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4 ways to build strong job site communication

Empower your workforce by utilizing tools that rapidly share knowledge and information.

There are a lot of moving pieces on a construction site. Tradespeople are moving from one task to the next while the superintendent is constantly receiving new information on project updates and timing.

Through quantitative and qualitative research, MindForge has found that there are four unique opportunities to better support the on-site workforce and ensure your projects end on time, on budget and without injury.

1. Send Alerts + Announcements to the Field

Many construction teams still utilize a morning huddle, but if something changes throughout the day it can be difficult to notify all employees quickly. The MindForge platform allows you to close communication gaps with instantaneous updates pushed out to the field, taking safety and quality to the next level. Providing these real-time updates to your team can help them swiftly pivot to a new task and reduce the amount of time away from the task at hand.

Especially in an emergency situation, it’s critical to be able to send a quick push notification to your teams’ mobile devices so they can take appropriate action. The hardware to do this already exists: 92% of workers use smartphones on the job site according to JB Knowledge’s 2020 report. MindForge provides an easy-to-use channel to communicate.

2. Two-Way Chat Communication

Empowering your workforce isn’t just about sending alerts out to the field. Communication should go both ways. It sounds simple, but even just incorporating a two-way messaging system on your job site streamlines how you manage, train and engage with your workers – and it’s something many construction teams don’t have the ability to do right now.

Our partners at Pepper Construction have discovered that using MindForge’s communication platform has allowed for tradespeople to approach leadership more frequently.

Having a two-way conversation through MindForge’s bulletin board features can help you accomplish your goals related to employee engagement and team culture. It’s management’s job to foster a culture that makes their team feel comfortable in coming forward and reporting incidents, and instilling a chat function can help do just that. A chat function also allows employees to ask questions and feel empowered to make suggestions for improving the project.

3. Assign Just-in-Time Training

Your employees want education in hand and on-demand in order to receive refreshers on training and guides for specific tasks. This helps save time and eliminates any guesswork before putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation. Superintendents can then also track training completion to quickly know who is most prepared for a certain task.

Using MindForge, you can deliver educational content to both your field and office workforce through their mobile devices. Your content library can be a combination of your own organization’s content, like site-specific orientations or how you prefer to pour concrete. Or, it could be content from the MindForge Marketplace, including courses like the Construction LifeSaver course, Scissor Lift Safety, Viral Disease Prevention, Sexual Harassment and more. Pepper Construction has used MindForge to create individualized training for tradespeople that targets areas specific to their jobs and roles. In doing so, Pepper has saved employee time by weeding out irrelevant training information, which also prevents workers from disengaging with future training. Customize your library to meet the demands of your work.

4. Rapidly Onboard Employees and Trade Partners

A critical part of the safety directors’ job is to sit down and look their employees in the eye to understand whether they are fit for the job at hand. This will continue to be an important component of ensuring the job site is set up for success, and this process shouldn’t become automated. However, we know that safety directors don’t always have time to be everywhere and disseminate basic job site information, often giving the same 20-30 minute presentations over and over again.

MindForge supports this need with a unified awareness training that occurs safely on the job site. Once new employees arrive, they will step to the side out of harm’s way and complete the training that is relevant to their upcoming work. The safety team can then focus on elements of the employees’ behavior, while MindForge automates the transfer of knowledge to help them succeed safely on the job site. For example, Pepper Construction created their own project-specific “touchless orientation” onboarding videos and uploaded them to the MindForge platform in order to safely get messages across the jobsite during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The connection between the worker and the organization is at the core of MindForge. With projects all over the map and a workforce that brings together all kinds of different experiences, it’s nearly impossible for construction companies to make sure everyone on their sites is prepared. With the MindForge platform, you’ll connect the home office with the front line and build a culture of performance excellence without breaking a sweat.

Don’t let gaps in communication lead to a lower standard of safety and quality.

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Take command of your construction projects.

With the MindForge platform, you’ll connect the home office with the front line and build a culture of safety and quality, reducing the number of workers comp claims and saving you money.