Jenny Hampton packs her bag and investigates the good, the bad and the ugly about working away from home
Join the construction industry and see the world! Stay at the Holiday Inn, Portsmouth, and other glamorous locations! Okay, it's not much of an come-on when put like that, but the transient project-based nature of construction means working and living away from home for long periods are a reality for many site-based staff, especially those working for national contractors. If you want to work on impressive, prestigious projects that will look good on your CV, you have to be prepared to travel and stay away from home.

The good
Some positively enjoy it, says Pearce Retail Services HR director, Roger Leveson. "About two-thirds of our work involves staff working away from home and some people join us because of it. They enjoy the buzz of working in different locations and living in the project."

Good team working is essential on any construction project, but those who work and play together can develop a particularly strong bond. The spirit of camaraderie that runs right through construction can make working away from home fun, as Anne Pugh, senior quantity surveyor at Benson, explains.

"There's a great spirit on the project if you're all working away together and you can end up doing things you wouldn't have done otherwise. On one project we organised an indoor cricket league, which was a great deal of fun and something I wouldn't have normally done."

The project benefits too, says Craig Allen, project manager for HBG Construction. "Everyone works hard and longer hours when the whole team is working away on a project, which is good because there's less time to get bored."

And far from destroying family life, working away can in some cases improve it, claims Stephen Hall, HR director of Costain. "Just seeing each other at the weekend can extend the honeymoon period for some couples and actually make their marriages stronger."

Shepherd Construction project manager Peter Gustard agrees that in a perverse way working away can make your weekends more enjoyable. "You appreciate what you've got at home when you spend time away from it. When you're living at home, you may be working on a pressure job, taking your work home every night and rowing with your partner about it. At least working away from home means you can be more focused on work when you're there, and when you do go home you can leave it behind."

And if missing the family is an issue, why not take them with you? One project director at Willmott Dixon did, as personnel director Chrissie Chadney explains. "One of our project directors set up house near his project with his wife, who provided secretarial support to the job. It worked very well. They've done it three times now, and the rest of the team lived around them. It's created a real family atmosphere on those jobs."

The bad
But there is a dark side, as Peter Gustard, a project manager at Shepherd Construction, explains. "I've heard people blame the breakup of their marriage on working away from home too much. I had one lad working for me whose marriage became very rocky when he was working away on a project. It got to the point where he was going to quit because of it."

Health can suffer too, as Shepherd's personnel director, Sharon Coupland Jones, explains. "Staff tend to work longer hours, and are not necessarily more effective because of it. People tend to drink more, don't exercise and eat badly when they are living away from home."

Gustard agrees. "It's dead easy to drink and eat more, especially if you're staying in a hotel - it staves off the boredom. I've brought my bike down to the project I'm working on now in Swansea to try and keep to the same routine I have at home as much as possible and get some exercise."

And staying in a hotel, though it might sound exciting at first, can quickly get on your nerves. "It may be good at first to live in a hotel, but I get tired of it," says Gustard. "Sometimes you just want to have a sandwich and put your feet up. You want to be able to come and go as you please. If I'm going to be away for a long period, I always find my own accommodation."

Pugh feels the same. "I've always found my own accommodation, either in a shared house with other people in the project or just a room in a house. I think that staying in a bed and breakfast or hotel can be lonely."

The alternative
Although working away from home is commonplace in many construction companies, you don't have to leave the industry because of it. One way to avoid the problem is by working for a smaller, regionally based contractor. HR director of Galliford Try Tony Welch says this can be a recruitment boon. "The days of the travelling guy are disappearing. People want a home life. Only 3-4% of our staff need to work away from home and it's an advantage in recruitment terms because we get a lot of people who are sick of working away and want to put down roots."

Changing practice
While firms such as Pearce, which put teams together to stick with clients wherever in the country their jobs are, and national contractors such as Costain write working away from home into their contracts of employment, employers recognise that life isn't all work, work, work.

"More and more people want some kind of family life and like to get back to their own bed at night, and that change is happening throughout construction," says Hall. "People have left us because they wanted to be based nearer home."

Leveson agrees. "People have become more aware of the work/life balance in the last few years - they have other priorities. A percentage of those who have left us have done so because they want to spend more time at home. If they can't live with the system, they leave."

How to stay sane

  • If you're staying in a hotel and are going to be there for a few weeks or more, make sure you pick one with a varied menu or you will quickly get very bored with the food.
  • Choose a hotel with a leisure centre so there's something to do in the evening other than watch TV or prop up the bar. If you aren’t staying somewhere with facilities, seek out the local leisure centre.
  • Throw yourself into the project. Not only will it get the job done quicker but it will stave off the boredom.
  • Don't be tempted to moan about the job when you do get home. Devote as much attention to your family as you can when you're there.
  • If you're working on a project where many people are working away from home, try and organise a weekly social event. It will breed camaraderie, make the project more enjoyable and may even get it completed more quickly!

    • The traveller’s tale

    Derek Burt is a regional director for consultancy White Young Green. He lives in Stevenage and is married with three children. "For the kind of work I do, I can see there being an alternative to working away from home in the future, with advances in technology. With video links on site you could check problems from your desk, but that's some way off. Typically I spend two to three days away from home a week, which is acceptable. If it got up to four I'd do something about it. I'm always prepared to go away for a few days. I keep a suitcase packed in the car with a razor, toothbrush and change of clothes and underwear just in case. I once went away for a week with someone who forgot his suitcase. He wore the same underwear for a week! "The worse thing about it is there's no time for family life. My garden is like a jungle at the moment. The last thing you want to do when you get back at the weekend is jobs around the house. And if you're ill it can be very miserable, sitting on your own in a hotel. "Our staff always stay in three-star and above hotels. We look after them well, so it's not too much of a chore for them. I do expect them to work away for some time, but you have to be reasonable if they want to go home or have some time off. "I've seen most of England and Wales on my travels, but it's put me off having a holiday here because it would remind me too much of work!"

    Source

    Construction Manager