Design
the SMEs may not afford such luxury
and this in turn can lead them to ex-
perience challenges in tendering for
medium-sized projects which in the
past they might have been able to.
This is unfortunate, as it leads to a
decrease in diversity and availability
of options, as well as to the further
loss of skilled employees.
Technology is also leading to chang-
es in construction methodology and
this is once again creating challenges
with regards to employee manage-
ment. Technology is changing ad-
ministration, but more significantly
also process related aspects, materi-
als utilised, logistics as well as moni-
toring tools.
Timely completion of projects is being prioritised over
long-term employee management.
project management level that are
well trained and engaged with the
organisation might help mitigate
the problem. In general, it is
important that these elements are
acknowledged and attended to
where possible.
but these are not in turn replaced
by new blood. The lack of available
resources, as well as changes in con-
struction methodologies, is increas-
ingly leading companies to look into
sourcing employees from overseas,
particularly from Eastern European
countries.
Sourcing of Employees
For set roles, the construction indus-
try is finding an increasing challenge
in the sourcing and retention of em-
ployees. When looking at skilled ma-
sons, one finds a significant decrease
of persons over time looking to de-
velop skills in the area. Experienced
personnel grow, mature and retire,
DESIGN&BUILD
While this in itself is a good
workaround solution to satisfy de-
mand, it is in fact leading to issues in
relation to small and medium-sized
enterprises. While the larger (by
Malta standards) companies can em-
ploy dedicated people for this search
(in-house human resource profes-
sionals, or third party suppliers),
tight dead-
lines are gen-
erally set,
which lead to
the need for
employees
to work long
hours and at
potentially
high levels of
stress
Q 2 , 2017
29