Your Workforce is Your Reputation – Its Brand

Chuck Gremillion
Executive Director

One of the most important determinants of an organization’s success is the perception of its brand in the marketplace.  A company’s “brand” is defined as the perception of a product, service, experience or organization.  Brand in the construction industry is heavily influenced by a Contractor’s or Specialty Contractor’s reputation for delivering quality work on time and within budget.
 
There are obviously many factors that influence a construction company’s reputation and brand, but none is more important than the quality, skill and dependability of its workforce.  Deductive reasoning should lead one to the conclusion that a construction employer’s investment in proven talent management practices, which includes the safety and skills training of its craft workforce, will have a direct impact on its ability to safely deliver high quality work in a timely manner.  This translates to greater demand for that company’s services, revenue growth, higher profits, a great reputation and a positive perception of its brand by the consumers of its services, its employees and job seekers considering their future employer.
 
Assuming that the importance of building a positive brand makes sense, let’s identify objective ways to measure a brand’s impact.  Some metrics to consider might include the following:

• Number of unsolicited Invitations to Bid received each year
• Number of times on the bid short list divided by number of bids submitted each year 
• Number of times asked to provide pre-bid price guidance each year
• Number of times annually that your company is selected when it is not the low bidder
• Annual employee retention rate (calculated by dividing the number of employees on the last day of the year by the number of those same employees that were employed on the first day of that year)  

 
Of course, a positive brand should translate to fewer workforce and project-related issues, more project opportunities, revenue growth and greater profitability, but it requires a strong commitment from the construction employer.  C3 is here to help construction companies build their brands with workforce development consulting services that are free of charge for C3 Accredited Employers.  To date, C3 has consulted with many, many companies - large and small, Contractors and Specialty Contractors.  We can help your company too!
 
How is your craft workforce impacting your company’s reputation and brand?   
 
For additional information, please contact C3 Associate Director, Angela Robbins, via email at angela@c3.org or by phone at (713)999-1032.