The Owners' Manual - Issue 12 - Winter 2018

P A R T I C I P A T I O N While we want to provide many teambuilding events throughout the year and specifically during ESOP month, consideration should be given to smaller offices with fewer employee owners. Occasional lack of participation in all events doesn’t equate to lack of engagement.

O F F I C E AWA R E N E S S Offices operate differently. For example, if there is a cohort meeting or a meeting in a larger office and lunch is served, be aware that the smaller office may just be brown- bagging it. Let those people know that they can expense lunch if they would like.

O F F I C E V I S I T S • While smart screens have been great, there is no substitute for a face-to-face visit. • If an employee is traveling by or near another office, stop in! Even if it’s for a short period of time. • Consider working out of another office for a day if you have meetings in a different place. • If there are teams working out of two offices, consider alternating occasionally and having team meetings in both offices from time to time.

E MA I L S While mass e-mails are sometimes unavoidable, if possible, try to send e-mails only to the target audience. If mass e-mails are sent, pertinent information should be discussed at future staff meetings.

CO N N E C T I N G • In smaller offices, consider doing events as an office rather than as a discipline. • In CT, if there are employees who don’t work in that office but live close, consider inviting them to join in an evening happy hour or event. • Supervisors should always be open and looking for team-building opportunities – informal “sit-downs”, happy hours, interdisciplinary staff update meetings, etc. • If there is an industry rep who comes to an office, invite the rest of the department through Ring Central to participate. • If an employee in another office could help with a request for a project, consider calling him or her to assist even if the employee is not in that discipline or on the project team.

F E E D B A C K / R E COG N I T I O N / C H E C K I N G I N

• Employees continue to value feedback and recognition. We should all continue to look for ways to provide positive feedback and recognition for good work. • Field employees/construction inspectors – those who rarely report to an office greatly value their supervisor’s “checking in” to see how they are doing. C L I E N T C A R E As we learned in the client care training, responsiveness to requests by other BL employees is critical. There is nothing that makes an employee in one office feel more a part of the whole company than having someone return a phone call or e-mail promptly.

N O O N S I T E A D M I N . A S S I S T A N T Not every office has an administrative assistant on site to help with ordering supplies, coordinating travel assistance, dealing with deliveries, etc. If you are in such an office and need assistance, please call the Receptionist in Meriden.

issue 12 // 19