Labour recruitment strategies and selection practices on construction sites

Discussions of the recruitment and employment of labour in the construction industry tend to be aggregate analyses, at the level of the firm or industry. The question as to what firms do when faced with a particular set of labour requirements at the operational level so far remains largely unanswered. This paper focuses upon the patterns of recruitment and selection adopted by main contractors on 43 medium to large construction sites. The balance of directly employed (newly recruited and transferred) and subcontracted labour is examined and variation noted by size and nature of work, firm size and location of work. Although variable, the restricted degree of direct employment is documented. The recruitment processes adopted on site are identified as relatively informal, adaptive and based upon short-term production needs. Selection processes emphasize criteria such as work history, experience, reliability and conformity, as opposed to formal qualifications. The paper suggests that while the recruitment and selection strategies adopted on sites are both instrumental and rational from the contractors viewpoint, they may have wider deleterious consequences. In particular the impact of such strategies on training provision, and on the development and maintenance of an adequately skilled workforce is raised.