Forewarned is forearmed
If demolition and construction workers were more strategic when choosing who to work for, they might eventually sideline "bad guy" contractors.
Knowledge is power, they say. And in the Internet age, knowledge about anything and everything is available everywhere, all at once.
Back in the day, if you needed a dentist, a plumber, or a car mechanic, you’d consult the Yellow Pages, take your pick and take your chances. The unspoken rule of thumb was to choose a company whose ad was not too big because they were probably too expensive; or too small, because they were probably not very good.
Today, however, we can be a little more scientific about our research. We can check sites like TrustPilot, Yell or Google Reviews that each provide a more detailed glimpse behind the curtain. These website sites collate reviews from previous customers; which is great if those customers have bothered to leave a review. But even then, the insights are not always useful. People tend to leave reviews only if they are deeply satisfied or deeply unsatisfied with the service they received. Those reviews will, therefore, highlight the very good and the very bad; but they will shed very little light on the fair to middling; the solid and steady; the average.
But even that is better than the information available to those about to work FOR rather than WITH a company.
Think about it. You receive a job offer from a demolition or construction company. You can check out the "About Us" section of their website. You can check out their accreditations, affiliations and memberships. A search on LinkedIn might reveal some of their accomplishments; but then you’d need to take those with a pinch of salt because - of course - a company is going to toot its own horn.
But where and how do you find out what a prospective employer is REALLY like? After all, they will probably expect you to provide references that vouch for your experience and expertise. They might delve into your employment history; they might contact your previous employer to check on your reliability and punctuality. But how do you go about checking them out.
How do you check that they pay their bills in a timely manner? How do you check their reputation within the industry and within the supply chain? How do you check their credentials and values? And do those values align with your own?
They might claim a demonstrable commitment to the environment. But do their actions support their words? They may proclaim their employers to be their greatest asset. But do they safeguard that asset accordingly?
Long before you are due to start digging with an excavator, it pays you to dig a little deeper into your prospective employer.
If they're a public firm, their annual reports might reveal more: revenue, cash flow, even debts. Private firms? You can hunt through national or local news. Have they raised funds, grown staff, or struggled to pay suppliers?
But even solid figures don’t mean much until you put them in context. I know a very successful company that loudly proclaims its “equal-opportunities employer” status. Yet every image on their website shows a middle-aged white man. Their LinkedIn page quietly revealed that only four percent of their staff are, in fact, female - Well below the industry average. The website claimed eco-credentials too, but press coverage exposed their toxic discharge into a nearby river.
You begin to piece together more stories by dipping into Glassdoor and LinkedIn. Review extremes scream loud, but the real truth often lives in the grey; the reviews that hover between three and four stars, where employees mention steady pay, occasional frustrations, but no workforce purges or daily drama.
Then comes the human touch. You might reach out to current and former employees on LinkedIn. Are there any skeletons lurking in the closet; any scandals that have been kept under wraps; any red flags you should be aware of?
Your search might also include the news. Do they have a track record of incidents, accidents, and seasonal layoffs. Have they been awarded any major contracts recently or - perhaps more worrying - have they lost any?
At this point, you might ask yourself: Why is all this important? Well, for one thing, forewarned is forearmed. But there’s another point here.
Amidst an ongoing and ever-deepening skills shortage, we are operating in what is increasingly a seller’s market. At certain times and in certain parts of the country, there are more jobs than there are people to do them. Against that background, you potentially have the ability to choose who you work for, possibly more than ever before.
If you have a few quid in the bank and are not desperate for immediate work, you potentially have the ability to pick and choose employers. You might be able to ignore those with a track record of stiffing their workers or suppliers; those that seem to exist on the very precipice of economic survival; those that work in a way that is legally or morally reprehensible.
It might take years, decades even. But if workers strategically support only employers that support them, this industry can improve; one hire at a time. Those that treat their employees well and with fairness will prosper and flourish. Those that don’t will constantly struggle to find workers of sufficient competence and quality.
As I said at the outset. Knowledge is power. That knowledge is readily available, should you wish to wield it. And you potentially have more power than you ever previously imagined.