FEBRUARY 4, 2022
COMPANY SURVEY SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
BEST AND BRIGHTEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR BUILT AROUND PEOPLE WWW.EV.CONSTRUCTION 800.632.7734
COMPENSATION, BENEFITS & EMPLOYEE SOLUTIONS
EMPLOYEE ENRICHMENT, ENGAGEMENT & RETENTION
EMPLOYEE EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT
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RECRUITMENT, SELECTION & ORIENTATION
EMPLOYEE ACHIEVEMENT & RECOGNITION
COMMUNICATION & SHARED VISION
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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
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STRATEGIC COMPANY PERFORMANCE PAGE 23
At EV, we have many initiatives that could fall in various Best and Brightest categories, but will talk about each one once to keep the information easy to digest. Each category has a dedicated section, but the above icons may pop up elsewhere to show where an initiative supports multiple categories.
COMPENSATION, BENEFITS AND EMPLOYEE SOLUTIONS HIGHLIGHTS • Full range of employee benefits: medical, dental, vision, life and disability available through an online, easy-access portal • No layoffs or pay cuts amidst all the economic uncertainty through the pandemic • No hike in employee health insurance premiums or plan types despite the company incurring an 8% increase • Various medical plan types designed to fit different family structures • Base pay increases averaging over 5% • 93% employee participation in retirement plans • 401K matches totaling $182,438 in 2021 • Tens of thousands given in traveling bonuses throughout the year to compensate for time spent away from home
• An EV onesie, gift card and pack of diapers for new parents • Valentine’s Day treat for female office staff to get manicures or pedicures with wine and chocolate • Tuition reimbursement with a paid day off and special gift after graduation • Free flu shots and TB testing during a companywide meeting, in order to capture as many employees as possible • Three onsite blood drives • Continuous performance management utilizing uMap™ and Thrive365™ programs • Live streaming available for all employees to avoid close interaction during COVID-19 • Cyber attack training to assist employees in recognizing scams at work and at home
• Referral bonuses paid out to employees who successfully referred a new hire
• Various retreats and outings throughout the year for fellowship, planning and team building
• Employee Assistance Program designed to support the whole person; mentally, physically, financially, spiritually (also covers any person in an employee's household)
• Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention Training
• Special holiday celebrations • Handwritten notes from the Leadership Council to employees • Hardship funds available to all employees • Employee Hall Pass: An extra paid day off to spend at school-related events with children, siblings, nieces or nephews • EV Youniversity training opportunities • Christmas bonuses • Gym membership reimbursement program • Special training programs to assist with personal growth, including finances
• Fully-paid Financial Peace University for any employees interested in participating in the Dave Ramsey financial planning program, hosted by an EV executive and his spouse • Uniforms provided at no cost to employees • Safety milestone celebrations • Corporate wellness program
VENMO EV implemented a Venmo option for employee purchases in order to alleviate a payroll deduction and for more convenience. This is a great option for employees shopping at the EV store, making donations for one of the many annual causes or when purchasing reduced cost event tickets and hotel rooms when EV opts to foot some of the bill.
CORPORATE CHAPLAIN Corporately, we believe it is our responsibility to take care of our employees as best we can. Life oftentimes takes unexpected, and in extreme cases, unfortunate turns. Our people experience the pain of terminal illness, loss in their families, struggles with mental dysfunction and emotional distress, endure broken relationships and so on. As an employer, we know our managers and supervisors can be ill-equipped to address spiritual struggles and emotional concerns of this magnitude. Additionally, while speaking to a counselor or going through therapy is helpful, many struggle with where to go and how to ask for help. A pastor from a local church is now on retainer to address staff at our monthly, all-company safety meetings. He spends time sharing insights into common triggers that affect a person’s mental and emotional health. By instituting his consistent voice and presence, we’ve seen our team members build rapport, respect and trust in his skill and knowledge; in turn building their confidence to reach out if/when the need for a professional voice arises. He is available to any employee desiring to meet with him and provides no names or identifying factors about those using his services. Employees can have complete confidence that their time with him is confidential. This last year has been profoundly difficult on everyone's emotional health. Every business, organization, household and family has been impacted. COVID-19 amplified virtually every aspect of stress present in our society. If you have employees and staff struggling with depression and anxiety or difficult life stresses (grief, loss, etc…), odds are you are seeing it in the workplace. Common examples are: loss in morale, loss in productivity, difficulty managing tasks that were previously manageable, increased aggression and hostility, drinking to excess or using other substances for escape and general apathy toward company goals or initiatives. Helping employees, staff and colleagues find safe and professional voices and people to interact with can make a significant impact on the whole person and organization. It’s good business sense – yes – but it’s also good human sense and can change the game for so many. Bottom line is, as employers we are responsible for the whole person that works for us. We recognize the obvious needs – healthcare, paychecks, PTO, etc. But there is more that can be done. As we navigate this odd and challenging pandemic season – the question is, “what will doing more look like for us?”
CHRISTMAS PARTY We hosted an outstanding Christmas party that had food, music, entertainment and over $10,000 in prizes for employees, their significant others and their children. In addition, we covered 50% of the hotel cost for any employee and their guest.
401K MATCH Our CEO did a presentation on the 401k match showing how compounding interest works and pointing out over $100,000 in unclaimed match money due to employees not deferring the maximum amount. This demonstrated how EV truly wants to assist each employee and set them up for a comfortable retirement.
EFFICIENT ONBOARDING We moved all our new hire paperwork to DocuSign to make it more convenient for new hires, support our goal to go paperless and for ease of processing. This allowed new team members to access their paperwork from anywhere; a benefit that became increasingly necessary during times when onboarding needed to be completed remotely due to the pandemic.
EMPLOYEE ENRICHMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION HIGHLIGHTS • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Employee intranet showing birthdays, work anniversaries, upcoming events, etc. Outings for personnel Continued improvement of our employee onboarding process Charity outing participation Employee advancement and performance bonuses Continuous business expansion and opportunities Business planning retreats Monthly employee newsletter “Friday Celebration” weekly meeting to share personal and professional good news with the whole office Monthly safety and company update meetings Nationally recognized safety program Employee Christmas party Leadership open door policy • Annual project management, field management and trade retreats
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Christmas bonus program Education reimbursement Online employee store to purchase logoed apparel Public recognition for major project wins Performance-based bonuses Personalized notes and gifts of appreciation from the Leadership Council Special recognition for completing higher education, training and certifications Milestone celebrations for birthdays, work anniversaries and retirement Recognition for job promotions Service awards with gifts Good job letters displayed at company-wide meetings Employee growth plans and goal setting through the employee uMap™ software program Safety milestone celebrations Personalized notes for new hires with a small token of appreciation Men’s and women’s retreats Tradesperson outing
BIRTHDAY WHEEL A fun annual tradition at EV is being able to spin the birthday wheel each year! The wheel has prize options varying in value. Here is what EV employees won last year: • • • • • • • •
22 - $50 EV Store Gift Certificates 10 - $50 Cash 6 - $100 Cash 28 - $25 Lotto Ticket 2 - $25 West Coast Chamber Bucks 49 - $25 Gift Card of Their Choice 6 - Surprise! (typically around a $40 gift) 11 - Full Day of PTO
TOTAL: Approximately $8,000!
WELLNESS PROGRAM Our EV family has talked about a more structured way to focus on holistic health, not just physical health. While physical health is still extremely important, we wanted to also engage with a mental health outlet as well. This year we implemented a wellness program app, which we have seen over 70 employees interact with so far. This app helps our employees focus on areas like nutrition, activity, goals setting, wealth, stress management, environment and digital detox to name a few. We love to have some friendly competition here at EV and this gives us a channel to make our overall health and wellness fun while rewarding individuals for their efforts with gifts and prizes. Another unforeseen benefit we have found with the app is the bridge between our field employees and office personnel. While working for the same company, you can go extended periods of time without interacting with certain people that may hold another title. This app has allowed us to have another platform to create that partnership and interaction with our coworkers. We look forward to creating new challenges for everyone and continuing to build on our health and wellness as a company during a time when we feel it is even more vital than years past.
OFFICE REOPENING Coming back to the office seemed borderline foreign when we were finally able to this year, so we decided to create a warm welcome while having a little fun with it. We created a covid relief kit which included candy with a little comic relief on everyone’s desk as they arrived. We also played a meme game where everyone was given a meme and were to create their own caption on how they felt about being quarantined and it turned out to be hilarious. Lastly, we had a hot chocolate bar where everyone could come up and get a nice cup of warm welcome back to the office.
THANKSGIVING GATHERING Each year the office gathers the day before Thanksgiving to celebrate the upcoming holiday with our work family. This year, we rented an offsite room where we could meet to first enjoy a catered meal and team building games. Then, in what has become our tradition, we moved our chairs into a circle and share what we are most thankful for. Comments included far more than my job, my house, my family…most were deep and thoughtful, some brought tears. By the close of the meeting, you can’t help but have a deeper, more personal connection with everybody there.
EMPLOYEE EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Training and certification tracking program Corporate, company-wide safety meetings with a main topic presented each month by an industry expert In-house training through the EV Youniversity Program Project management and field management meetings for cross-training Educational reimbursement programs for MBAs and other education programs Mentorship programs Summer internship program Corporate safety manual distributed to all employees and continuously updated Quality standards manual distributed to all employees and continuously updated Field manager/foremen meetings where industry experts are brought in to discuss best practices of their trades Field personnel onboarding and new hire training that is specific to their position Online safety training with over 300 courses available 24/7 to all employees Hosted "Lunch and Learns" to bring in industry experts and introduce new products Michigan Safety Conference attendance Project management site safety walk throughs Paid time to attend training programs through local industry associations or renew certifications Employee participation in leadership programs through local Chambers of Commerce Executive team attendance at multiple training/ educational sessions hosted by the Young President’s Organization (YPO) Operations staff attendance in leadership training through the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western MI chapter Supported the CORE Construction Skills program through the Associated Builders and Contractors of West Michigan
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Continued attendance at events for our insurance captive, a self-insured program where we are required to attend two board meetings and two workshops annually with our co-owners of the GCI Captive Covered costs of various training certifications for our field employees
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NEVER STOP LEARNING EV Construction believes in the importance and value of ontinued growth and development. For this reason, we provide our mployees with as many opportunities for growth as possible, whether it ocuses on technical skills, personal development or professional expertise.
NEW TRAINING SCHEDULE
With feedback received in late 2020 and early 2021, we decided to reformat our training programs to better serve our team. We replaced the previous format, where we hosted two trainings a month and all employees were invited to attend, with a far more organized format. We defined three different training types and now host each of them 1-3 times per quarter. We build each individual training around a particular group of the company so that each training is more beneficial and effective for the target audience, and so that our employee's calendars aren’t being overwhelmed with trainings that may not apply to them based on their position or desired growth. We strive for innovation and doing things the “smart” way. The pandemic provided us with the tools necessary to help grow our program with our national team. During quarantine, we utilized Zoom™ to train our team and continue to do so. We now offer all of our trainings hosted in the office to our national team via streaming in order to provide more training opportunities for everyone. We even hosted a couple of First Aid/CPR classes via Zoom™ recently to make recertification easier for our national team members. We have pursued technological advancements including the recent purchase of a gimbal and new lapel microphone to improve the quality of our videos provided in our library of trainings. This library is available to all employees on their personal training dashboard. Lastly, we added a new growth opportunity for our company leaders and aspiring company leaders, or "rising stars", this year as well, which we dubbed the Leadership Speaker Series. In this quarterly speaker series hosted during our field management/project management meeting we bring in leaders from around West Michigan to talk about their road to leadership, provide advice from their experience and answer questions.
PAID TRAINING COMMUNICATION It came to our attention last year that there was confusion over whether or not training opportunities were paid time. Between the difference in how salary or hourly team members report their time, we came up with a system on tracking paid versus non-paid learning opportunities and have started communicating the opportunity when the training is sent out. In short, any required training as a part of an employee's position is covered by the company. If a training is designed to hit a certain target audience within the company, that group will be paid for their time, but the training is open to any other team members who would like to expand their knowledge on their own time. We track attendance for each training and can now see who is putting in the extra effort for continuous learning on top of their requirements; an attribute we find attractive for potential leaders in the company.
OVER $76,000 WAS SPENT COVERING EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS IN 2021, NOT INCLUDING PAID TIME! 2021 Training Schedule Month
Training Title
January
Mental Health
February
Hazmat / Demo - BDN
February
Quality Basics
February
WWTP Basics with Fishbeck
Type Learning Session EV University Smart 365 Learning Session
March
Drawings / Specs Reading / Shops
March
ICRA / ILSM
Smart 365
April
Temp Walls
Smart 365
April
Office Safety
Learning Session
May
Sitework
May
Laser Scanning Services
June
Interiors Part 1
July
Concrete
EV University
EV University Learning Session Smart 365 EV University
August
Carpentry Part 1
Smart 365
August
Client Relations
Learning Session
September
TBD - Leave open for now
EV University
September
Lipe/Duraflex
Lunch & Learn
October
Bluebeam
Smart 365
November
Kickoff-Closeout
Learning Session
November
HVAC / Plumbing
EV University
December
Interiors Part 2
Smart 365
RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND ORIENTATION and student assessments at local tech centers and community colleges
HIGHLIGHTS
• New office hires complete a uMap™ prior to their first day to introduce themselves to the rest of the company
• Employee referral program • Open positions announced at safety meetings, in the company newsletter and on EVinsite • Our custom Blueprint for Success onboarding program was revamped to include 101, 201 and 301 level programming that is role specific
• New field hires complete their uMap™ prior to their 90-day check-in •
• 90-day check-ins • Hiring success tracking
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• Office buddy system for new hires • New employee orientation with CEO & COO • Swag bag and small celebration for new office hires on their first day • College internship program
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• Career fair attendance – college and others • Jump Start participation
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• Student mock interviews • Student project site tours
Entry level field employees spend a day on a project site shadowing someone who currently performs the role they have been hired to perform Peer interviews Thrive365™ - A platform to assess the quality of a new hire at a 90 day check-in and beyond, in addition to facilitating more meaningful reviews Co-op program Offers extended to college interns to become fulltime employees upon graduation Restructure of traveling field manager onboarding to include face-to-face site visits from leadership at critical points during their first project(s) Enhanced focus on recruiting non-traditional candidates
• Online application system • Rising Stars Program for developing internal talent and leadership • Incentive program for employees who work out of town • Employees involved in teaching trades classes
1/3
of the new hires in 2021 were from an employee referral
$1,400
in referral bonuses paid
$24,000
paid in incentive bonuses for employees who worked out of town
DIGITAL CHECKLISTS This year, we implemented digital onboarding and offboarding checklists to ensure new hires are set up for success and all involved parties know the current status of the process. The goal is to have no more "Let me check on that..." during a new employee's first day, as we strive to have everything set up prior to their arrival. We then provide new employees with an appropriate Subject Matter Experts roster so they have a network of peers to contact if they have any questions after onboarding.
INTERNSHIPS In 2021, we looked at engaging college interns in a new way. Historically, they would work through the summer and we'd hope to hear from them if they had interest in joining our company after graduation. This year, we engaged two of our college interns on a part-time basis after they went back to school. One intern was able to physically be on a project site about 20 hours per week, depending on their class schedule and availability. The other was able to work remotely from Indiana. This gave both employees the opportunity to stay engaged with the company and continue to earn money while at school. One has been offered and accepted an opportunity to join us as a full-time employee upon graduation in May. The other will do a second summer internship in 2022.
TRAVELING TEAM MEMBER ONBOARDING
so we have confidence in their technical abilities and industry knowledge, but fully integrating them into our culture can take time. We now review their individual project schedules and pre-arrange touch points from leaders within our company who have very specific specialties. For instance, our COO has a deep technical knowledge and eye for concrete. We arrange a trip for him to visit the project site during pre-pour activities so that he can educate the new employee on all things "Unmistakably EV". His visit will include conversations about mix design, pour sequencing, concrete finishing and more. He will also take the employee out for a meal and spend time getting to know them personally. As the project progresses, we sprinkle in other touches from leadership. Our director of field operations will visit the job during carpentry activities, our painting and drywall division manager during interior fit and finishes, etc. We think this is a great way to keep them connected, get any questions answered and show them how we like to manage projects.
FSU ADVISORY BOARD
We restructured the onboarding program for traveling field managers. Most of these employees come to us with decades of experience in the industry,
Our CEO sits on the Ferris State University Advisory Board, donating his time to the development of talent in the construction management program.
REFERRALS
Referrals continue to be EV Construction’s most fruitful and successful recruiting tool. Out of the 27 new hires in 2021, 9 of them were a referral from an existing employee, and many more from other friends in the industry. The company paid employees bonuses for these referrals. While many companies shy away from hiring friends and family of existing employees because of the issues it may cause, we find quite the opposite. When someone comes into the organization with an established connection, they’re more mentally and emotionally invested in the organization. Existing employees also take more ownership of ensuring the new team member is successful when they know it is a neighbor, friend or family member of someone they already know, respect and trust.
EMPLOYEE ACHIEVEMENT AND RECOGNITION HIGHLIGHTS • Public recognition for major project wins • Performance-based bonuses • Personalized notes and gifts of appreciation from the CEO with a year-end gift • Leadership Council uses the number of handwritten notes encouraging team members as a KPI to drive individual acknowledgment • Recognition and rewards for small successes • Special recognition for completing higher education, training and certifications • Milestone celebrations for birthdays, work anniversaries and retirement • Recognition for job promotions • Service awards with gifts • Good job letters displayed at company-wide meetings • Employee growth plans and goal setting through the employee uMap™ software program • Safety milestone celebrations • Shout out cards to recognize a coworker’s accomplishments • Personalized notes for new hires with a small token of appreciation • Men’s and women’s retreats • Tradesperson outing
COMPANY RETREATS
The men’s, women’s and tradesperson outings, while not new, continue to evolve into amazing events where each and every employee is encouraged to take paid time off from work to spend the day/night to reconnect with their peers. Oftentimes, within the hustle and bustle of the construction industry, we can become invested in our projects or work and forget to take some time to get to know the people we spend more time around than our own families. These outings are an important way to build lasting relationships and meaningful connections to remind each other that we are on one team that works together for the common goal of being leaders in the industry.
TUNA FLAGS When commercial fishing vessels want to alert those on shore that they are carrying a large catch, they fly specific flags as they approach land. We have adopted the practice of creating “tuna flags” to update our team when we land substantial or special projects to our company. These updates are to inform our team of a particularly large catch for the EV team. It is a fun way to celebrate our wins.
PLEASANT SURPRISES
We always try to recognize employees for their dedication to getting the job done, even if that means working long hours, out of town or away from family for weeks on end. Personal notes of encouragement, call outs at a company-wide meeting and project site cookouts are a few of the many ways employees are shown appreciation for their efforts.
ENCOURAGING OUR TEAM This year, we had a summer intern who has continued to work with us after going back to school. To encourage her through her finals at the end of the year, we sent a study themed gift basket.
SAFETY CELEBRATIONS This year, our team reached a momentous milestone of 14 years without a lost time injury, a major accomplishment for the construction industry. To reward our team for their hard work and dedication to safety, we hosted a party at a local park with food, music, entertainment and socializing for every employee and their family members.
GOOD JOB LETTERS
Emails recognizing a team or individual for a contribution they've made or goal they've hit make it into our monthly all-company meetings for public recognition.
COMMUNICATION AND SHARED VISION HIGHLIGHTS Communication is key to running a successful business with happy employees. We try to utilize as many communication avenues as possible so we can reach everyone no matter their preference.
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Monthly safety meetings
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Business Plan Maps publicly displayed in the office
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EVinsite (employee intranet)
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Monthly company newsletter mailed to homes
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Monthly project- specific newsletters
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2023 painted picture - Our three year business plan shown graphically and developed by all employees
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Smart365 Program - Sharing better ways to do things via team videos
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Leadership teams in place for field and office personnel to interface with
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Department meetings following the L10 structure where KPIs and tasks are compiled and communicated to the Leadership Council
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Annual retreats for various teams
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Quarterly touch point conversations
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Friday celebration meetings
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Office buddy program
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Mentorship program
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Weekly departmental meetings
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FLT Connection - A touch-point from our field leadership team
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Library of EV Youniversity videos added to EVinsite
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uMap™ Review Software + Thrive365™ AddOn - Used to facilitate communication between
managers and their direct reports on personal and professional goals and responsibilities • EV Employee Facebook Page • Presidential Vlogs once a month • Painted picture meetings • Best and Brightest “Town Halls” • Yearly reviews with quarterly or bi-annual check in’s • "Rising Stars" breakfast • Roundtable discussions with trade partners • Monthly updated from our Executive Committee at our all-company meeting to hit on a specific topic or question from employee surveys • Announcements when we win a major client or project we were pursuing
EVINSITE We utilize EVinsite - our employee intranet - for much of our communication. Be it volunteer opportunities, vacation hours, announcements, employee forms/ policies, birthdays/ anniversary’s, an employee directory or anything else, EVinsite is a one–stopshop for all things company news! This year we have had 91% usage from employees; an impressive 21% increase from last year!
NEWSLETTER UPDATES At employee recommendations, we have begun incorporating a little more into our monthly newsletters that are mailed home to each employee and their family. We decided to include division updates, construction terms and kids' activities to keep the whole family involved. Our monthly newsletter is one of our key forms of communications regarding so many different areas of the company; volunteer opportunities, employee events, project updates, employment opportunities, new hires, recently awarded projects, etc.
STAFFING CHANGE COMMUNICATION We started hearing from employees that regular staffing updates were becoming necessary with our growing team working from various locations. Our VP of Operations now regularly sends out a list of any recent changes in staffing, whether it was new people starting, team members moving on or promotions within the company. We think it is important to keep everyone informed with what is moving and shaking in the company.
BEST & BRIGHTEST TOWN HALLS In 2021, our internal Best and Brightest committee wanted to find a new way to get feedback from across the company and decided to host five town halls throughout the year. Each optional town hall was focused on two of the 10 Best and Brightest award categories, giving employees interested in the specific topics time to openly discuss any changes they would like to see within the company and give recommendations for new programs. One of our newest programs, our monthly presidential vlogs, stemmed from a suggestion made at our Communication and Shared Vision town hall. Our president and CEO now sends out monthly vlogs to the entire company to touch base and keep people updated with new or current happenings. The committee has learned a lot from these events and will have ideas and feedback to work on through 2022!
CENTRALIZED, INTERNAL BEST AND BRIGHTEST COMMITTEE
Since starting to participate with the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For program, we’ve had separate internal Best and Brightest committees, each dedicated to one of the 10 award categories. These committees, made up of a mix of field and office employees, provided wonderful insight and input from various areas of the company for many years. The downside as the company and committees continued to grow was moving ideas forward with so many people involved. The committees met separately on a regular basis where we found many categories had overlapping initiatives, but the divided committees created silos where communication between the groups was difficult to maintain. For example, it can be very hard to make improvements in the Diversity and Inclusion category without planning and support from our Recruitment, Selection and Orientation committee. So this year, we decided to streamline into one, smaller B&B committee. The new committee was made up of one Executive Committee representative and 12 EV team members from varying departments and divisions. The committee met monthly to review our performance in all 10 Best and Brightest award categories and, in order to ensure we’re still hearing valuable feedback from across the company, held “Town Halls” throughout the year where employees could share ideas on the category topics that matter most to them. Each category was also assigned a "point person" on the committee who anyone could reach out to directly with ideas. Fliers with the committee point people, their contact information and a QR code to a digital comment box were distributed across our offices and project sites.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
HIGHLIGHTS • •
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Continued use of our Spanish site safety video of our own team members welcoming Spanishspeaking tradespeople to the project site Distributed Spanish-English translation guides containing construction industry-specific words and phrases to field personnel for use when working with Spanish speaking crews Ensured site signage is bi-lingual Revised and updated our Spanish site safety rules document Increased our in-field female workforce Continued tracking our diversity and inclusion scorecard that is regularly reviewed by executive leadership
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Met with other company committees to discuss ways to develop new recruitment channels, increasing our exposure to more applicants of non-white racial or ethnic classes Increased our monetary donations to organizations who support minorities Worked on developing partnerships with organizations who support minorities that we’ve never worked with or donated to before – strengthening the impact of our communitybased diversity and inclusion initiatives Increased our event sponsorships and engagement with community organizations Women's appreciation event Retreat for female employees Provided job applications on project sites to focus on hiring in the communities in which we work Worked with bidding software that has added attributes for finding minority owned business, women owned business, veterans, etc.
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL SPONSOR
In 2021, we took a different approach to implementing diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives than previous years. Instead of solely focusing on checking the boxes of a list of desired initiatives and tasks, we focused on three key areas to grow our D&I program both internally and externally; community engagement through volunteerism, sponsoring and advertising community events and internal education and awareness of D&I topics.
DE&I COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
specializes in providing educational, fitness and employment support for youth, we learned about a need they had for a secured vestibule at their Holland facility. •
We completed the vestibule renovation project for Escape at-cost, and engaged some interested students while completing the assessment and planning stages of the project, as well as the actual construction project itself, providing some insight to what a career in construction looks like.
SPONSORING AND ATTENDING COMMUNITY EVENTS
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland •
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We met with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holland to discuss the continual funding needed for a program they have which provides transportation, meals, activities and snacks for children of seasonal workers, while their parents work vital seasonal jobs; work that is usually based in agriculture. We toured the club’s Holland facility, met some of the children and learned about some of the activities they’re able to do because of this program, then presented them a check which sponsored five children for the summer 2021 season. We also sponsored the club's annual Steak and Burger event, where we purchased a table and were able to send a handful of employees to interact with children involved in the club and hear from a keynote speaker.
International Festival of Holland •
We sponsored the 2021 International Festival of Holland which made stops in India, the African continent, Cuba, the Caribbean, Spain, Eastern Europe, Mexico, Japan and Southeast Asia. It was a fun, free, family-friendly event in our hometown featuring more than 70 musicians and performers, a Children’s Fiesta and a Festival Mercado offering global gifts and delicacies for all to enjoy.
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This all-day event focused on celebrating and promoting the varying cultures we have in West Michigan.
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As a sponsor, we participated in the job fair section of the festival, where EV and the other festival sponsors showed festival-goers the career opportunities we had available.
Escape Ministries
West Coast Chamber of Commerce – Inclusive Leadership Seminar
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Through a connection that one EV employee has with Escape Ministries, a nonprofit group who
We sent employees to attend this seminar to learn about ways to increase inclusive leadership in business.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION, CONT.
ABC Leadership Speaker Series on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion •
We sent three employees to half-day workshop targeted at strategizing, developing and implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion plan. Participants were asked to explore fixed mindsets and complete a self-evaluation, followed by exercises for further learning.
AWARENESS AND EDUCATION Diversity DIVE •
Through a recommendation by an EV employee, we implemented a “Diversity Dive” in our monthly company newsletter which gave dedicated space in to educate employees and their families on important diversity and inclusion topics. Topics ranged from the history behind certain holidays and updates on D&I initiatives within the company.
Diversity and Inclusion Town Hall •
As an important part of getting in-depth feedback from our employees, we held town halls throughout 2021. A specific town hall focused discussions on corporate Diversity and Inclusion practices, various community programs that employees would like to see supported by EV and ideas to create a more diverse applicant pool.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
HIGHLIGHTS
OUTDOOR WORKSPACE
• Individualized flexible work schedules • Family focused benefits • Special paid holidays on top of major holidays (Black Friday, Christmas Eve, etc.) • A goal of work free weekends • Wireless remote workplace technology • Remote work sites • Onsite cookouts • Employee Hall Pass: An extra paid day off to spend at school related events with children, siblings, nieces or nephews • Inter-office encouragement program (good job notes, etc.) • Families invited to company events to encourage involvement • Birthday wheel - Every employee is allowed to spin the birthday wheel that has prizes of different cash or gift card amounts to win a prize they can use with their friends or families • Annual Christmas party • Company retreats • PTO instead of separate vacation and sick time policies •
Additional time off for maternity/ paternity leave for biological children, adoption or foster care
The committee members focusing on work/life balance initiatives had some exciting and fun developments in the past year. While 2021 still saw the lingering effects of COVID-19 on our daily lives, we are able to make advances in celebrating our team and make working at EV more enjoyable and productive. The development of plans for a new employee outdoor patio have been completed and some infrastructure work has begun. A wifi booster has been installed to increase internet speeds and a new canopy design has been approved. With the escalation in material prices and workloads of our team, the full fabrication and installation is now planned for spring of 2022. Once completed, we will have an outdoor area for team members to enjoy a break or a change of scenery while they work!
STAYCATION Each year, during elementary, middle and high-school spring break we put on a “staycation” event. There are daily activities that employees, their spouses and their children are invited to attend. We try to host events interesting to both genders and a wide range of ages. These events are fully paid for by the company. As an added bonus, employees are allowed to utilize their "hall pass" hours to attend with their children instead of using traditional PTO. Our staycation events, which are very popular here at EV, had additional options this year to accommodate those who may not be comfortable with in-person events during the pandemic. Instead of not including them, families could sign up for a fun at-home staycation bundle including finger paint, bubbles, markers, gift cards and family games. Our hope was that even when our families were working from home, they could still incorporate the yearly EV Staycation in their family activities.
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
HIGHLIGHTS
PAID TIME TO VOLUNTEER
This year, like everyone else, we had to find different ways to impact the community while keeping people safe. Luckily, our leadership has a strong dedication to finding ways to better our surrounding communities. This year we participated in many sponsorship opportunities and fun events.
A new initiative we rolled out in 2021 that we are excited about was paid volunteer hours for our employees. We want to make sure those who may not be able to afford to take time off from work to volunteer still have the chance to show some love to the community. Our leadership dedicated 250 paid volunteer hours to be divided among different events. This allowed the organizers to communicate whether events during business hours were paid or unpaid time, lessening confusion between volunteers and payroll. We still encourage employees to use their own time to support causes they're passionate about in addition to the organized volunteer events through the company.
• Blood drives at the office • Gave our employees opportunities to help the community beyond their checkbooks • Got our hands dirty and participated in volunteer opportunities • Supported our employees’ passions through assisting organizations close to their hearts • Created ways to maintain community involvement safely through the pandemic • Community Safety Fund - an employee paid initiative to support safe practices within the community • Built comradery between employees through community service • Employees participated in the selection of nonprofit and community beneficiaries • Participated in local parades for various holidays We, as a company, are proud partners of many local organizations corporately, but our employees also use their time to serve on boards and committees for several local nonprofits like the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, Clays for Kids, Ottawa County Skills Center Construction Program, 4H, Cadets, Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club, Young Professionals organizations, many educational and religious organizations and more.
SUPER BOWL SQUARES COMMUNITY COMPETITION We had some fun with the Super Bowl this year! We focused on the communities surrounding our Holland and Coldwater office locations and noticed that with restrictions and safety protocol most restaurants were takeout only or closed completely. The food service industry was hurting and, not wanting to see our locally owned restaurants close indefinitely, we put them into a football squares competition at no cost to them. We purchased anywhere from $500-1,500 in gift cards from each winning restaurant, which were then donated to frontline healthcare workers and first responders in the community. In all, we donated $10,000 in support. It was great to help an industry
that was clearly suffering and be able to bring joy to some exhausted frontline workers. In addition to that competition, we also had an employee-focused set of squares with $1,500 in prize money that gave each employee a chance to win free of charge!
EV KIDS CHARITY COMPETITION This year we rolled out a new initiative calling all children of EV team members to submit a video recommending a nonprofit they felt we should donate to. The winners, all great charities our employees held close to their heart, received direct donations from the company. It was a great way to get our younger generation interested in giving during the holidays, and each child who submitted a video won a small prize for their help in making the community a better place. The winning organizations were the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, Positive Options, Fallen Outdoors, Ionia/Montcalm County Child Advocacy Center and Faith45.
UNITED WAY SUMMER STOCK UP We had the privilege of participating in United Way’s Summer Stock Up event, which was a statewide, United Way led initiative focusing on solving food insecurity for families during the summer months, as donations to local food pantries are typically larger during the holiday season. We were able to donate 80 pounds of food for hungry families!
COMMUNITY EVENT PARTICIPATION
BLOOD DRIVES We hosted Versiti Michigan Blood for three onsite blood drives in January, June and October. In total, we donated 57 pints of blood potentially saving 159 lives in the community!
PUMPKINFEST We had a chance to join the City of Zeeland for their pumpkin festival, a free family-friendly event where we sponsored an outdoor movie night with free popcorn and other fun activities like face painting, pony rides and obstacle courses.
COLDWATER HIGH NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY TURKEY TROT We participated in the annual 5k race/walk fundraiser. These funds are given back to Coldwater Schools' homeless students and Branch County Veterans’ projects.
PARADES Participating in local parades is one of our favorite things to do. A local senior care facility was not going to attend a city parade due to quarantine restrictions, so to brighten their day we participated in a private parade just for them! We also participated in a Fourth of July parade and two city's Christmas parades.
COLDWATER SCARECROW DECORATING CONTEST This was a local challenge amongst businesses to put creativity, teamwork and skills to the test. The rules were simple; create a scarecrow that takes on a personality and character. The scarecrows are whimsical, humorous, mischievous or lovable and bring joy to community members downtown.
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES, CONT.
BRANCH COUNTY POWER OF THE PURSE An annual event that local businesses like EV Construction and families participate by donating money or a purse filled with accessories. Individuals buy tickets and hope that their ticket is drawn as the lucky winner. The money raised for Branch County United Way supports the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. “The event was born to raise awareness for the work of the Branch County United Way (BCUW) in helping children embrace to learning at an early age. Through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, BCUW provides free books to children from birth to age 5.”
UNITED WAY DAY OF CARING We were able to get our boots on the ground for United Way’s Day of Caring. Our team of office and field personnel mixed to spend the day framing and hanging joists for a local Habitat for Humanity house. It was a great opportunity to utilize our construction skills to help in the community. We were presented with the United Way Gold award for our outstanding service throughout the year. We don’t do it for the awards, but it shows our commitment to our community.
COMMUNITY SAFETY FUND EV Construction developed a program we call the Safety Community Fund, which we use to bring our passion for safety out into our community. This is an employee funded program through volunteer payroll deductions and our people don't disappoint! This year, the fund provided Bethany Christian Services with the opportunity to certify 30 staff and interns in CPR and I'M SAFE CAC the option to pay for additional body safety class supplies. From our Coldwater office, the Southern Michigan K9 Search and Response (SMSAR) program received products from our Community Safety Fund and the Coldwater Lake Marina. The SMSAR program is made up of all volunteers (people and animals) who locate missing persons throughout the United States. The K9 response team is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Their purpose is to be the trusted resource as a volunteer canine search unit, working in partnership with law enforcement and other governing agencies for the missing and their families.
STRATEGIC COMPANY PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS • Expansive Employee Care Team instead of one HR Representative • Friday Celebration - A time where everyone in the office stops what they’re doing for a half hour to celebrate good news. People share personal and professional wins from the week. • Business Plan Maps - An annual graphic representation of each division's goals and objectives for the following year that is published and hung near their office locations within the building for others to see. • Company Newsletters - The introduction section of the newsletter is written by a member of the executive committee, office leadership team or field leadership team and highlights something notable going on in the company. • Scorecards - Functional groups and departments have meetings that occur at a regular cadence and each of these teams has a ‘scorecard’ for reporting KPIs. • Blueprint For Success Onboarding - A prerequisite structure to onboarding that provides a frame of reference for new hires before diving into the heavier, more in-depth topics. The structure is designed with 101, 201 and 301 level programming. • ASAM Involvement - We actively solicit feedback from our trade partners through the American Subcontractors Association to understand their needs and wants for our performance. • Hiring successes tracked • Safety stats tracked •
PAINTED PICTURE The 2023 Painted Picture was developed for 20202023 and shown in graphical format. This graphic
was reproduced and posted in several locations where employees could view it and reference it. The Painted Picture was posted in a very large format outside the CEO's office, in job trailers and digitally so that it would be accessible to all. The 2023 Painted Picture is now used as the framework for annual goal setting, business planning, corporate initiatives and departmental goals. Of the 100+ bullet points that were outlined as initiatives, roughly half were accomplished as of December 2021. The progress made and areas for attention in the coming year were presented to the company by one of our vice presidents at an all-company meeting.
MANAGEMENT MEETINGS In 2021, the company resurrected and modified its management meetings where all employees who are responsible for managing a team come together. Topics of conversation include company culture, the latest COVID-19 protocol, consistency in interviewing candidates, tips and tricks for handling some challenging conversations, among other things. As the company has grown, much of the HR related conversations have become decentralized and direct reports have been empowered to have many of these discussions themselves.
QUALITY STANDARDS MANUAL EV began the quarterly management meetings to ensure consistency in HR practices, focusing on culture enhancing items. EV has a detailed Quality Standards Manual that is a tool developed to guide EV Construction employees, trade contractors and suppliers in proper quality construction methods. The manual was created using the input from dozens of industry experts, both inside and outside of the company. In 2021, the manual was reviewed and updated in its entirety by the Field Leadership Team.
CORPORATE OFFICE 86 E. 6TH STREET, HOLLAND, MI 49423 616.392.2383
COLDWATER OFFICE 285 DIVISION STREET, COLDWATER, MI 49036 517.435.4404
THE HUB
100 GRANDVILLE AVENUE SW, GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49503 800.632.7734
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