It’s been a construction season of stretching and growing for the workforce. For Sarah Linn, Director of Talent Acquisition for the Construction & Materials sector (Duininck, Duininck Golf, and Duininck Concrete), nearly 300 job offers to-date have been extended since January. Although Sarah only been here a short time as an employee, she notices hallmarks of the workforce, from new to seasoned employees.
“People just really want to work hard, but the motivation isn’t always just about the paycheck. When you connect with employees – they’re activated to do their job, and they go above and beyond. You don’t hear people saying, “That’s not in my job description…” There’s more collaboration and openness to new ideas. People are not afraid to say, “Let’s try this…” You know you can try, and if you fail, fail quickly and move on. That’s been really refreshing to me.”
Working together happened in a unique way this past summer when the Texas location of Duininck needed extra hands to meet the project demands of a contract at the Tinker Airforce Base in Oklahoma and other customer needs. The employees from the Minnesota and Texas locations of Duininck have not historically had a collaborative working relationship. In the last couple of years – there’s been a key shift, however, nurtured by Jim Macaulay as CEO of the Construction & Materials sector.
So, when the Texas team called with need – over the span of 9 weeks, 20 people from Minnesota crews stepped up to fill the gap for Texas, which allowed multiple projects to progress simultaneously from airport projects to driveways. General Manager, Andrew Ryks, shared that the Minnesota team was “selfless in their willingness to travel here and help. They were so great to work with and very productive!”
Dave Brouwer, Duininck Vice President of Operations, said, “It’s been very rewarding to me personally to work with the Texas team. I have been able to get to know the very talented people there and build lasting relationships…it’s been a pleasure for me and the [Minnesota] team to help out where we can.”
Teamwork makes for a winning team – and winning on that front always feels good. Bravo!
