Life stressors of mechanical contracting supervisory personnel

Retention of high quality management personnel is a priority for all companies in the construction industry, including mechanical contracting companies. Over the past several years there has been a decrease in managers in the construction industry, and firms that fail to retain these employees will be left with an understaffed and under qualified workforce, which will hinder their ability to be competitive in the marketplace. In order to aid in retention efforts, mechanical contracting firms need to focus their attention on the factors that affect burnout, which leads to turnover of their management personnel. Much of the current research in this area is in two categories: work stress and life stress. The majority of the research in the construction industry has focused on work related stress and methods to combat these stressors. These studies are useful for mechanical contracting firms, but none of these studies address life stressors and their effects on burnout. There have been studies on life stressors in general and there are several tools available to measure these stressors, but no studies have been done on life stressors on mechanical contracting supervisors. This research identified the life stressors and related coping resources by using the LISRES-A survey for mechanical contracting supervisory personnel. The results showed that these supervisors had well above-average levels of stress in regards to their children as well as below-average levels of coping resources in regards to children. The results also showed above average coping resources for both financial and positive life events. The results suggest that mechanical contracting firms should tailor their employee assistance programs (EAPs) to help combat these specific stressors and to raise their employees level of coping resources in regards to children. By doing this, mechanical contracting firms can combat burnout and help retain their management personnel.