Adapting to change: redefining employee utilization in construction projects through lessons learnt from COVID-19

Purpose
The study aims to understand the challenges of effective employee utilization in construction projects during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a developing country and to develop mitigation strategies for post-pandemic workforce management.

Design/methodology/approach
We used a qualitative research design to conduct semi-structured interviews with elite informants of various construction firms and analyze the data using thematic analysis.

Findings
The results showed that numerous factors, including supply chain issues, inadequate worker healthcare, ineffective knowledge management and job losses, have negatively impacted the construction industry. The prominent outcomes of the study are a conceptual framework for effective workforce management post-pandemic and beyond, including recommendations for managers and executives and future research.

Originality/value
The workforce management framework with knowledge management developed in this study provides a new theoretical view of post-pandemic mitigation strategies through the theoretical lens of dynamics capabilities and knowledge management. The findings cover industrial insights, particularly from the stakeholders’ perspective, and provide a solid foundation for future research in this domain.

Acknowledgements
This project is supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong under the Start-up fund (Strategic Hiring Scheme) with Project ID: P0042641- BD5B.