Throughout history, construction work has been punishing work. Up early, home late, living out of town in motels, frequent changes in job sites when local. And above all, tough, backbreaking labor. Nancy Novak knows all about that world.
Her father worked in construction, her sister has her general contractor’s license, all her uncles worked in the field as carpenters and cement masons. And Novak, chief innovation officer for Compass Datacenters, has herself tallied more than a quarter century in construction and overseen delivery of more than $3.5 billion in projects.
But the construction field she’s long known is undergoing fundamental change, through technological innovation, she says. Tech tools are bringing more women into the field, helping make possible less rigorous hours and allowing the men who have traditionally borne the brunt of the labor to work years beyond their former quit dates. Changes could not have come too soon, given construction’s chronic labor shortage.
“Construction is very much depleted in terms of workforce,” Novak says. “So broadening our pool of talent is massively important. You no longer have to be, like me, a third generation in the industry. You just need to want to have a fun career where you learn every day, enjoy these great new tools and have work-life balance.”
Critical step
Breakthroughs onsite and off have made the transformation possible, Novak says. “We now can use equipment and materials that allow women to work and men not to wear their muscles down and be forced to retire young,” she explains. “There is technology that allows you to remotely put materials physically in place, an analog suit that allows you to hold something in place for hours, do heavy lifting, and it’s very agile.
“They also have PPE that learns, using AI and telling you how to do things physically that enable you to do more with your body. And then there’s the technology not related to physical technology, all the ways we can share data and . . . all the other things we do on job sites that can now be done collaboratively, remotely.”
Enabling construction industry veterans to log lengthier careers represents a critical step forward, Novak says. “Not only does the technology allow construction workers not to wear their muscles down, but it also brings them back to being mentors for new employees entering the industry, younger people who know technology, but need older workers to share the experience they have,” she reports. “Older workers learn from newer workers, while they in turn learn from the older workers.”
Changing definitions
According to Sasha Reed, senior director of industry advancement for cloud-based construction management software firm Procore, Novak “is calling ‘bull!’ on all the reasons construction industry leaders cite for the workforce shortage.
“In her company, her numbers in terms of diversity are incredibly high. How is it that she is overcoming those headwinds? It’s because she’s intentional about expanding the workforce and really changing the definition of who a construction worker is.”
The challenge in construction is not so much a labor shortage, but the industry failing to expand the definition of who can serve as a construction worker, Reed says.
“We’re failing the men who do this work because of some of the factors Nancy talks about. The lack of flexibility in where the work gets done, the strenuousness of the work, the fact that if you don’t do the work, you don’t get paid.
“The application of tech to construction is going to benefit all workers. Not only is it expanding the definition of construction worker, but it’s improving the experience of being a construction worker.”
An industry already stretched thin could find itself even further stretched as it responds to the historic Southern California wildfires, Reed says. The application of technology is vital to sustain the industry given the demand that’s on its way. “We need all hands on deck to rebuild our communities,” she notes. “In the face of unforeseen catastrophic events, we now have an opportunity to put all hands to work.”
The wildfires will spur an external crisis that will fuel innovation in the construction field, Reed predicts. “It will be the companies that have invested in innovation and have all capable hands ready that will be best poised to capture the work.”
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