While Teichert is a family business, Mary often points out that it is a lot of people's family business, and 100 percent of that comes from engagement, with an employee feel valued, that their voice is heard, that their work is productive, and that they are interested in the tasks they must perform every day. Many dimensions make people want to work in any place. One excit- ing factor with our company is that most field forces are union folks, so the pay isn't that different from anyone else. If you are an operating engineer at a certain level at Teichert, they make the same rate they would at any other place working for a different contractor in the same region. I'm proud that we have a well-paid industry and that people want to work in it daily. To accomplish this, the company invests in ensuring employees un- derstand the mission and purpose of the business, the benefit of the infrastructure they are building, what their role is in making the work successful, and what this means to the customer. This is in addition to having a safe yet fun work environment. Safety is one of the centerpieces of the business, which focuses on sending people home safely to their families. Because we are safety- focused, employees know what they mean to the business and want to stay engaged. What impact do you expect environmental practices to have on the industry? Teichert has an interesting contracting business because we also have materials plants made up of 25 rock plants in California and Nevada. Those are stationary facilities, which has led to a real depth of expertise in environmental management. Our employees' skills and awareness roll over into saying that the company is a steward of the land they are working. The company and its employees know the emission require- ments, how to test for stormwater runoff, and how to practice steward- ship of the environment. As a regional contractor, most of the people who work here also live in the area, so they are more willing to want to take care of the re- sources around them. All of us live here and breathe this air and drink this water. So sometimes there's balance, and we can all talk about whether some of the things we're measuring and managing are the most important things or are worth the trade-off in costs. You must have a conversation because we spend millions of dollars yearly on our capital program, and replacing and buying equipment is a non-trivial prospect. Our industry also cares about things like small businesses and disad- vantaged businesses. So you should be investing in more technology to keep the air cleaner if you've paid attention to what that means for someone with limited capital and who may not have used up the life of their previous equipment. It’s important to continually discuss these issues and requirements, understand the trade-offs, and focus on envi- ronmental management. The Future of Construction: An Interview with Eclipse’s Tom Agresta Tom Agresta is the President of Eclipse Companies LLC, a heavy civil
The Future of Construction: An Interview with Teichert’s Mary Teichert Mary Teichert is the President of Teichert, Inc., which is a 135-year-old contractor regionally based out of California and Western Nevada. It was started by her great-great-grandfather, Adolf Teichert, a foreman for the man who invented expansion joints. Ms. Teichert's take on the top construction trends for 2023 include: What does the industry need to do to engage employees more? Engaged employees matter in the construction industry because many employees are the main face to the customer. Project engineers to the customer are the company. These employees need to be proud of your company and enjoy working there. For a company that has been in business for 135 years, many of our employees feel we are their em- ployer of choice. At the end of the day, if you look at a road, you can't tell who paved it. We all use the same specs and plans, but you can tell how well we are doing our work when we're doing it. One of the things that's a big compliment to the company is not only all these people who choose to work here for their whole careers but also the people that recommend their kids, their grandchildren, and their nieces and nephews to work here as well.
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December 2022 csengineermag.com
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