According to Issue 2 of ADP Research's Today at Work 2025 report, the construction industry sees a turnover rate of 3.69% in the summer months of June, July and August.

Comparing construction's summer turnover rate to 12 other industries, it's the fourth highest behind leisure and hospitality at 5.04%, retail trade at 4.87%, and professional and business services at 4.26%.

More broadly, the all-sector turnover rate in the summer months is 3.56%. In the non-summer months, construction's turnover rate comes in at 3.29%, once again fourth highest behind retail trade (4.60%), leisure and hospitality (4.28%), and professional and business services (3.73%).

The all-sector turnover rate in the non-summer months is 3.14%.

Retention is a more pressing issue for roofing and construction compared to most other industries. Why?

To start, supply and demand. As older workers retire from the construction industry, there aren’t enough younger workers to fill the open roles. Competition is fierce for the limited labor supply, making retention an always-on consideration for any construction business.

Digging deeper, ADP Research's analysis found employee turnover is most prevalent amongst younger, lower-paid, and part-time workers. If your construction business is overly reliant on these talent pools, the data shows turnover is going to be an elevated challenge.

The construction industry faces significant retention challenges that hit roofing contractors particularly hard. What talent strategies can construction businesses implement to keep their crews together, engaged, and productive?

Roofing contractors and any other construction business can consider prioritizing the following three talent strategies to boost retention.

Stay Competitive on Pay and Benefits

For any talent strategy, pay and benefits should always be at the core.

Above all else, workers want top-of-the-line pay and benefits so they can create the life they want outside of work.

When it comes to pay, the construction industry has become ultra-competitive. According to the most recent ADP Pay Insights report, which captures nearly 14.8 million individual pay change observations each month, construction employees saw year-over-year pay growth of 4.5% in July. The median pay was $70,400.

In comparison, the national median year-over-year pay growth was 4.4% in July, while the median annual pay was $60,700. By sector, only financial activities (5.1%) and manufacturing (4.6%) saw larger pay growth than construction in July. Education and health services and leisure and hospitality similarly saw year-over-year growth of 4.5%.

When it comes to benefits, the landscape is evolving rapidly. With five generations at work and each unique worker in their own unique life stage, benefit wants can vary greatly within each company and each employee. Younger workers might want financial literacy resources, while older workers might need benefits tied to childcare or supporting their elderly parents.

Moreover, workers are seeking employers who take a more holistic approach to benefits. It's not just about medical, dental and vision anymore. Increasingly, employers are looked at as an umbrella of support for life outside of work. Offering benefits tied to financial, mental, and physical health, in addition to things like pet insurance, is becoming more commonplace.

So how can construction businesses and roofing contractors stay competitive on pay and benefits?

Access to robust compensation and benchmarking data is foundational. Working with the right HR and payroll solutions provider can mean a construction business gets access to what competitive pay and benefits look like according to business size, demographics and geography.

Roofing contractors and other construction businesses can benchmark their own offerings against the competition to ensure they are staying ahead of the curve when it comes to pay and benefits.

Specifically on benefits, a move to offering a more modular benefits package is gaining traction. Rather than offering a "one-size-fits-all" benefits package, construction businesses can provide an offering that enables employees to pick and choose benefits according to what they need most for their unique life stage.

Focus on Skills Development

In today's changing world of work, workers want the skills of the future, and they want to know their employers are investing in the tools and programs necessary to provide workers with those skills.

Research shows businesses that invest in skills development for their workforces are rewarded.

According to ADP Research's People at Work 2025 report on skills development, workers who feel strongly that their employer is providing the training they need are nearly six times more likely to recommend their company as a great place to work and 3.3 times more likely to describe themselves as highly productive.

Importantly, when workers who are confident in their skills believe their employers are investing in them, they're twice as likely to say they have no intent of leaving their organization compared to workers who are confident in their skills but lack on-the-job training. When ADP Research's survey respondents were asked to provide the top reasons they would stay with an employer, the opportunity for career advancement was second only to scheduling flexibility.

With the research showing a correlation between skills development and retention, how can roofing contractors approach such a program for their employees?

First, communication is critical. Talk to your employees about what skills they are looking to add to their toolbelts. Also, talk to your more senior employees to see if they are open to serving in a mentorship role to help pass down their skills to the next generation.

Second, businesses need to find the time and space to enable skills development. Developing skills for the future is necessary, but so is focusing on the right-now projects that are bringing in money. Work with your employees to develop a schedule that allows them to build new skills while also ensuring the work of the day continues to get done.

Third, leverage technology to facilitate skills development. Look for resources and HR solutions that enable on-the-go, virtual learning so that workers can develop new skills whenever they have some free time.

Leverage Modern Performance Management Solutions

In 2025, how is your roofing contracting business leveraging workforce technology to optimize performance and drive retention? With the competition for construction talent being so stiff, keeping a pulse on each and every one of your employees weekly is critical.

There is workforce technology available today that gives companies the ability to actively track employee engagement in real-time. Leaders and managers can see how employee engagement is trending on a week-to-week basis, enabling them the opportunity to catch worrying trends before they become a real problem.

For example, if you see that an employee's engagement is on a downward trend, it's time to intervene. Set up a time with this employee to discuss what's happening at work. Is there declining engagement due to a specific task they have to work on or a specific team member? Whatever the case may be, catching this early with the use of data can enable the employee and the employer to develop a solution to reverse the trend before the employee leaves the construction business for "greener pastures."

Alternatively, if you notice a worker's engagement has been consistently rising, it gives you the opportunity to review what they've been working on within your business that is helping drive this engagement.

How can you give this worker more of this work to ensure engagement remains high?

Keeping a pulse on your roofing contracting workforce via performance management technology and solutions is a key piece of the retention puzzle, in addition to competitive compensation and skills development.