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BUSINESS NEWS WARE MALCOMB ANNOUNCES EXPANSION IN CANADA Ware Malcomb , an award-winning international design firm, announced that the firm has opened a third office in Canada. The office, located in Ottawa, at 1420 Blair Towers Pl, Suite 104, Gloucester, Ontario K1J 9L8, will serve to support Ware Malcomb’s growing client and project base across Canada. Ware Malcomb first entered the Canadian market in 2007 through an acquisition, and Principal Frank Di Roma has successfully led the growth and diversification of the firm’s business in Canada since 2010. “We already have a strong presence in Toronto and Vaughan. This third office solidifies our Canadian presence and allows more accessibility to clients seeking our expertise,” said Di Roma. “It’s an exciting time for our region, and we look forward to the opportunities and dynamic projects ahead of us,” said Christina
Kolkas, Ware Malcomb’s director of Interior Architecture & Design. Specializing in architecture, planning, interior design, branding, civil engineering and building measurement services for commercial real estate and corporate clients, Ware Malcomb has completed over 1200 projects in Canada and currently has active projects in six provinces across the country. Select recent work in Ottawa includes: two projects with Avenue 31, providing architectural design services for a multi-storey industrial facility and providing architecture, interior design and branding services for a 100-acre, six building industrial park; and a project with Broccolini providing architectural design services for a 1 million-square-foot distribution centre. Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is a contemporary and expanding full service design firm providing professional architecture,
planning, interior design, civil engineering, branding and building measurement services to corporate, commercial/residential developer and public/institutional clients throughout the world. With office locations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, Ware Malcombspecializes in the design of commercial office, corporate, industrial, science and technology, healthcare, retail, auto, public/institutional facilities and renovation projects. Ware Malcomb is recognized as an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company and a Hot Firm by Zweig Group. The firm is also ranked among the top 15 architecture/engineering firms in Engineering News-Record ’s Top 500 Design Firms and the top 25 interior design firms in Interior Design magazine’s Top 100 Giants.
GORDON GREENE, from page 3
was going to make this change, he wanted to make more time for those things. We already knew how excellent he was at his job, so our answer was, “No problem!” He holds that schedule to this day and those are 24 dang-good hours. “I wanted to make sure that our folks understood that it is not our place as a company to decide what an individual’s work-life balance should be.” There are plenty of discussions on the company’s obligations to encourage employees’ work-life balance, but what often gets missed is employees’ obligations to help the company meet its goals. There’s a balance that needs to be maintained there as well. We truly want you to get home in time for dinner, but sometimes we will need you to stay or maybe crack that laptop open again after dinner. Those who are dogmatic about their work-life balance will inevitably lose out on opportunities for rewards and career advancement. It’s silly to think otherwise when you see others more than willing to work as a team to disrupt their balance for a short time to help meet our clients’ needs and overall company goals for growth and success. So, we not only encourage a good work-life balance, but we also communicate clearly on what is expected when the going gets tough. We do our best to learn and understand everyone’s balance and help them maintain that as often as possible. We don’t always get it right, and we still too often overwork our people, but we continue to listen and improve as we grow. It is admittedly more challenging getting to know every staff member personally with 80 people than it was when we had six, but it’s well worth the effort. GORDON GREENE, PE is executive vice president at Patel, Greene & Associates, LLC. Contact him at gordon.greene@patelgreene.com .
balancing act we all play, and we all find our balance at different levels of work and life. For me, I love my job. I truly enjoy my work and look forward to spending time on it every day. I’ve learned that I can let my drive and ambition carry me to a point where my life is out of balance. Unfortunately for my family and my health, I can be oblivious to this fact until my wife reminds me that I haven’t seen my kids for a week or my body reminds me that I can’t eat garbage food and not exercise and expect to feel healthy. After all, what’s the point in being the best engineer if I’m a lousy husband or father? And what’s the point in all this success if I feel horrible because I’m not taking care of myself? So, I made some changes in my own life, breaking my time down into three basic components: work, family, and self. I built a daily routine that ensures I dedicate enough time to myself and my family, enough to being a good husband and father, enough time to improve my health, and enough time to achieve the goals that we have laid out for PGA to continue to thrive and grow. I have no doubt that many weeks my wife and kids wish for a little more time from me, but that’s the balance, right? If we have folks who feel like they are failing at home or failing to take care of their health and wellness, then that will inevitably affect their performance at work. So, it comes back to knowing our people and being willing to meet them where they are. We have built a culture at PGA that does not seek extra effort simply for the sake of extra effort, and certainly not at the expense of enjoying life itself. We can (and do!) demand excellence from our folks, but it is in our best interest as leaders to encourage balance, so that even if “all we get” is 40 hours a week, those are 40 dang-good hours. As a matter of fact, one of our very first hires told us that he only wanted to work 24 hours a week. He has interests outside of work and if he
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THE ZWEIG LETTER SEPTEMBER 13, 2021, ISSUE 1408
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