful and demanding, with pressures including meeting tight deadlines, aligning multiple stakeholders, and managing disputes. There is a disconnect between the perception/experience provided to students during their studies, which results in challenges, particularly the coordination between personal and professional life, commonly known as WLB. The goals of this study are to investigate (1) the organizations’ efforts, challenges, and concerns to recruit and retain new workforce through interviewing industry professionals, and (2) the role that WLB and other factors, including wage, job location, and benefits, play when considering a job offer in the construction industry through surveying civil engineering and construction management students. The study results indicated that WLB is a priority for the future workforce and that inadequate WLB could result in project delays, higher project costs, and a devastating effect on the employees’ mental and physical health. The findings of this study serve the construction industry and construction stakeholders by promoting awareness of the importance of WLB to recruit and retain new workforce.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
AGC. 2022. Construction Hiring and Business Report.
Calle Müller, C., M. Kayyali, and M. Elzomor. 2023. Factors Affecting On-Time Graduation of Engineering and Construction Management Undergraduates at a Minority Serving Institution. Baltimore, MD.
Dhas, B. 2015. A report on the importance of work-life balance.
Fry, R. 2021. Amid the pandemic- a rising share of older U.S. adults are now retired.
Hooja, H. R. 2018. WORK-LIFE BALANCE: AN OVERVIEW.
Lingard, H., and V. Francis. 2004. “The work-life experiences of office and site-based employees in the Australian construction industry.” Construction Management and Economics, 22 (9): 991–1002. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144619042000241444.
Morrison, E., and D. Thurnell. 2012. Employee Preferences for Work-life benefits in a Large New Zealand Construction Company.
Noon, M. B. P. 1999. The Realities of Work.
Ozcelik, G. 2015. “Engagement and Retention of the Millennial Generation in the Workplace through Internal Branding.” International Journal of Business and Management, 10 (3). Canadian Center of Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v10n3p99.
Kane, S. 2019. “How Baby Boomer Traits and Characteristics Affect the Workplace.” Accessed February 8, 2023. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/baby-boomers-2164681.
Schwertman, N. C., M. A. Owens, and R. Adnan. 2004. “A simple more general boxplot method for identifying outliers.” Comput Stat Data Anal, 47 (1): 165–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2003.10.012.
Thurnell, D. 2012. Working hours in a large New Zealand construction company Construction Management View project BIM in NZ Construction View project.
US (BEA). 2022. Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2022 (Advance Estimate).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: Mar 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.