Employee benefits for construction firms and trades

The construction industry has a distinct identity that sets it apart from other businesses. Construction workers engage in heavy manual labour, but they're also skilled workers with a range of specialist skills. Workers travel to unfamiliar sites and may face exposure to the elements, as well as a shifting team of colleagues and subcontractors. A single construction project may require skilled tradespeople from different disciplines with needs that shift over time.

As the main contractor, a construction company may be responsible for the safety of self-employed workers, employees from other businesses and its own staff. Providing your workforce with the right support and benefits can be challenging and requires a dynamic approach to creating an employee benefits package.

Construction industry employees face three main challenges that can significantly impact their health and well-being. These factors can also combine to compound their effects.

We'll examine each factor in detail, then consider how your employee benefits can provide meaningful support.

Physical health issues

The key challenges for construction staff relate to the physical risks of their day-to-day work. Workers will often engage in physical labour that may cause sudden injury or a musculoskeletal issue that builds up over time. Your workforce may work outside and be exposed to the elements, whether that's high temperatures or freezing weather. They may also work at height, use tools or heavy machinery.

The risk profile is complex, and your company will already have assessed the health and safety implications of the work to minimise the risk of injury. However, it's also worth considering the role your employee benefits can play in promoting good health and preventing physical health issues.

Financial insecurity

Your salaried employees should receive their basic income regardless of the projects they work on. It's a more secure position than that of a self-employed contractor who may face seasonal lulls, a drop in overall demand and no income at all if they become ill.

However, if your staff are used to working overtime during peak times to maximise their income or boost their savings, any disruption could cause significant financial stress. An unexpected change in the weather or a last-minute change to a project may reduce the available hours. An illness or injury could leave them surviving on statutory sick pay when they're used to a much higher salary with overtime.

Mental health challenges

Poor mental health can significantly impact construction industry workers and is often linked to physical health issues. Construction industry research and ONS figures show that male construction staff are three times more likely to die by suicide than those in other industries. Two-thirds of tradespeople reported using alcohol or drugs to manage their mental health symptoms, which can raise their risk of physical illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, liver damage and various mental health conditions. Substance abuse can also affect relationships with their families and friends, increasing social isolation and leading to a lack of support.

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has described a mental health crisis in the construction industry, which remains challenging despite increased availability of support. It's likely that poor mental health retains some stigma, particularly among male-dominated industries. However, chronic pain from years of manual labour and the isolation that comes with long hours and travelling to sites away from home and their support network present real challenges that need robust support.

When you run a construction business, your staffing will likely include a mix of your employees, employees from smaller firms, and self-employed skilled tradespeople. In this section, we'll focus on the employee benefits package you can create to support direct employees.

The employee benefits you provide will vary depending on your company profile, how many workers you employ and their individual needs. However, as we've discussed, the construction industry has several common risk factors that your employee benefits package can help to address, providing flexible support your team can access as needed.

Every UK worker is entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of annual leave. Paid holidays let your staff spend time away from work to relax and are essential to a positive work-life balance that reduces stress and boosts mental well-being. Natural fluctuations in work levels may give your workforce much-needed downtime, but you can also consider offering more annual leave.

Here are a few core employee benefits you can consider offering to support your employees.

Health insurance

When you work in construction, employee benefits that provide quick access to care are invaluable, helping your workers receive medical treatment and mental health support and seek preventive care. Group medical insurance lets you pay for coverage for every team member, and the premiums are tax-deductible.

Core coverage typically includes access to cancer treatment, in-patient treatment such as surgery, some out-patient services, and 8-10 counselling or CBT sessions. Depending on your chosen provider, out-patient coverage may include direct access to physiotherapy without a GP referral. This allows workers to book a physiotherapy appointment quickly and prevent musculoskeletal symptoms from worsening.

As we've seen, mental health issues can be a significant challenge for construction workers. While core coverage provides some counselling sessions, it's worth paying an additional premium to access more services. Extended coverage includes more counselling and a wider range of treatments, including in-patient care with a psychiatrist if needed.

Most business medical insurance plans also offer employee health assessments that provide a picture of an employee's overall well-being and help them make changes. These can be a great way to head off issues before they become more serious. Your insurance provider will also send you anonymised data to help you monitor common well-being trends.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provides access to confidential counselling and telephone helplines offering guidance on legal and financial matters. An EAP can supplement any mental health insurance you already provide. Their specialist helplines can also help your staff seek guidance on any financial or legal worries and signpost them to professional advice or financial support.

An EAP is an independent, third-party service that can help overcome the stigma associated with discussing mental health or financial concerns, as it's completely confidential.

You can add an EAP to your medical cover or choose a standalone service.

Income protection insurance

The construction sector provides ample opportunities for employees to work overtime to boost their earnings and increase financial security. Employees may become accustomed to working overtime and rely on the additional income it provides.

This means that absences due to illness or injuries sustained in accidents can cause significant financial stress, as they'll lose overtime pay and may only receive statutory sick pay, which is likely significantly lower than their base salary. This may cause staff to rush back to work before they're fully fit to avoid taking too many sick days, ultimately damaging their long-term health.

Income protection insurance pays a percentage of an employee's usual earnings for up to two years of absence. It represents enhanced sick pay that increases employees' financial security compared to statutory sick pay. Depending on your chosen provider and policy, this can include regular overtime. You can buy a group policy for a fraction of the cost of paying enhanced sick pay.

Death in service benefits

The work that construction sector employees perform carries an increased risk of accidents and injuries. In some cases, that may mean loss of life. Providing your workforce with death-in-service benefits offers their families financial support if they're no longer around. You can invest in a group life insurance policy that pays a lump sum based on a multiple of an employee's usual earnings to their loved ones.

A note of caution. We've discussed the distressing statistics regarding the number of construction employees who take their own lives. Most policies won't pay out if an employee dies as a result of a deliberate or reckless act. These are difficult issues to discuss but are worth considering when communicating with your workforce about their employee benefits.

Enhanced pension contributions

Providing your workforce with a workplace pension is now a legal requirement and includes provisions for the minimum amounts you and your employees must contribute to their pension fund. You can also consider offering pension contribution matching, where you match the amount an employee pays in, up to a specified percentage.

This incentivises saving for retirement, which may matter more to employees in physically demanding jobs. While medical coverage helps them look after themselves, they may need to consider changing roles or seeking early retirement. Employee benefits that help them boost their pension fund let them plan for the future and may also have business benefits, as they can consider their future career options, allowing you to discuss other roles within your company and helping you retain a valued employee.

Financial well-being support

Financial well-being support helps your team plan their finances and learn how to budget. You can tailor your approach based on your employees' circumstances. For example, your business may already have connections with financial experts who can deliver training or run advice clinics. These may include a benefits provider such as your pension company or insurer.

You can also provide links to online tools and resources that help staff budget, understand their rights and seek general guidance. These could include resources from reliable sources such as financial institutions and debt management charities. As we've mentioned, an EAP can provide guidance and recommend further advice if needed.

Employers have a direct relationship with their staff, which allows them to provide employee benefits directly to their team. However, you may also regularly work with employees from another company or self-employed professionals and regard them as part of your workforce. Employees receive benefits from their employers, while freelancers must create their own plan according to their business structure and tax affairs.

However, while you may not be in a position to provide employee benefits outside your own team, you may want to support people you work with regularly. You'll have a duty to care for their safety, particularly if you're the main contractor, but you can potentially provide other perks. Some of these provisions can also benefit your employees.

Mental health support

Prioritising mental well-being helps you look after your staff, whether they're employees or contractors. If you've invested in an EAP, check whether your benefits provider will extend EAP coverage to contractors as well as employees. Some may already have coverage through their employers, but it's worth extending your service to those who don't.

Mental health first aiders (MHFAs) learn to recognise the signs of a colleague in difficulty and either open a conversation or report their concerns to a manager or supervisor. Training MHFAs benefits everyone on your site. However, there may be some practical limitations if they don't work with the same contractors long-term and get to know them well enough to notice a difference in their behaviour.

On-site welfare

You and your staff have a duty of care to all your colleagues, so including everyone in toolbox talks and safety briefings ensures all staff have the information they need to keep their colleagues safe and prevent accidents. Your training can also include signposting staff to resources and charities that can offer support with any concerns.

If your employees regularly travel for work, staying in digs or working long hours away from home, high-quality site welfare facilities can make a real difference to their overall well-being. A comfortable rest area with good food gives them a place to relax, and you can also use the space to display well-being information.

Prompt payment

The construction sector has a reputation for slow payment, which your company may or may not deserve. However, financial insecurity is a real issue, particularly for self-employed independent contractors. Prompt payment helps to relieve this, even if you don't provide contractors with a benefits package, as it helps them plan and invest in their own perks and benefits.

Work-life balance

Creating a positive work-life balance can be a challenge if you frequently work long hours or travel away from home. However, it's vital to employee well-being, letting them relax away from work and spend quality time with their loved ones. You'll set working hours for your staff and monitor their overtime, but this isn't the case for other contractors. However, you can create a culture in which staff work reasonable hours by setting realistic project deadlines, so subcontractors don't have to work excessive overtime to meet targets.

Your employee benefits package can help you meet the challenges of running a construction business and support employees and subcontractors alike. At Globacare, we offer tailored advice to help you choose the right insurance to meet your needs. Contact us today for a comparison quote.