Preparedness For Work in Civil Construction: A Time-On-Task Study

The importance of graduate preparedness for the engineering workplace is frequently discussed, but quantitative studies of how graduate engineers operate outside their core discipline of training are limited. This paper reports on a pilot survey study of task-time allocation conducted in partnership with a top-tier construction company in an Australian context. 15 junior engineers (<5 years in industry) and 3 mid-level engineers (approximately 10 years’ experience) reported on time-on-tasks over a 3-week period.

It was found that participants spent most of their time on work classed as outside their discipline of qualification, using skills learned mostly after graduation. The junior engineers within the case study company reported feeling well prepared for the technical design elements of their role, but underprepared in terms of delivery of solutions such as construction methodologies, contracts, and sequencing and scheduling. Since participants were engineers working in engineering roles aligned with their discipline of qualification, the results provide support for reframing of graduate skills in civil engineering. They also support the need for more explicit training in how other specialists and professions contribute to the delivery of engineering projects. The findings add to existing studies on what engineers do and may benefit graduates in their transition to work in the construction industry as well as the construction companies they work for by providing a clearer picture of how much time junior engineers spend doing ‘engineering’ and support that may be needed in other aspects of their work.