Case study: Hercules Site Services

Hercules Site Services were keen to provide an innovative solution to some of the key challenges facing the construction industry.

A skills and labour shortage in the industry meant that recruitment was difficult and time consuming. There was a need to engage with a younger generation of workers, but a lack of technology and diversity meant they did not see construction as an attractive industry.

There were also health and safety concerns around long working hours and fatigue management. On-site working hours and travel times are often long, so it was important to find a solution to help workers find a better work/life balance.

Hercules carried out extensive research with their current workforce and it was clear that people wanted more flexibility when applying for jobs and providing the information and documentation needed from them.

Hercules wanted to find a way to help the workforce find jobs that are local to them while also addressing the other issues they were seeing around recruitment. They decided that developing an app integrated with the back-office recruitment function would be the most effective way of connecting with people.

Hercules selected KLOC as their development partner and together they created a mobile app along with a back-end database and gateway API to service three main stakeholders – Hercules itself, its workforce and its clients. It is the only app dedicated to construction recruitment and is an industry first in matching available site workers with projects that require their services via their skills and location.

The first use for the app was to be a recruitment tool for Hercules. Their whole recruitment process is now much more streamlined and effective.

Hercules also wanted to provide local-to-project employment and reduce travel times for the workforce. Users can register on the app within two minutes and then receive information on jobs that they are qualified for, within a sensible commuting distance. Hercules can also identify and contact candidates directly via the app making it quicker to fill vacancies for clients. This tackles some of the issues around fatigue management for workers while also improving the service for Hercules’ customers.

The app can help with other aspects of health and safety or compliance by reducing the number of people working when they are too tired to do so or checking for any red flags around modern slavery. Once workers are chosen for a job, they are also able to view and agree to Hercules’ company policies and terms and conditions, and electronically submit copies of their relevant documentation.

The Hercules app is already helping solve the skills crisis facing the construction industry in the UK, while also providing benefits directly for Hercules and their customers.