Willmott Dixon are set to roll out ‘agile working’ across all of their sites following successful trials.
It will become mandatory from November 1 on every site to ensure employees are not working long hours and to give them the flexibility to cope with the demands of every-day life.
Willmott Dixon have been trialing the concept on selected sites for the past two years, allowing workers to agree different rotas and work schedules directly with their line managers.
Trials were carried out on the £23million Woodmansterne Primary School project in London and showed a significant up-turn in morale among their workforce as well as increased productivity on site.
Moving forward, it is hoped it will empower site workers to manage their own working lives while encouraging more women and people with families into the industry.
This level flexibility has previously been impossible in an industry known for its culture of long hours that is driven by a mentality of extremely strict deadlines.
Previous research carried out by Total Jobs showed more than half of employees believe flexible hours is the most important benefit when looking for a new job.
It has been the hallmark for start-ups and tech companies and Willmott Dixon will be the first tier 1 contractor to embrace its own version of this new way of working.
Others contractors appear to have taken note as it was also revealed that Bam Construct, Bam Nuttall and Skanska are set to trial flexible working on site after working alongside consultant Timewise.
Willmott Dixon were involved in the trials and will continue to be so. But they are opting to implement their own agile working scheme straight away and believe it offers significant extra benefits.
Where flexible working hours involves a change to contracted hours, agile working allows employees to tailor their own working hours through a loose agreement with a manager that can be changed accordingly on an ad-hoc basis.