A concrete block maker runs a block machine through the day, cures pallets in a yard and loads trucks for builders. The people issues are counting, loading crews and machine operators who set the strength and shape of every block.
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Share your requirementsA concrete block maker mixes cement, sand and aggregate, feeds a block machine that vibrates and presses blocks onto pallets, and sends the pallets to a curing yard. After curing, blocks are stacked, counted and loaded onto trucks for builders and contractors. The plant works in a steady day with a few operators and many yard and loading hands. The machine operator controls mix feed, vibration time and block height, and a poor setting produces weak or uneven blocks that the builder complains about on site. Loading crews are usually paid per thousand blocks, and counts are a daily argument. Rain stops drying and curing and delays dispatch, and builders want blocks on the day they order. See also HR for construction and real estate.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
Mix feed, vibration time and height are set by one person, and a poor shift produces blocks the yard cannot sell.
Pallet counts, breakage and truck loads are argued between loaders, drivers and the office with no shared record.
Breakage and rough stacking rise when loaders race for numbers, and the loss falls on the plant.
Wet days stop curing and dispatch, and workers are idle one day and overloaded the next.
Stackers and loaders leave for nearby sites, so training in safe pallet and truck loading restarts again and again.
Drivers, loaders and builders wait at the yard, and frustration shows up as shouting and no-shows.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Performance Management; Compensation, Payroll and Benefits; Employee Administration. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for construction and real estate, not in general.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a concrete block makers business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Daily set-up and first-block checks with a trained backup operator.
What this coversHideDaily set-up and first-block checks with a trained backup operator. See role design and job descriptions.
A loading slip with count, breakage and names signed by loader and driver, and a weekly review.
What this coversHideA loading slip with count, breakage and names signed by loader and driver, and a weekly review. The HR reporting and analytics work can summarise it.
Rate paid on counted, undamaged blocks with breakage shared transparently.
What this coversHideRate paid on counted, undamaged blocks with breakage shared transparently. See performance management and incentive design.
A short list of tasks for wet days, a paid-day policy in writing and a message system for the crew.
What this coversHideA short list of tasks for wet days, a paid-day policy in writing and a message system for the crew. The attendance, shift and leave process covers it.
Pallet handling, truck safety and lifting in the first day.
What this coversHidePallet handling, truck safety and lifting in the first day. See employee onboarding process.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
Clear duties for the machine operator, backup operator and loading lead.
Truck and crew counts made visible, so daily disputes become weekly facts.
Loading pay that counts undamaged blocks and shares breakage fairly.
A first-day induction for casual yard and loading hands.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in construction and real estate, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Site engineers, supervisors, crews and sales teams leave for different reasons. How to ask what shaped their decision and act on it between projects.
8 min readRead article
A review can only judge what was agreed beforehand. How to set expectations that are specific, written and revisited, so the review stops being a surprise.
5 min readRead article
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead article
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Use a signed slip per truck with count and breakage noted, and review the slips weekly with the crew. A shared record usually ends the daily argument.
Pay on undamaged blocks, teach careful stacking and loading, and check a sample of loads. Share the breakage numbers with the crew weekly.
Use a daily set-up and first-block check, train a second operator and review rejects with the operator, not only after the fact.
Keep a list of useful tasks, agree pay rules for wet days in advance and use a simple message system for the crew. Check employment rules with a qualified professional.
Pay on time, recognise careful loaders with a small grade or allowance and give a clear path to stacker lead. Many leave when they see no path.
We would look at the last ten truck slips for signed counts, ask who could run the block machine if the operator were away, and check breakage by loading crew. A good first piece of work is a signed loading slip and a loading pay rule with a breakage share. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
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