Hiring for a Commercial Construction Team is Like Playing in the NFL : Part 2
How we Hire for Our Residential and Commercial Construction Company
In our previous blog post, we started the conversation about how we are intentionally building our team. Today, we continue that conversation through other aspects of working for our very relationally driven construction company here in Maine.
Perks of Working at Optimum Construction:
At Optimum Construction, we’re not materialistic. Our tools are your tools, If you need to borrow the company truck, or use our tools for a personal project, it’s yours. We even have a boat that we welcome our employees to use. We believe that not being greedy and not hoarding our possessions creates the atmosphere that we want to have.
We believe that getting to know people outside of work improves the atmosphere at work, so we like to plan the occasional team outing. We’ve done boat trips with our team members, giving us a chance to get to know each other off site. Plus, it’s fun!
We also award performance bonuses for a job well done, such as a cash gift at the end of a really successful project. These are rewarded to people who execute excellent work efficiently in a way that supports and builds the relationship within the team, with our subcontractors and our clients. We get a lot of joy in rewarding our employees in this way.
On top of the culture we’ve built at work, we want our team member’s families to benefit as well. Far too many people in the world dislike their job and bring that negative energy home with them, disrupting family life. We’re determined to make our employees’ days better so that they can bring positivity home to their families, as well as a steady paycheck.
For example, one of our team members went home one day and told his wife that he wanted a tablet. His wife was surprised to hear this, because her husband isn’t known as a tech man, yet being on the jobsite he’s seen the many ways we use technology, and his wife loves that he’s taken to it.
We know that any given day someone might be having a serious personal issue, so we make a point to check in with them about it to see how they’re doing and how we can be supportive. We genuinely want to help. And we’ve noticed that this support gets back to someone’s family members, and solidifies their decision to work with us.
The people that work for us enjoy doing so on a regular basis, and not because it’s always fun. Construction is hard work, but our team members go home at the end of the day with a satisfied feeling, and not consistent stress, or hating their job. For us, it feels good to know that we’re making a difference in the lives of our team members and their families.
We Care about our Team’s Success
We’re honored that many of our team members will pass on other projects or jobs so that they can come work for us, often telling us it’s because we’re well organized and pay fairly. They know that we care about their success. If we need to do something for a member of our team to help them succeed, we’ll do it.
For example, one of our flooring contractors strained his back, and his job required a load -in of nearly 3 TONS of material into the job site. So instead of leaving him to figure it out, we pulled a few of our own team members from another part of the jobsite to unload the material for him. To us, that’s what it means to take care of our team members: doing whatever we can to help them get the job done well.
Many times we’ve recommended our subcontractors to jobs that are too small for us to take on, giving them additional revenue streams. In another case, a guy on our team who was digging the foundation for his own home needed equipment, so we let him borrow the tools he needed, like the excavator, even though that’s a major asset to our company. It matters more to us to take care of our team members, because we know that doing so will help them take care of us.
We’re (always) Hiring
Even if we don’t have a specific job, we’re open to meeting people who could be a good fit for the culture. We’re always hunting for the right person, and are able to hire as needed when we find the right person. If you are interested in doing the kind of work that builds a better relationship, we’d love to start a conversation.
Our hiring process Includes:
Vetting
Attitude
Values
Technology , tools, techniques, people who stay on top of the leading edge
We look for people who are hungry to grow.
Background checks
Do you know someone who would be a good fit? If so, share this article with them! We’d love to meet them.
You can follow up by emailing ryan@optimumbuilds.com