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Fall tends to be a busy time of year for businesses. October often signifies the beginning of the end of the year. Employees buckle down to work towards yearly objectives, and teams strive to meet project deadlines and plan for the upcoming year.
Let us know
if there is anything we can do to help you or your team achieve your yearly goals.
Best wishes from everyone at RealStreet!
Katy Cook, CSP
Marketing Coordinator
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RealStreet Hires SeaPort-e Program Manager!
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Last month, RealStreet hired Rob Warner
as the company's SeaPort-e Program Manager.
Rob joined RealStreet with more than 20 years of program, strategy, business operations, and financial management experience. In his previous roles, Rob managed and supported numerous Federal programs within the Intelligence, DoD and civilian communities.
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RealStreet is attending the CMAA National Conference & Trade Show
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RealStreet is attending the 2016 CMAA National Conference & Trade Show in San Diego, from October 9-11, 2016.
If you are attending, make sure to come to our booth for our Boh's & O's Happy Hour!
RealStreet Booth: 103
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Interesting Industry Information
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| How is the Overall Workforce? |
The U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a m
onthly jobs report
soon after the beginning of each month. Each report describes the previous month's employment situation, based on data such as the number of jobs that were added to the economy and the unemployment rate.
The August report shows U.S. employers added 151,000 jobs while unemployment remained at 4.9%.
For more information, check out the BLS' interactive graphs.
- Lost 6,000 jobs
- August employment reached 6,640,000
- Year-over-year employment totals were 3.1% higher than in August 2015
Another AGC publication
concluded that t
hirty-six states added construction jobs between August 2015 - August 2016, while construction employment only increased in twenty-four states and the District of Columbia between July and August 2016.
According to Stephen E. Sandherr, chief executive officer of the AGC, the persistent lack of skilled workers is an ongoing industry concern. He also states that the AGC is addressing the issue through a workforce development plan which urges increased government spending on career and technical programs.
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| The Upcoming Election & the Construction Industry |
As the country gets closer to the presidential election increased infrastructure investment remains a topic of great interest, especially within the construction industry.
According to a nationwide survey featured in a recent Construction Dive article,
"t
he majority of U.S. voters
-
regardless of political affiliation
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believe repairs for the nation's highway, bridge and energy grid infrastructure are crucial" and think that the federal government should be doing more to improve infrastructure. In turn, both major parties have proposed increased spending in this area.
Industry professionals, economists and politicians all seem to agree that an increase in infrastructure investments would have a positive impact on the construction industry. For example:
- Brian Turmail, AGC's senior executive director of public affairs stated," while demand for construction, especially from the private sector, has grown steadily over the past several years, many infrastructure firms have seen less of a recovery than other types because of slow growth in federal investments and the fact many state and local budgets remain quite tight."
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According to a
Washington Post article,
"higher infrastructure investment can create quality jobs and provide economic stimulus without posing the risks of easy-money monetary policies in the short run."
- According to a recent Politico article, a large infrastructure investment could serve as "insurance against an economic downturn."
The only major concern is the ongoing labor shortage. As stated in a recent
Politico article, "instead of creating thousands of jobs, experts now warn that a new infrastructure investment could face the exact opposite challenge: a labor shortage." This issue, while significant, can be addressed during the planning process to ensure companies within the industry are prepared to accommodate the influx in demand.
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| Your Unfilled Position is Draining Your Company's Resources |
Hiring decisions require a great deal of time and attention because they have a significant impact on the company. Unfortunately, managers already have a plethora of responsibilities and often juggle packed schedules, even on good days. When businesses are understaffed, employees and managers often find themselves filling in the gaps, making the challenge of filling an open position even more difficult.
While it is often difficult for those making hiring decisions to set aside the time needed to adequately source, interview and hire new employees, prolonging the process only compounds the problem. An outstanding open position can have a negative impact on the entire business, from the individual employees to the company's bottom line. Avoid ongoing issues by making the search for qualified candidates a top priority.
Read the full post for t
hree reasons to make the search for qualified candidates a top priority.
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Seasonal Safety Information
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Cyber crime is a
concern for individuals and organizations, not just across our country but around the world. The growing prominence of this type of crime has spurred movements to educate the public. In the United States,
October has become National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM).
According to the Department of Homeland Security, (DHS)
NCSAM
was "designed to engage and educate public and private sector partners through events and initiatives to raise awareness about cybersecurity."
According to a recent Construction Dive article, the construction industry is not one of the "hot targets" at this time, but it is certainly on the radar of cyber criminals. It will become a more attractive target as more companies throughout the industry adopt new technologies, such as smart devices and cloud computing. Now is the time for businesses to prepare for cyber threats, not after more problems arise.
A number of resources are available across the internet to aid education and enable effective prevention and/or mitigation of incidents. For example, t
he
Federal Communications Commission website
suggests:
10 Cyber Security Tips for Small Business
- Train employees in security principles
- Protect information, computers and networks from cyber attacks
- Provide firewall security for your Internet connection
- Create a mobile device action plan
- Make backup copies of important business data and information
- Control physical access to your computers and create user accounts for each employee
- Secure your Wi-Fi networks
- Employ best practices on payment cards
- Limit employee access to data and information, limit authority to install software
- Require employees to use unique passwords and change passwords every three months. Consider implementing multi-factor authentication that requires additional information beyond a password to gain entry.
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Employees have settled in to their post-summer work routines, the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder.
People are beginning to spend more and more time indoors. The close proximity of friends, family and co-workers, increases the possibility of spreading germs.
Help your employees and coworkers avoid sick days this cold and flu season by living a healthy lifestyle, by getting vaccinated
and by encouraging them to do the same.
Check out the CDC website to learn more about influenza and the flu shot. The site is filled with a plethora of sharable information as well as a variety of tools, such as p
odcasts, widgets, infographics, such as this CDC Foundation Business Pulse: Flu Prevention infographic, and printable
materials.
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Feedback Wanted!
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We Value Referrals!
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Would you mind taking a moment to
Thank you!
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Who in your network is looking for a new opportunity?
Check our
open positions
, to see if any of them are a match to the job seekers that you know. At RealStreet, we value great candidates and when it comes down to it, we know you're the Real Deal! We have a great referral program that compensates you for every qualified referral you provide us.
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