Podcast: EllisDon wants the real you

At EllisDon, they don’t just let you be yourself. They’ll pay you for it.

For Paul Trudel, who does double duty at the construction giant as its Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President of Marketing, this isn’t just some catchy slogan to slap on an email signature. It’s a deeply held belief that powers a lot of what goes on at the company. And it was a theme that he came back to over and over when he sat with SiteNews Editor Russell Hixson for the Digging In podcast. In celebration of Careers in Construction Month, much of the conversation circled around the worker experience.

“I really can’t tell you how great it is to work for an organization that celebrates you being you,” said Trudel. “Everyone is different in this world, and we need to celebrate that more.”

Unlike most organizations, EllisDon doesn’t see employee careers like a ladder where everyone is looking to climb to the next rung. It’s more like a lattice, where people’s careers can grow and shift with them. And when looking to spot the next generation of talent, the leadership team isn’t always looking directly at employees, they are listening for the impact they’re making

“It’s the things that others say about them to us,” said Trudel. “It’s usually their colleagues, it’s usually their staff members, it’s usually their leaders that come forward.”

It’s this people-centric approach that has helped EllisDon grow into the company it is today. Trudel credited the company’s past CEOs for bringing their own unique approaches to the role. In the early days, Don Smith was a fearless entrepreneur who wasn’t afraid to take big swings. After him Geoff Smith focused on shaping the company’s unique culture. Building on that today is Kieran Hawe, who has brought a deep discipline to how the company goes after work.

“We’ve done a lot of the great things that a lot of the great companies do, but I think we’ve done that for 75 years,” said Trudel.

To reinforce the EllisDon approach, Hawe still regularly participates in onboarding new employees, does multiple webcasts a year to answer questions, and encourages people to chat him up in the hallways.

“It’s just a great place to work when you know that there’s no barriers, there’s no boundaries. Go ahead and be yourself, we’ll pay you for it.”

This approach trickles down into how the company tackles innovation. Employees are encouraged to bring their ideas to leaders. Many of the businesses EllisDon has started stemmed from internal ideas.

When asked about some of the easy wins other companies in the industry could achieve by changing the way they operate, Trudel’s advice was simple: Ask smarter questions.

“I think that organizations get locked into what everyone else is doing and they try to follow a trend. The trend is probably already stopped by the time that 90% of the people are getting onto it, so you’re already too late.”

So EllisDon’s leadership team invested time developing their own internal employee survey that gets the information they care about. Trudel says this has allowed them to direct resources and
make impactful decisions.

After more than a decade in the industry, one of Trudel’s favourite things is seeing employees on their first day. He recalled the excitement of being in his and embarking on a new adventure.

“You have the opportunity to create a new version of yourself. But sometimes you want to explore a little bit, and I think that’s okay, too. That’s how I wake up every day and come into work. That gets me fired up.”

See the entire conversation with Trudel here.