Get A Load Of This
Get A Load Of This
3: Work/Life Balance: How One Construction Company Retains Top Talent
John Carney, a foreman with Harness LLC, and his team are focused on top-quality work & top-quality people. Finding and retaining the best talent is tough right now, but he and the owners of Harness have found fun ways to create work/life balance for their team.
In today's episode, we discuss the strategies they are using to keep employees happy, safe and make sure customers are well taken care of.
Tune in to find out what John and his team are doing to retain talent.
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Welcome to get a load of this. This is your host Elizabeth Scholz. And today we are joined by John Carney of harness, a grading and utility contractor in middle Tennessee. As a foreman, John is responsible for keeping his crew on track safe and as happy as possible, John, and really the whole harness team have done an amazing job of helping employees create work-life balance. And we're excited to share some of the ways they have incorporated strategies into their day-to-day life and how that translates to happy employees that really want to stick around.
Speaker 3:John, I'm excited to talk with you today. Um, I'd love if you could give just a quick intro about, you know, who you are and what you do in the construction industry as we get started here.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Hey, yes. Good to be with you, Elizabeth. Um, my name is John Carney. I'm a foreman at harness. Uh, we're heavy civil contractor, uh, do a lot of underground and also been building pads and utilities just right here in Nashville on the rock.
Speaker 3:We love it. How long have you been in the construction industry?
Speaker 4:Uh, about 15 years.
Speaker 3:You've been in it for a while. You've seen it at a couple of different points in time in your life. I'm assuming what for you were talking about that work-life balance today in the last 15 years of you being in the construction industry, how has your like personal life changed over the course of time and has that made any big impacts for you and how you think about balancing your time at home versus your time at work?
Speaker 4:It has, it has. In fact, you can, you can definitely, um, you know, be really focused and, you know, not have either had your eye on the ball for work or not have your eye on the ball on your personal life. So I think definitely, uh, in this industry with the push push push and every contractor or builder wanting everything done on deadlines, a lot of people do put off their work life balance and, um, their sort of their social life. So I think, you know, you have to keep that mindful and setting goals. Um, definitely things that worked for me, reminders, sticky notes, um, communication with family and significant others, people to hold you accountable, you know, for what you commit to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I'm sure that, you know, one of the things that we see kind of across the industry is like employees are one of the most valuable assets that a construction company has. Right. And so making sure that employees aren't super stressed out and are able to kind of keep that balance is important for making sure, you know, the health of the overall team is, is projects are getting completed on time. Everybody's staying safe on the job site, you know, have there been either, you know, mentors throughout your career or different experiences that you've had where you've really seen the company kind of go above and beyond for making sure that their, their team is, is kind of staying balanced and, and helping reduce that stress that comes from diving too deeply into your work and not taking some, some moments of like fresh air for yourself.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. I've worked for companies before where just exactly, you know, the opposite of what you're getting at, but, um, that have definitely, we work weekends. You know, we worked long hours, everybody works long hours, you know, but those companies that want to push you and, and definitely work those weekends, um, the company I'm with now harness up in there for almost two years and they definitely believe in that or they offer good vacation. And, um, we'd like to, we'd like to commit to that. We also like to rotate if, if a weekend's mandatory, one of my policies I love for my crew to get together and let's make sure people get rotated in and out that way they do get that weekend, even if we have to push for a deadline.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that makes total sense. And you know, I think about some of the other industries that also face these same challenges, you know, the hospitality industry, you're kind of giving yourself over, you're working nights, you're working weekends. You don't really get to control your schedule. That much healthcare is another one of them. Like I grew up with a mom that was a nurse and she was working evening. She was working weekends and you kind of have to make adjustments in maybe your holiday schedule or the way you kind of plan out family events to accommodate for, you know, their passion and their career and what they're really good at. Have you found that you do that with your family or with your friends where there's either a group of you that are all in construction together and you find a time that's kind of off hours to get together and do those types of things or, or maybe ways your family has kind of accommodated your schedule in the past, um, or ways that you kind of talked about doing it for the future, if things that you maybe tried in the past haven't worked so well.
Speaker 4:Right. And it's, it's definitely always the learning, you know, always learning curve. Winter time is one of those times when it's wet. Um, that definitely the grading side, um, maybe we're still putting a lot of utilities in, but if you're in this line of work, your family knows when it's winter time, because you do get to spend a lot more time around them and
Speaker 3:For like football season and stuff like that. Right. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:And the holidays definitely at the end of the year, um, Christmas things of that nature during the summer, of course there are those, there are these long days and weekends, um, but they are very my family and friends or very understanding and, you know, just to have a significant other or family member come up and see you at the job or, or come to meet you for lunch, you know, and just know that they care and they're ready to see you and come home. You know,
Speaker 3:That's a great point. Those like small moments throughout the day where like, if you have that, you know, 15 or 20 minutes that you can take for lunch and they're able to actually come and hang out with you for a few minutes, it's like, you kind of get that little bit of a reprieve and can kind of come back fresh faced to the work on hand. I'm sure if you don't kind of get those breaks built in, you know, things like safety can start to be impacted on the job site. Um, and you want to make sure that not only are you kind of keeping fresh eyes for everybody, but that, you know, the people on your crew too, as a foreman, you're kind of overseeing a group of people and you're wanting to make sure that all of them are getting that as well. Have you noticed any ways that, you know, your team, whether they're younger, maybe don't have all the like family commitments yet, or, or some of those people that do have the family commitments build those ways to kind of get the quick breaks in throughout the day?
Speaker 4:We do. Um, one thing that, you know, safety being first of course always, uh, but we, in our daily huddles in the morning, we, we do a popcorn round where we'll go around and, you know, if your name gets called and it's going to get called, you know, what is, what is one thing that you can do? You know? Uh, and one of the things we try to, we try to teach the younger guys in this industry is to take, you know, every 30 takes 30. So every 30 minutes, you know, take 30 seconds to look around and know your surroundings. And, you know, maybe you'd be very, very surprised to see what goes on, but just to be aware of your scrounging. So we can all go home at the end of the day, because we're just, you know, the end of the day, this is a job, you know, even though we love it and it becomes a lifestyle, it is a job. And we want to go home to those who care about us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. No, that makes total sense. And I love that idea of taking those 30 seconds. Like it doesn't have to be, you know, a huge chunk of time, but just taking those few minutes, few seconds to be aware at random points throughout the day is going to make a huge difference. Um, you know, one of the other things that I have found having worked in this industry for a little while now, myself, is that a lot of the businesses are actually family run businesses. And so you're putting a lot of time in, you're putting a lot of passion in, but you've kind of got a family behind the scenes. That's, you know, making everything happen there from the business perspective. How do you think that translates, you know, not every industry has that kind of family run business mentality. Do you think that that puts, you know, an additional emphasis for people on either making sure that there's, you know, family outings or events where the family is able to come in and see the work that you're doing or meet the people you're working with, um, you know, more so than you might get in some other industries?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Um, uh, harness is, um, it is family. There's a lot of family here and family run. Uh, we enjoy monthly breakfast meetings on Mondays, um, where there's, we're, we're not on the job. We're all at the shop in, in the, uh, in the office or in the shop and doing some continuing education. We have breakfast there, um, this year where we're sponsoring a rodeo, um, where families can come and we'll have a machine there crawl over the dozer. Yeah. Get to look at GPS, you know, some of the new GPS guided equipment. Um, and so families can get a look and hopefully start a spark, you know, and the young ones eyes when they get to sit up on a big D six.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no. I mean, honestly, one of the things I hear both from my colleagues and from people completely outside of the construction industry is like, I can't get my kids away from the construction, like toys. That's like what they gravitate towards. There's always that kind of, and it doesn't matter, like it's, it's guys, it's girls, everybody kind of like loves understanding how that works and kind of playing around with it. So getting that spark early on and including families in that, I think that's one of the ways that the construction industry has continued to like find new talent coming up is, you know, that love for it gets kind of ingrained in a family and passed down from generation to generation. So it's awesome that harness is supporting that. And that that's something that, you know, is making an impact, both for the employees that are kind of getting the benefits of it now, but that next generation as well. Um, speaking of the next generation, obviously, you know, it's always nice to have a new, new, fresh faces coming in to the business. I know it's right now, especially, it's hard to find, you know, good quality people that are interested in putting in the time and the energy and the effort for somebody that's thinking about getting into the construction industry that might be listening to this podcast. Like, do you have any advice for them about, you know, what the pros are of being in this industry, what the rewards are, and maybe even a little bit of how to build some of those things that you've spent 15 years building into your personal life of how to keep that balance. And, um, just any advice you have to give for that next generation I'm sure would be really appreciated.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Um, first, uh, we have, we have spoke on safety, but to definitely be focused, um, to definitely listen, um, to definitely listen to those that, that have been there that have made those mistakes, um, know that we're all imperfect and we are, we are gonna make a mistake or two at times. Uh, I'm guilty just as this, as much as the next one to not get down on yourself and beat yourself up over it, that, you know, iron sharpens iron and that, you know, as long as you can stay around and hang around with the right crowd and find a mentor in the business and, and brush up on your skills and stay dedicated. Um, but for Sistance, you know, persistence, I think is, is one of the main, one of the main attributes that I believe a young man or woman coming into the industry should really, really focus on. Right.
Speaker 3:I think that's a great Sage advice. I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there right now that are kind of looking for that mentor. One of that's, one of the things we're kind of doing with this podcast is getting some great leaders in the space, getting their thoughts out there for people that are interested in joining the construction industry, or maybe in it now, and looking to level up, um, on a kind of final parting note. I know you've been in the industry for, you know, 15 years. You've kind of done a couple of different jobs along the way. Um, do you have any advice for somebody that's maybe already in the industry, but looking to kind of level up and keep moving through the ranks and growing their career? I know we've spoken in the past and that's something that, you know, you're interested in and proud of for yourself. Um, do you have any advice for anybody else that's in a similar situation?
Speaker 4:Uh, definitely. Um, for me the big, I think the, the big game changer was GPS and, um, learning actually how to look at plans on a computer that was so hard for me for so long. And even though I still carried hard plans with me, um, just brushing up on those technical set, those technical skills, um, continue in education, I think is always great. Getting your reps in, um, definitely linking up with your suppliers, um, bringing them in talking to them about what's new, keep you on the cutting edge. Um, because even though we're still putting pride pipe in the ground, we're still put pads on grade. There's always a new form of technology out there that can make you just a little bit sharper than if you don't stop growing, you're going to get passed up.
Speaker 3:That's completely fair advice. And I think, um, it's one of those things that is just going to continue to ring more and more true as time goes on in the industry. We see all types of technology coming into play, um, from drones to GPS technology. There's, there's no end in sight to the types of things that are going to be coming in. So that's really great advice. We're really glad to have had you on the show today. We appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to do this, um, in, in the essence of kind of keeping that work-life balance the same. We'll, we'll be sure to let you go get back to the job site now, but do appreciate you taking a few minutes to chat with us today.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Awesome. Thanks so much,
Speaker 2:Really glad to be able to connect with John about the great tactics he and his entire team at harness are taking to try to make sure that employees can balance their home and work life, keep safety top of mind, and still make a little bit of time for fun with so many family owned and operated businesses in the construction industry. There's plenty of ways to naturally build activities that allow employees and their families to feel like they're part of the team with all the challenges the industry is facing with labor shortages tactics. Like these are what can be the differentiating factor when it comes to hiring the right talent. The best thing you can do today is start to think about the ways that you can incorporate some of the tactics that harness is doing, or some that are your own unique brand into your own day-to-day life on the job. These could be the things that help you land your next great hire. If you found this episode helpful, please be sure to subscribe, to get notified of new episodes and be sure to leave us a review. We'll be releasing a brand new episode next week. So be sure to tune in for now. It's your host Elizabeth signing off until next week.