Your Culture Is Recruiting for You Whether You Like It or Not

I spend a lot of time inside contracting companies. From coast to coast, I work with owners, service leaders, project managers, foremen, and frontline teams who are all wrestling with the same challenge.

Finding good people. Keeping good people. Getting more out of the people they already have.

And almost everywhere I go, I hear the same explanations. “It is all about the money.”

“If we paid more, the problem would disappear.” “No one wants to work anymore.”

Do not get me wrong. Money matters. Compensation has to be fair. But when leaders reduce the talent problem to pay alone, they miss the real issue entirely.

The real issue is differentiation in the eyes of the employee.

When I ask leaders whether it is truly about money or whether their company feels any different than the one down the street, the room usually goes quiet. Because deep down, they already know the answer.

People leave companies because of culture. People stay because of culture. People refer their friends because of culture.

Top performers always evaluate the environment before they evaluate the paycheck.

Every time I hear these conversations, I am taken back to where I first learned this lesson. Not in a boardroom. Not in a leadership seminar. But in the wrestling rooms of my youth and young adulthood.

The Wrestling Room That Shaped Everything

Picture a hot, crowded wrestling room. Mats worn thin from years of battles. Young athletes pushing themselves far beyond what their bodies wanted to give. Accountability everywhere. Intensity mixed with encouragement. No banners yet. No trophies. No attention.

Just A players sharpening other A players. Just a culture that demanded excellence. Just a room that made people better.

During my four years starting for the Walsh Jesuit Wrestling Warriors, we captured four state titles and four national championships, a run so dominant it became the focus of the new Amazon docuseries "Clash of Dynasties."

But the truth is that dynasty was built long before high school. It was built in the youth leagues, where top performers chose to stay together because they wanted to train in an environment that demanded the best from them.

That is how dynasties are created.

Not by talent alone, but by the environment that shapes and sustains that talent. And that same principle applies directly to contracting companies today.

What Is Culture, Really

In my live coaching sessions, I often ask a simple question. “What is culture?”

I get all kinds of answers. Mission statements. Core values. Posters on the wall. Employee handbooks.

But my favorite answer of all time came from a contractor who had clearly lived both sides of the issue.

He said, “Culture is the sum of all the behaviors you celebrate minus all the behaviors you tolerate.” That definition ends the debate.

Culture is not what you say you believe. Culture is what you reward. Culture is what you allow. Culture is what you ignore.

And whether leaders realize it or not, that culture is recruiting for them every single day.

Every meeting recruits. Every jobsite recruits. Every supervisor recruits.

Every difficult conversation you avoid recruits. Your best people are always watching.

Why Ping Pong Tables Do Not Build Culture

Too often, culture gets confused with perks. Happy hours. Ping pong tables. Swag giveaways. Free lunches. Those are not culture.

Those are benefits. And benefits without standards actually send the wrong message. You can provide free food and still tolerate poor communication. You can install a game room and still avoid accountability. You can hand out swag and still allow disrespect, inconsistency, or finger-pointing.

High performers see through this immediately.

A players are not looking for distractions. They are looking for environments where expectations are clear, leadership is consistent, and accountability is real. They want to know which behaviors are celebrated, which are corrected, and which are unacceptable.

When companies lead with perks instead of principles, the message is clear, even if it is unintentional. Comfort matters more than excellence. And that is not an environment where A players thrive.

The Real Problem Facing Contractors

Across the industry, the talent crisis is often framed as a labor shortage. In reality, it is an environmental shortage.

Only 23% of employees in the United States are actively engaged in their work, according to Gallup. Eighteen percent are actively disengaged. Disengagement costs American companies an estimated $1.9 trillion dollars every year in lost productivity.

In construction and contracting specifically, rework driven by communication breakdowns drains up to 12 to 20% of total project cost, according to the Construction Industry Institute.

Voluntary turnover costs companies two to three times an employee’s salary, and poor culture is consistently cited as the leading cause.

Referrals are the strongest source of high performing hires. Yet referrals dry up quickly when the culture is weak.

Most companies are not losing the people battle because of pay. They are losing because A players refuse to work in environments that tolerate C player behavior.

A players raise standards. C players lower standards. And B players move in whichever direction the culture allows.

The Solution: Build an Environment Worth Recruiting For

A players do not join companies. They join cultures.

The highest performing contracting companies all do three things exceptionally well.

First, they communicate with clarity every day. Expectations are clear. Feedback is consistent. People are not guessing. Strong communication reduces rework, builds trust, and protects margins.

Second, they coach instead of micromanage. Gallup research shows employees who receive weekly coaching are three and a half times more likely to be engaged. Coaching turns managers into leaders and keeps A players growing.

Third, they operate with purpose-driven standards. Deloitte research shows purpose-driven companies grow three times faster than their competitors. People stay where their work matters and where excellence is expected.

Just like the wrestling room, the environment dictates behavior. Behavior dictates results. Results reinforce culture.

The Result: A Players Multiply

When a contracting company commits to building a championship culture, everything changes. Top employees become recruiters. Turnover drops and engagement rises. Communication improves and rework declines. Margins strengthen.

A players stay longer and C players self-select out.

Most importantly, the company creates one differentiator competitors cannot copy — its people.

That is how dynasties are built in sports. That is how dynasties are built in business.

A players want to work with A players. A players want to grow with A players.

A players want to stay where excellence is expected.

Whether you like it or not, your culture is recruiting for you every single day. The only question is who it is attracting.