Barton Malow

Barton Malow’s HR team helped transition its employees from one entity to an entire family of companies.

Barton Malow started as a general contractor 97 years ago. e Barton Malow Family of Companies is comprised of four entities and ve partner rms across North America. More than 2,500 team members in 15 o ces work for Barton Malow companies.

In April 2020, the South eld-based company split into four separate entities to provide more exibility for its clients and to grow into di erent market niches. e entities include Barton Malow Company, its industrial division, Barton Malow Builders, its commercial and institutional division, Barton Malow Holdings, where its core services live, and LiftBuild, its engineering technology division. e rebranding and restructuring meant more than 600 team members were assigned to a new entity — a six-month process that included new team leaders, roles and responsibilities and W-2s.

“Even though we were all getting a new entity, we wanted to make sure that the culture and brand ex-

Barton Malow in South eld. | BARTON MALOW

perience transcends across the family of companies,” said Jennifer Sulak Brown, senior vice president of people and culture. “It was a vision we had to align team members on.” e company achieved this by following the “8-Step Model of Change,” which was introduced by business entrepreneur and Harvard professor Dr. John Kotter in his book “Leading Change.”

Following the model, Barton Malow’s HR team identi ed and recruited speci c managers, leaders and employees as “change agents.” e change agents were tasked with helping employees understand why the change was necessary and acted as cheerleaders for the companies’ restructuring and rebranding.

An important part of that process was identifying employees who were least resistant to change. To achieve this, the HR team sent out biweekly surveys to team members. Change agents then conducted oneon-one meetings with employees, allowing an open forum to help alleviate concerns.

“ is was instrumental in helping to bring the team member through the change curve faster,” Sulak Brown said.

Part of the process also took place during the coronavirus pandemic, which meant communications were done remotely at times rather than face-to-face.

“We were managing the biggest change our company had ever seen in years, and then we were hit with a pandemic,” Sulak Brown said. “But we made it work, because there was an incredible amount of trust and loyalty to the family of companies and to leadership throughout this process.” roughout the whole process, e Barton Malow Family of Companies has also experienced a signi cant decline in turnover — down from 9 percent to 5 percent from the previous 12 months.

“Our HR team managed a major, organization-de ning event in a seamless, streamlined manner,” said Ryan Maibach, president and CEO. “When it comes to taking something as major as an enterprise entity structure change and essentially making it a non-event, it says a lot about the high level of planning and execution that went into it.”

Rachelle Damico Special to Crain’s Detroit Business

“EVEN THOUGH WE WERE ALL GETTING A NEW ENTITY, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE CULTURE AND BRAND EXPERIENCE TRANSCENDS ACROSS THE FAMILY OF COMPANIES. IT WAS A VISION WE HAD TO ALIGN TEAM MEMBERS ON.”

—Jennifer Sulak Brown, senior vice president of people and culture, Barton Malow

Congratulations

Nichole Roumayah Shaya, Senior Manager, Human Resources

for being selected by Crain’s Detroit Business as a 2021 Excellence in HR Awards winner. As a technology leader, RouteOne is dedicated to answering the ever-changing demands of the vehicle finance industry. Nichole’s work is integral to the growth and development of RouteOne company culture that drives organizational success and allows us to deliver innovative solutions to our customers.