The Secret Behind the High Salaries at Major Paving Companies
The major paving company I worked for consistently ranked near the top in annual salary rankings for the construction industry. So whenever I ran into classmates, they’d often pester me, saying, “You make good money, so you should treat us.”
However, the reality is far from so peaceful. We must consider why the annual income is so high. The reason for the high annual income is simply that the work is grueling, involving a lot of overtime and late-night work.
My base salary is no different from that of an ordinary office worker—if anything, it’s on the low side—but because I work so much overtime and late-night shifts, my annual income ends up being quite high…
Paving company employees are like soldiers
Paving companies are a lot like the military. The reality is that they hire an excessive number of new graduates every year, and the company is sustained by the few who manage to survive.
At my company, there were about 50 people in my graduating class, but only three of us are still here five years later. I’ve heard it’s the same at general contractors.
The construction industry as a whole is hiring in droves, as if to say, “If even one person stays, we’ll be lucky,” while watching as many young people leave the industry.
If we allow this situation to continue, the number of young people who feel aversion (or even hostility) toward the construction industry will continue to grow. Isn’t this a problem for the construction industry as a whole?
Hell in the "Construction Division" of a Paving Company
Many major paving companies are divided into "Construction Departments" and "Materials Departments."
The Construction Department, as the name suggests, is the department responsible for paving work. The Materials Department manufactures and sells the materials used for paving. (We’ll focus on the Construction Department this time, but it’s just as much of a living hell no matter which department you’re assigned to.)
When assigned to the Construction Department, new hires are practically forced to move into the dormitory. Rent at the dormitory is extremely cheap—about 3,000 yen, including utilities. New hires can’t help but save a lot of money. However, the dorm rooms are often located right above the office or right across the street from it—an environment that forces them to be in “work mode” all the time—so I feel sorry for the new hires.
On top of that, I have to interact with my senior coworkers even outside of work, and since the walls are so thin, I have no privacy. It feels just like those “crab-processing ships” and “octopus rooms” people often talk about online. If you have a good senior coworker, it’s heaven, but there are also some who are total jerks, so you can’t let your guard down.
A Day in the Life of an Employee at a Paving Company
A typical day at a major paving company is as follows.
7:30 Morning Meeting
8:00 a.m. Work begins on site
12:00 Lunch break
1:00 p.m. Work on site resumes
5:30 p.m. Return to the office
At first glance, you might think this is no different from a typical construction business. However, the work may continue even after that.
7:30 p.m. Night Shift on Site
12:30 a.m. Returned to the office
12:00 a.m. Begin preparing site documents
We're constantly short-staffed, and I can't even get a decent night's sleep. On top of that, even on my days off, I get assigned work under the guise of "working on my day off," so I can't really rest.
Complete Elimination of Nighttime Construction
Many new hires quit because they find construction work unpleasant. Even on major job sites, there are many job openings for construction management in the road construction sector.
Even if the government works hard to address the labor shortage in the construction industry, it won’t be able to resolve the issue immediately. It is clear that fundamental reforms are needed.
While it goes without saying that the “two-day weekend system,” which is currently popular in the industry, should be fully implemented, I believe it is also necessary for clients to “reduce nighttime construction work.” I would like to see efforts made not only by companies but also by government agencies.
Now is the time to stop nighttime construction.
We anticipated the counterargument that conducting construction work only during the day would disrupt traffic and prevent us from meeting the deadline. But shouldn’t the construction industry come together to overturn such outdated conventions?
