Gerald Reinders, President & CEO
Trust for Trade
Pam Withers
If there was a song called
Mothers, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Contractors,
it just got yanked off the charts. That’s because for
the first time, a member of the B.C. construction industry
– known in general for dirty, wet, cold, hazardous jobs
with brutally cyclical employment opportunities – made
it onto the list of The 10 Best Companies to Work for
in B.C. Parents, it’s time to steer your children towards
the trades.
Not just trades at any firm, of course, but positions
at a company such as Richmond’s Bridge Electric, which
jumped from 11th place last year to seventh place this
year. Bridge, one of the largest electrical contractors
in B.C., has installed wiring, lighting, power and fire-safety
systems in dozens of modern landmarks across the province.
Newly nestled on a list dominated by white-collar professions,
with annual revenues of $20 million, the firm knew it
was a long shot to prove that employees without flextime
or comfy workspaces can be just as loyal and engaged
as staff at firms with game rooms, cafeterias, gyms
and daycare.
President and CEO Gerald Reinders (who bought the
company in 1987, five years after it was founded) was
floored when he got the call from BCBusiness, but was
quick to identify what brightens electrical workers’
lives: a trusting, caring environment. “So many things
flow from that,” he says. Such as an emphasis on safety,
ample tools in stock, steady work and clear orders never
to compromise on work to complete a job on time.
While it may seem a no-brainer to tout ‘an emphasis
on safety’, construction-site supervisors are notorious
for occasionally compromising safety to deliver on schedule.
Bridge employees (80 per cent are electrical workers
and the company is non-union) know that Bridge sends
out no double message on this; they gave the company
high marks for safety consideration on last year’s BCBusiness/Watson
Wyatt survey. In 1999 occupational health and safety
consultant W. Denault & Associates in North Vancouver
gave the firm the highest score to date for any construction
employer in western Canada. Investing money to stockpile
quality tools – proper-height ladders, for instance
– is another employee-wish-list item often regarded
as cost
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prohibitive by rival firms’ management. The employees
who have worked for other firms tell John Reinders,
general superintendent at Bridge (and brother of Gerry),
that the company spends significantly more on good tools
and logistics.
As for steady work, every firm in the industry suffers
cyclical ups and downs, but not every firm’s manager
spends hours on the phone during Bridge’s slack times
arranging to loan out staff for short terms to other
contractors who may need them. Bridge liaises with 24
companies. “It’s rewarding being with a company that
lets them do a good job, and lets me treat my people
well,” says the superintendent.
While Bridge’s demographics (90 per cent male, median
age 32, 30 per cent apprentices) may be standard in
the industry, having a profit-sharing plan is not. Bridge’s
plan is formulated on a percentage of profits, length
of service, level of responsibility and individual contribution.
There are also monthly awards for ideas that boost safety
or productivity, and a plaque plus cash award of several
hundred dollars for the best idea of the year. The annual
Christmas banquet features awards for safety and length
of service, including gift certificates for dinner out.
Within a few months of the September 11 crisis, construction
hit a dry spot; not only were clients canceling jobs,
but Bridge fielded many requests for reducing costs
on already-approved projects. Despite such challenges,
the firm has doubled its growth
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over the past four years and will move in March to a new
South Richmond facility. At 2,300 square metres, the building
has nearly twice the company’s current capacity, and rumor
has it that a lunch room, gym and ‘space for fun’ are under
consideration, even access to a daycare centre just 400 yards
away.
If these tickle the fancy of Bridge’s more than 100 employees
(many of whom drive straight from home to their job site),
they are not the benefits that hold highest sway. Employees
are more likely to point to the training that Bridge ensures
its foremen give trainees (60 per cent of Bridge foremen are
former Bridge apprentices), and the serious money the firm
invests in helping employees deliver service “on time, every
time” to customers – from paying air freight on materials
needed immediately, to not flinching when overtime or additional
manpower are required. Employees also like the fact that the
company eschews time clocks, focusing instead on results.
Unlike most construction firms, it discourages employees from
trading in vacation days for money, to ensure they return
to work rested and unstressed.
Projects in which Bridge has been involved include the Delta
Sun Peaks Hotel (two years, $3 million), Bentall 5 (two years,
$3.5 million), the new Shaw tower on the Coal Harbour waterfront
(two years, $4 to $5 million) and the new B.C. Cancer Research
Center at Vancouver General Hospital (two years, $7 to $8
million).
In 1998, after Bridge won an Excellence in Construction
award from the Vancouver Regional Construction Association
(it has since won two more VRCA awards, in 2000 and 2001),
employees secretly sank $4,000 of their own money into photographing
staff and projects that year, to present a surprise collage
to management. (It’s on the second page of bridge electric.com.)
“Ever seen tears in an electrician’s eyes?” Gerry Reinders
asks, recalling the gift. It’s enough to make students training
for white-collar work consider short-circuiting their plans.
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