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ON THE MOVE BALFOUR BEATTY’S US OPERATIONS HIRES KELLIE AJJAN AS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Balfour Beatty has announced the hiring of Kellie Ajjan as the company’s new senior vice president of human resources for its Buildings, Civils and Investments operations in the U.S. In her new executive role, Ajjan oversees the development and execution of the company’s people strategy and practice, including compensation and benefits, recruiting, training, talent development and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. She will also work in close coordination with senior leadership, including human resources and operations functions across Balfour Beatty’s global business, with an emphasis on aligning policies and initiatives such as compliance, ethics and employee engagement within the company’s three business lines. In addition, Ajjan will retain direct responsibility for the HR-related action plans and deliverables outlined in Balfour Beatty Communities’ compliance monitorship to ensure this important work continues to move forward without interruption.
“We are excited to appoint Kellie to a new human resources role that serves all our business lines,” said Eric Stenman, Balfour Beatty US president. “Her experience in leading strategic human resource operations as well as being a trusted business partner within our business makes her a great fit for this position as she builds upon Balfour Beatty’s strong human resources structure and policies that supports the connection between field and office employees and elevates our recruiting, talent management and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. We look forward to her leadership and passion for developing our teammates as we strive to be an employer of choice and committed project partner in our communities.” Prior to her new role, Ajjan served as senior vice president of Balfour Beatty’s Investments business for nearly 10 years where she was responsible for human capital strategy, including employee and labor relations, organizational development, talent and performance management, staffing and success planning. She was also overseeing the Benefits team for all three U.S.
businesses. Ajjan will continue to oversee these operations in addition to her new responsibilities in this newly appointed role. Ajjan worked for Sunoco, Inc. and AMETEK serving in various human resource management roles before joining Balfour Beatty. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University, where she was a scholar athlete, and has obtained a master’s in business administration from Pennsylvania State University. Ajjan is also a board member of Quest Therapeutic Services in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Balfour Beatty is an industry-leading provider of general contracting, at-risk construction management and design- build services for public and private sector clients across the United States. Performing heavy civil and vertical construction, the company is part of Balfour Beatty plc, a leading international infrastructure group that provides innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth.
We don’t mind if a client or customer has a problem we don’t respond to. We have AI doing our writing for us (I saw several student papers this semester clearly written by ChatGPT). What we are willing to ask our people to do is reducing, and what we expect from them is less and less. At the same time, it takes more than ever to have a decent standard of living when starter homes in many places cost $600,000 or more, a decent new car costs $50,000, and it costs $750 a week to put your kid in daycare. How can one expect to afford that or better with minimal effort and commitment? So my message is clear. Shift out completely if you want. Don’t participate in the phone, text, and email banter with your managers and fellow workers at night and on weekends. Don’t respond to the client who has a question or just wants to talk. But do so at your own peril. You are missing out. You know you aren’t always parenting or doing something essential every night and weekend. You know taking five minutes to check your email on your phone isn’t impossible. You are making the choice to take yourself out of the game. Meanwhile, for every business I am part of – and for every class I teach – I am going to keep looking for those people who will do more. Unapologetically. Because I hate squandering opportunity. And I hate failure even more. And I know if I am responsible for those people, I will take my responsibility seriously and reward those who are fully engaged. Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 5
connected and involved with my business, and was also a decent parent, as my girls will attest. Oh yeah – one more thing. I started my business (this business nearly 36 years ago) with $1,000 when I was unemployed and had an 11-month-old and a spouse who did not work outside of the home. It wasn’t like I had a big nest egg sitting there and could do it at my leisure. I didn’t golf. I didn’t go on weekend vacations with my buddies. We had rent to pay and utility bills and needed to eat. Survival and the desire to transcend our current circumstances motivated me to do more than most people were willing to do. My point is this. Is it wrong to try to build a team of other highly motivated people who don’t shut down like factory workers punching a time clock at the end of every day, and instead show interest and enthusiasm for the business we are trying to build together? Should we be rewarding those who won’t do that the same as those who do? How does that make any sense when we are trying to build something, and if we are successful, they will be the beneficiaries of that success? There is no doubt that we live in an era of declining expectations – expectations for excellence and commitment. We want four-day workweeks. We want to be able to work from home. We want every evening and weekend completely free from work. Work is just a means to be able to do other things versus something pleasurable and rewarding in itself.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 27, 2024, ISSUE 1539
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