Train to Gain
The developers behind Alec Construction’s training programme explain why knowledge has proved to be the best tool for increasing productivity, profits and job satisfaction on the contractor’s Saadiyat Island projects. Melanie Mingas reports
?For any company in any sector, the idea of investing in staff development is a fundamental element of being an employer.
Yet despite this, the construction industry still lags behind.
“Most companies don’t leverage their own internal knowledge,” explains Duncan O’Brien, the organisational development manager for Alec Construction.
“A lot of companies don’t do training because they say it’s too expensive. So you’re importing the skills and have some fantastic people, but nobody actually leverages it,” he continues.
Speaking from the site office of one of Alec’s four Saadiyat Island projects, O’Brien and his colleague, training manager Nico Van Nierkerk, explain how the practice of “upskilling” has transformed the company’s operations and profits.
O’Brien and Van Nierkerk developed a series of training programmes for employees of all divisions and capabilities, with the aim of creating a unified standard the regional industry does not provide.
Designed to increase productivity, the courses were developed over a 10-month period. Now in its second year of implementation, the programme has shown a direct correlation between workers’ job satisfaction and the company’s bottom-line profits.
Explaining the logic of investing “millions of dirhams” on training at a time when other companies are cutting budgets, Van Nierkerk says: “Bringing people into the UAE is costing the industry a fortune, so somewhere along the line you have got to try and get a little more production out of it. As soon as the downturn came most companies stopped investing in workers, but our directors actually went out on a limb and said one thing we won’t do is stop their development,” O’Brien explains.
As soon as the workers arrive here and are shown what they are going to do, you can actually see their eyes widen”
The strategy is paying off; Alec won four contracts on Saadiyat Island alone in 2010, and the company has received “several” requests from competitors who want to replicate their training initiatives, according to the firm.
“The programmes we have are written for Al Jaber and Alec, by Al Jaber and Alec; it’s not a textbook that we’re buying off the internet,” O’Brien adds.
Skills gap
Alec Construction, a division of the Al Jaber Group, has been operating in the region since 1999, working on Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah, Kempinski Hotel and Marina Mall projects, as well as Abu Dhabi’s Gold Links Club House. The company is currently working on “the biggest project in the UAE”; the expansion of Dubai International Airport.
The aim for implementing a Training Within Industry (TWI) programme was to reduce the cost-base allowance and increase productivity, all within a self-imposed, 12-month deadline.
“What we found was we were haemorrhaging money on labour; we were exceeding our cost base liable by massive margins and when we really got down into the nitty gritty we realised labour was causing the problem. We overspent by millions of dirhams.”
By analysing productivity, the company found a direct correlation between profits and implementation of the training programme.
Building on knowledge
We have a four-point company ethic; integrity, courage, reliability and the last one is ‘we value our people”
Recruiting teachers from within the existing workforce, trades courses are taught in Hindi, with additional English classes to address language barriers and raise workers’ esteem.
Built on a system similar to others used in the UK, the entire initiative comprises a number of elements; from a graded, in-house safety training matrix to artisan development; foreman development; a six-month bronze level programme; a 12-month silver level programme and a further gold programme, which is currently under development.
“It’s basically various people’s experiences that we are putting on paper,” Van Niekerk explains to The Big Project.
“Over the years you learn the methodology about the construction industry and that is what you use; you just put everybody’s ideas together and try to keep it as simple as possible,” he adds.
In addition to education, there is a companywide performance management system with feedback gauged at regular intervals.
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Overspends on Labour
$ millions
Alec overcompensated on labour. The solution was to spend less and boost productivity
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A further productivity-related rewards programme recognises the best-performing workers, who then receive prizes such as bikes and telephone cards. Certificates are also awarded and an internal ‘happiness index’ survey is conducted to gauge job satisfaction. Together, these factors contribute towards the reputation Alec holds in India’s assessment centres. “I think we are probably one of the best-known companies and potential employees queue to join us because of the investment and the treatment they are getting access to over here. There are companies I’m not going to name, but if the workers think you’re from one of these companies they won’t even consider your offer, no matter what the package is,” says Van Niekerk.
“We have a four-point company ethic,” adds O’Brien.
“Integrity, courage, reliability and we ‘value our people’.”
Giving his top tips for a happy workforce based on his observations, O’Brien names “purpose and direction” as the primary satisfaction and productivity drivers within the industry today.
“Staff come to work with a clear objective and leave with a sense of achievement,” he says.
Setting standards
Despite winning many construction awards, the lack of codified educational standards in the region means there is no scope for recognition in the wider industry, for either Alec’s programmes or the workers’ progress, according to the firm.
“In the UK you will have a qualification broken up into different standards, but there is nothing like that in the UAE, because you’re just importing all the labour,” says O’Brien.
With no criteria to meet, the lack of a unified education system also hinders the employment process. During recruitment days in India, prospective labourers undergo basic skills assessments; they are typically being asked to build a wall one metre high by one metre long.
We were haemorrhaging money on labour; we were exceeding our cost base liable by massive margins. We overspent by millions of dirhams”
“They have probably been doing that for the last two years so they’re pretty good at it, but as soon as the workers arrive here and are shown what they are going to do, you can actually see their eyes widen,” says O’Brien. Commenting on the rumoured establishment of a standards authority in Abu Dhabi, a booming market in India, minimum wage negotiations for workers and the negative reputations some companies now hold among the Indian workforce, Van Nierkerk predicts a seismic shift in focus across the industry, which will make upskilling “critical”.
“Once the minimum wage happens the industry will realise it’s not cheap labour anymore. They are going to want qualified people to do the job,” he says.
“In the wider industry there is focus on driving productivity, but not through up-skilling,” observes O’Brien.
“Cash flow was freely available, so you had people knocking on your door asking you to do work. The allowables you were setting yourself as a company are probably far greater than what you could set today. Today the whole role has been reversed.”
Adding such lack of consideration will “absolutely” have implications in future, O’Brien concludes: “All the training we do is focussed on one thing and one thing only and that’s productivity. I don’t think any construction company in the UAE does what we do at our level.”
HISTORY OF TWI
The training within industry concept (TwI) began in 1940s America, when the country experienced the largest upskilling initiative in the world. by the end of world war II, in excess of 1.6 million workers across 16,500 manufacturing plants had received a training standards certification
Inspired by the success, Alec Construction llC presented the theory to the managing director and board of directors at Al Jaber, and achieved a management buy in
Following this, ground staff identified the major skills gaps which required training and linked these skills to a standards framework to quantify the education process. Today credits are awarded, with a qualification worth 126 credits.
“The result of the credit system is that we know how strong our workforce is at any given time’” said duncan O’brien, organisational development manager for Alec Construction, during a presentation at The big 5 in November 2010.
“We don’t use a pass or fail method; members are either deemed competent or incompetent; graded on a scale of 1-5,” he added.
