Impact of Craftsmen’s Mode of Employment on Performance in Selected Construction Firms in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The quest to improve productivity of workers and overall performance of construction projects has necessitated the need to examine various categories of workforce and their overall effect on project success. The study investigated construction employment with a view to evaluating their impact on the performance of craftsmen in selected construction firms. The categories of employed craftsmen considered were the permanent, casual, hiring and firing, short-term and part-time. Performance parameters considered were technical experience; workmanship quality; time; and accidents recorded on sites. The craftsmen were drawn from three main trades: bricklayers (blocklaying/bricklaying, concreting, plastering, flooring); carpentry (roofing, timber formworking and scaffolding) and iron fixing (steel work and iron bending). A pilot survey was conducted to determine performance variables through questionnaire administered on thirty (30) experts drawn from selected firms. The experts were: human resources managers; construction managers; site engineers; supervisors and foremen who are directly involved with the employment and work activities of the craftsmen. The study revealed an employment composition of 48% permanent craftsmen, 35% casual while 17% were other staff of the companies studied. The results of employment practices indicated that 55% of the companies used primary six with trade test and 21% used senior secondary school as qualifications for the employment of craftsmen while the remaining companies used other qualifications. With p values of .001 and .047 respectively, the crosstab analysis of the impact of employment categories on craftsmen's performance revealed that there were substantial correlations between casual employment and the frequency of accident and technical performance.