We work in an industry that prides itself on doing "just enough." Just enough to meet the regulations. Just enough to stay compliant. Just enough to claim progress without making any. And somehow, the mantra of “just enough” has become the standard.
Health and safety? We put up the posters. We sign off on the toolbox talks. We hold the mandatory meetings where everyone nods along. And when the unthinkable happens - when a worker falls, when a trench collapses, when someone doesn’t make it home - we shake our heads, offer thoughts and prayers, and vow to learn lessons. And then? We go right back to doing just enough.
The real question is, when did we decide that just enough was acceptable? When did we become so comfortable with cutting corners as long as they don’t officially cross the line? The industry tells us they care about our safety. They roll out the high-vis vests, the gloves, and the safety boots. But when push comes to shove, when deadlines loom and profits are at stake, the safety protocols suddenly become "guidelines." Corners get cut, risks get taken, and workers are left exposed. And if something goes wrong? There’s always someone else to blame.
Mental health? We appoint mental health first aiders. We hand out leaflets. We put up a helpline number in the site office, as if that’s going to fix the crushing pressure, the sleepless nights, the anxiety of job insecurity. We tell our workers "talk to someone" while piling on longer hours, tighter deadlines, and relentless pressure. We tick the box, we make the gesture, and we move on. Because we’ve done just enough.
And let’s talk about the real issues driving poor mental health in this industry: constant uncertainty, toxic work environments, the stigma around asking for help. It’s all well and good to run a mental health awareness campaign, but what about changing the conditions that make workers need one in the first place? What about paying people fairly, treating them with respect, giving them some job security? No, we don’t do that. That would be real change. Instead, we hang up a poster and consider the job done.
Just enough safety gets people killed. Just enough mental health awareness leaves people suffering in silence. Just enough diversity keeps the barriers firmly in place.
Diversity? Oh, we’ve got that covered. We put one woman in the office and call ourselves progressive. We take a picture of the one ethnic minority worker on-site and plaster it all over our social media. We hold up our one exception and pretend it proves the rule. Never mind that the culture, the opportunities, the very structure of the industry remain the same. We’ve got our token faces, our carefully staged photos, and that’s just enough.
How many times have we seen it? The carefully selected team photo, designed to give the illusion of diversity. The one female worker rolled out for every conference panel. The occasional promotional video where we suddenly see representation that doesn’t exist in the real workplace. We’re told the industry is "changing," that it’s "inclusive." But step onto a site, look around, and see if the reality matches the branding. It doesn’t. Because just enough means we don’t have to actually fix anything. We only have to look like we tried.
And this isn’t just demolition and construction companies. Training organisations do just enough to keep levy money flowing through the door, but not enough to address the skills shortage that is undermining the very core of the sector. The card companies do just enough to put warm bodies onto sites and into machine seats, but not enough to deliver a genuinely competent workforce. Trade associations do just enough to keep their membership numbers up and their coffers filled, but not enough to make the industry better for their members and their employees.
And here’s the thing. They think we don’t notice. They think we don’t see through the smoke and mirrors, the lip service, the carefully measured, risk-free "efforts." But we do. We live it. We work in it. We know exactly what "just enough" looks like. It looks like empty gestures, surface-level change, and an industry content with pretending it cares.
And let’s be honest. This approach isn’t just disappointing. It’s dangerous. Just enough safety gets people killed. Just enough mental health awareness leaves people suffering in silence. Just enough diversity keeps the barriers firmly in place. The illusion of progress is not progress. It’s a lie that lets the industry keep doing what it’s always done, while pretending it’s better than it is.
It all feels so out of time with the modern world. We live in an age when we know what tokenism looks like. An age in which we know that it will not do. Which makes the industry’s “just enough” mantra feel inappropriate and oddly quaint.
So no, this isn’t a call to action. This isn’t a rallying cry. This is just an acknowledgment. To those of you out there, working through it, seeing through it, that are tired of it. I see you. I know. And I know that, at the end of the day, they’ll keep doing just enough to keep the whole thing rolling.
Because that’s what this industry does best.
This topic was the subject of an in-depth discussion on today's after show chat. You can listen to the resulting podcast here.