Identifying best practices for attracting and retaining skilled labor in the construction industry: A Delphi study

At the start of the 21st century, human resource professionals began facing an increasingly aging workforce, an absence of suitably qualified employees, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining employees due to the retirement of the baby boomer generation. In February 2016, The Canadian Construction Association estimated that the construction industry would need to find 322,000 new workers by 2024 to replace those retiring and to keep pace with rising demand. Current challenges are new and increasing demands for manpower in the construction industry due to demands of capital investments and a growing economy. The lack of skilled labor in the construction industry has caused an inability to maintain current infrastructure and/or construct future infrastructure. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory e-Delphi study was to identify and propose best practices for attracting and retaining talent to reduce the skilled labor shortage affecting the construction industry in the geographical area of Ottawa, Canada. The e-Delphi methodology allowed for the collection of data to identify a set of best practices determined by means of consensus from a panel of 15 Ottawa construction industry expert participants. The study yielded a set of top-ten best practices as well as a secondary set of best practices presented as one-sentence action statements that are categorized into two broad themes, attraction and retention of skilled labor practices in the construction industry. The best practices identified in this study offer guidance for industry leaders, employers, educational institutions, governments, and policymakers to formulate strategies to reduce specific skilled labor shortages, create efficiencies, and to manage human resource capital.