HR strategy and workforce planning for Road infrastructure companies: moving skills between projects without gaps
Road companies win and finish projects in waves. Planning skills across the order book shows when to ramp up, when to move teams and which people you cannot afford to lose between contracts.
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Share your requirementsWhy HR strategy and workforce planning matters in road infrastructure companies
Most road contractors learn what they need only when a project is awarded. Then there is a scramble for engineers, operators and drivers, and a site starts late or with the wrong mix. At the other end, a project closes and skilled people are released because no one has seen where they could go next. The next award finds the company short of the same people.
Workforce planning lists the projects awarded and likely, the skills each needs by phase, and the people available as others close. It shows where to redeploy, where to hire early and where to train. It also lists the skills that cannot be replaced quickly and ensures those people are looked after between projects.
How to set it up
1. List projects by phase
For each live and likely project, show the phases: mobilisation, earthwork, base, surfacing, finishing, closure. Dates will move, so keep the view updated.
2. Define skills needed per phase
Engineers, surveyors, operators by machine, drivers, supervisors and camp staff. Count by month where possible.
3. Show who is free when
List people on projects nearing closure and when they are available. Add leave, training and attrition.
4. Decide moves and hires early
Plan redeployments first, then hire for the gap. Start the hunt for rare operators before the award, not after.
5. Protect the scarce skills
Name people the company cannot replace quickly and agree how they are kept. The workforce planning service shows how we would build this.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- List the next two awards and the key people each will need in the first three months.
- Find out how many skilled people were released at the last project closure.
- Ask project managers which three roles took longest to fill last time.
- Check whether anyone looks across projects for redeployment.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach HR strategy and workforce planning in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Plan the base case from awarded work and keep a likely list with probability. Hold a core team that can staff the next start.
It depends on the mix and the skill. Rare skills are worth keeping on the roll between projects, while general gang labour is usually per project.
A senior person who sees all projects, usually with the head of operations. If each project manager plans alone, they compete for the same people.