The aim of this presentation is to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of challenges. In particular, work style , work balance life in construction field.

2. The aim of this presentation is to gain a better understanding of
the magnitude of challenges. In particular, work style , work
balance life in construction field.
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4. .........The image of the construction industry has suffered from these
developments, not least in the eyes of its potential workforce. In much of the
world, work in construction is not regarded as “decent work”. Lack of
opportunities for training and skill formation contribute to the
unattractiveness of a career in construction. Attracting new entrants is a major
problem in countries where workers have alternatives (mainly, but not
entirely, the richer ones). In both developed and developing countries
difficulties are experienced in recruiting young, educated workers, as the
quote at the beginning of the report makes clear.
……. Labour shortages and lack of skills can also create pressures to
replace labour by machines, through prefabrication and mechanization,
thereby threatening the long-term potential of the construction industry to
generate much needed employment.
Construction Industry
Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

5. ........A similar process is happening in India today, where unskilled work in the
construction industry is one of the few job opportunities available to migrants
to the towns from the less developed states. A survey of 670 workers on 11
construction sites in Delhi in 1999 found a majority of construction workers
were first-generation migrants.The two major reasons given for migration were
unemployment and poverty (Anand, 2000). Recruitment is through labour
agents and is based on family, caste and village ties. It is not uncommon to
identify worksites by the caste or the village or the language of those
working there. Often the whole family, including children and the old, migrate
to work in a kind of caravan that moves to the construction site (Vaid, 1999).
Construction Industry .....
Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

6. Construction is a job you can
do without much schooling

7. Construction has the ability to “absorb the excluded” (de Souza, 2000). It provides
employment for those with little education or skill, many of them from the poorer
sections of society.
Recent surveys of construction workers in a number of Indian cities have revealed
that they are predominantly young, from the lower castes and the Muslim
community, and poorly educated (Vaid, 1999; Anand, 2000). A significant proportion
is illiterate: 69 per cent of the workforce in Delhi, 56 per cent in Pune, 40 per cent in
Mumbai and the entire workforce in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were found to
have had no schooling (Vaid,
1999). In many of the larger cities the construction workforce is now locally born, but
the majority is still from the most disadvantaged sections of society.
Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

8. There is evidence from various parts of the world to indicate that
construction workers do not view their employment in a very favourable
light. Construction is regarded almost everywhere as a low status job.
Construction in the eyes of the workforce
A recent survey of 2,600 construction workers in five towns in India found
that 90 per cent were working in construction because they had no choice,
but they did not want their children to work in the industry (Vaid, 1999).
Only 3.8 per cent of respondents in another survey in Delhi thought that
construction was a suitable occupation for their sons (Anand, 2000).
Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

9. .........A similar situation is reported from India, where it is rare to find
women in the building professions (except architecture). In a survey
designed to find out why this is so, one government engineer summarized
the situation as follows:
Construction is the worst model of patriarchal culture.The contractor, the
gang leader, the mistry (foreman) all believe in male domination. But why
talk of contractors only! I know so many engineers – chief engineers – who
ill do their worst to make sure that a competent woman in the organization
is pulled down and made to quit.These engineers don’t mind women
clerks and typists but a woman engineer is an anachronism to them
(NICMAR, 1996, page 6).
These views were echoed by the director of a construction training
institute who employed three women lecturers. He spoke of “concerted
efforts made by men to pull down women, show disrespect for their views
and by loose talk” (ibid).
Source : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

12. ‘work–life balance’ is now receiving a great deal of attention, much concern
remains about Britain’s long hours’ culture. Organisational trends towards
flexible working arrangements have emerged at the same time as increased
global competition pressures and the search for ever more ‘efficient’ ways of
working, resulting in what has been described as an intensification of work
(see Burchall, Lapido & Wilkinson, 2002).
A Great Deal for Business ,Family & National wealth Development

13. Occupational stress has long been a concern of
some employers and employees but is
increasingly discussed in terms of not only the
workplace, but also in terms of the effects this
has on families (Lewis & Cooper, 1999; Sparks,
Cooper, Fried, & Shirom, 1997).
Occupational stress

15. Work–life maturity model
This model may be useful for companies to benchmark their
performance and provide construction, and other industries, with a
better understanding of how they perform in terms of work–life
balance. It may also be useful in providing employees with vital
information to assist them in their employment choices.

19. Consistent with attempts to measure various aspects of organisational culture,
researchers have developed several measures of a work–family or work–life culture.
While some early scales considered work–family culture as a single construct,
Thompson et al. (1999) developed a multifaceted measure, incorporating three
components of work–life culture:
1 organisational time demands and the expectation that employees prioritise work
over family time;
2 managerial support and sensitivity to employees’ family responsibilities;
and
3 the perception of negative career consequences associated with utilising formal
work–life benefits.
Supportive workplaces

20. Organisational norms and expectations about work hours are likely to
have a significant impact upon employees’ work–life balance and are an
important component of work–life culture. Drew and Murtagh (2005)
suggest that the problem of ‘presenteeism’ is particularly acute among
managerial employees for whom working long hours is the only way of
demonstrating management commitment, and leaving early is seriously
frowned upon.

21. Managerial support and sensitivity
Supervisors’ support is a critical factor in reducing work–life conflict for the
people they manage. Thomas and Ganster (1995) report that supervisors play an
important role when they support their subordinates’ efforts to balance their work
and non-work lives, and the consequence of good support is less work–family
conflict. Wayne et al. (2006) found that employees who believed their managers
supported their efforts to balance their work and family also reported fewer
turnover intentions. Managers, in particular supervisors, can encourage or
discourage the use of formal work–life benefits by subordinates. Hopkins (2005)
suggests that supervisors play a number of supportive roles in assisting
subordinates to manage their work–life balance. They play a ‘gate keeping’ role in
providing subordinates with information about, and access to, formal work–life
benefits, as well as helping them to access resources that will help to manage
work–life balance. Supervisors are often the first people to whom subordinates
turn when they are experiencing work–life balance difficulties, and subordinates
often rely upon their supervisors’ knowledge of organisational work–life policies.

22. An approving work–life culture.

23. Allen (2001) also examined managerial support as a key component of
work–life culture but drew a distinction between perceptions of
support from one’s supervisor, and support from the organisation as a
whole. Dikkers et al. (2004) further developed the notion of work–life
culture, breaking it down into two components, work–life support
and work–life hindrance. They also added support from one’s
immediate co-workers into the definition, arguing that employees feel
more entitled to use formal work–life benefits when their direct
colleagues are sensitive to their non-work responsibilities and express
positive attitudes to benefit use.

24. We recommend that construction organisations try to identify their current
organisational cultures in this grid and work to move towards an approving
work–life culture.
The current culture of the construction industry does not appear to be very supportive of
workers with family responsibilities. Participants in various Australian studies undertaken by
the authors and referred to throughout this book spoke of ‘the long hours culture’, the
‘blame culture’, ‘presenteeism’, etc. As one private sector participant in a qualitative study of
work–life said: ‘The other thing is the culture . . . you know leaving early and not feeling
guilty . . . The culture, particularly with the older managers is that they are not used to a
father running errands, they consider that to be the wife’s job . . . there is a culture that you
are at work and you shouldn’t consider other things’ (Francis, Lingard and Gibson, 2006:
26). Research by Watts’ (2007a) also indicates significant cultural issues in the UK industry
and, in particular, the difficulties of changing culture. She says ‘The construction culture that
glorifies employees who work as if they have no personal life appears to be relentless in
silencing those who may raise concerns about the personal costs of overworking and the
effectiveness of time-intensive work practices. Where employees’ jobs in construction
companies depend on constant work renewal and the associated willingness to put work first,
the questioning of the long hours culture is particularly difficult’ (Watts, 2007a: 17). Francis’s
research into the work–family culture experienced by civil engineers is presented in Case
example 7.1.

25. Source:Work-life balance in South East Asia: the Indian experience
Ujvala Rajadhyaksha
Department of Business Administration and Economics, St Mary’s College,
Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

26. A typical engineer’s day may look like that shown in Fig. 3.2. [Yes,it is
my typical day.It is not glamorous,and there is little time for deep
thought.A typical engineer may juggle anywhere from three to twenty
projects/ studies at the same time.Forty years ago,there was the luxury in
some companies of having one big project at a time.You could spend a
day thinking about a step.This is not the case in the 1990s.Downsizing has
pared engineering staffs to the bone.You are expected to work well over
your official 40 h work week.We have been asked to give 48,minimum.]
Source : ENGINEERS’ GUIDE TO TECHNICAL WRITING
www.asminternational.org

28. The big issue facing the sector is how to raise the image of the
industry and make work in construction more attractive to young
people.This is not just a question of finding a good public
relations consultant.There are real issues here that have to be
addressed.
Work Balance Life is also one of the big issue in the contract
construction industry .
Governments should be make welfare acts and appoint
monitoring agency.
Conclusion: