Ethical recruitment is recruitment that reflects the values of fairness, transparency, and integrity. It is an essential part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), but its importance extends well beyond corporations.
Understanding and implementing ethical recruitment strategies is becoming increasingly important for construction industry recruitment. Here is a brief guide to what you need to know.
Why Is Ethical Recruitment Important?
People with experience in recruitment may strongly believe that they have always applied the principles of ethical recruitment. They may well be correct. For many people, the term “ethical recruitment” will be just a modern label for an established practice.
The key point to understand, however, is that now it’s not just enough to believe that you are implementing the practices of ethical recruitment. You need to be able to demonstrate clearly that you are applying them. In other words, the practical answer to the question “Why is ethical recruitment important?” is that the modern public has decided it is.
Here are three of the main ways that implementing ethical recruitment strategies can improve your construction projects:
1. Protects Against Legal Action
Implementing ethical recruitment strategies ensures that you stay on the right side of the law. Implementing them mindfully ensures that you can demonstrate that fact if challenged. Being able to demonstrate this may reduce the likelihood that you will be challenged. Even if it doesn’t, it will allow you to respond to challenges much quicker and more easily (and affordably).
2. Positive Industry Reputation
Thanks to the internet, anyone can make a public statement about what they think of a company. Also, if they wish, they can do so in anonymity. Similarly, anyone can easily research a company’s reputation in just a few clicks.
This reality is terrible news for exploitative companies but great news for reputable ones. Implementing ethical recruitment strategies is a way to build consistently positive reviews about your company. Building up a bank of great reviews will demonstrate your credentials as a best-in-class employer. This will help you to attract the best talent.
Having a great online (and offline) reputation also has benefits for client relationships. It’s increasingly likely that they are implementing CSR themselves. Even if they’re not corporations, they will probably be implementing similar principles (for similar reasons). They will therefore be looking for suppliers who support those principles.
3. Improved Performance On Projects
Implementing ethical recruitment practices contributes to higher staff morale. This in turn contributes to improvement in both productivity and work quality.
Understanding Productivity And Efficiency In Construction Projects
In very simple terms, workers can only be productive and efficient when they actually turn up at work. When morale is low, worker turnover is likely to be high.
Temporary workers may simply decide not to return to the job at all. (They may also flag up their concerns about you to construction recruitment services, damaging your reputation with these companies). Permanent workers may call in sick as often as they reasonably can before leaving. In either case, stress may create health issues that potentially lead to lawsuits further down the line.
Furthermore, when workers are on-site, they are likely to put in minimum effort since they perceive that work is not valued.
By contrast, when morale is high, workers are happy to be on-site. They understand that they are valued and, hence, are willing to engage fully with their work and their colleagues.
How Higher Morale Improves Quality Of Work
When engaged workers are actively delivering their best efforts, they also deliver their best results. At a minimum, pay attention to their work enough to avoid basic mistakes. At maximum, they deliver effective solutions to the challenges that inevitably crop up on projects.
Next Steps
At King Contract Services, we believe in the power of ethical recruitment to shape the future of construction. Get in touch today to speak to one of our team about how our recruitment services can help benefit you.
Image Source: Copilot Designer