Monthly Archives: June 2022

Before Covid, Brendan was living and working full-time in San Francisco. He had an apartment in Presidio Heights and took the bus into work every day. Now, he works remotely and splits his time between the Bay Area and Boise as a digital nomad. As a Product Manager at Autolist for their Android app, Brendan can work remotely as long as he has his computer and a good Wi-Fi connection.

The Bay To Boise

When Covid hit, San Francisco shut down, so Brendan decided to not renew his lease in the city and spend part of his time in Boise, where he grew up. “I get the best of both worlds. San Francisco and Boise are very different, and I enjoy both, so traveling back and forth has been great.” When he made the change, there were still many unknowns about when the office would reopen, and luckily Autolist did not require a hard and fast return.

Onboarding Is Critical

However, remote work isn’t for everyone. It is no secret that some employees have felt isolated while working from home, perhaps more for those onboarding remotely. Autolist has had to be proactive about bringing on new, remote staff. “If you had already been established at a company before the company went remote, it’s easier to keep strong relationships with other teammates. But if you are starting new at a remote company and don’t know anyone, it is more challenging. At Autolist, we believe onboarding is critical for new hires to meet the broader team. Each new hire has a 20-minute casual meeting scheduled with every other teammate (we only have twenty-five people), which helps the new hire meet everyone within a couple of weeks.”

Set A Strick Calendar Schedule

For those used to the office, transitioning to a full work-from-home experience was not easy, and Brendan learned a few lessons along the way. “I learned how important it is to set a strict calendar schedule. When working remote, there is not a natural end to your workday like leaving the office to commute home. Work and personal time can blend together, and it can be hard to keep these priorities separate. I learned to set a strict schedule and put both work and personal responsibilities on my calendar in order to achieve a healthy work-life balance.”

“I recommend people invest heavily in their home office space. If you are going to sit in a chair and use a desk all day, getting the right equipment to create an environment for success is super valuable.”

Brendan Spillane

Create A Productive Environment As A Digital Nomad

Brendan’s favorite thing about working from home is his office. “I like that I can  customize my home workspace more than I could in an office. With a stipend, I can buy anything from wall art to a desk plant, which allows me to set up an environment where I can be most productive. I recommend people invest heavily in their home office space. If you are going to sit in a chair and use a desk all day, getting the right equipment to create an environment for success is super valuable.”

Check “The Great Workplace Compromise Part 1” now!

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Covid Changed The Workplace Forever    

When Covid hit in the early months of 2020 there was speculation that the office would change forever. Employees were sent home without return dates and in many cases they were unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead. Fast forward to the present and those remote employees have settled into the comfort and flexibility of working from home and are loathe to give it up for the same old office and schedule. A great workplace compromise is coming.

Now Employers Want Their Teams Back In The Office

After undergoing such a massive change and adapting to their new environment, is it fair for employers to call their staff back to the office full time? Are there benefits to working from home instead of the office? This is a debate that many companies are having right now.

In This Issue Employees Make Their Case For WFH

At OEC, we believe the opinions of employers and their employees should lead the decision-making in this great workplace compromise. In the next two issues we will hear from both sides on the work from home issue and learn how local companies are adapting to the new landscape.

David Berry is a busy man. When he isn’t managing design teams at five different locations with POWER Engineers, he is brokering deals between companies, lecturing at BSU, and helping his wife care for their five-month-old twins.

For some, juggling these jobs would seem impossible, but as David says, “I’m a short attention span person that likes a challenge.” And a challenge is exactly what he got when he was sent to work from home over two years ago. He quickly went from traveling about one hundred days a year to ten and does most of his work in his laundry room office. After undergoing such a large change like this, it is understandable that employees would want a workplace compromise.

Improve Communication & Onboarding

One of the main challenges David has discovered is communication. “So much of the way we communicated and interacted before the pandemic was face to face. Since then, direct communication has fallen off, and there are also generational aspects to consider. Our younger staff is very good at using instant messaging and emails rather than phone calls, but they struggle to ask questions effectively.

Mentoring has been a difficult process over the last two years, and younger staff need to know how to find information and problem-solve to be successful.” To help fix this problem, David has been creating time templates or outlines for onboarding so they can get remote staff up to speed quickly. Additionally, using video conferencing and other technology has been the key to POWER’s success and growth through the pandemic.

“Mentoring has been a difficult process over the last two years, and younger staff need to know how to find information and problem-solve to be successful.”

David Berry

Learn How To Disconnect

The flexibility of working from home is a double-edged sword for David and his team of consultants. “Walking a couple of rooms over to work is great, but it is also harder to disconnect. My team and I are billable commodities selling our time to firms, so we are always on call. It’s difficult to shut off.”

David tries to have a hard stop every day now at seven. He often works an eleven-hour day, but being home allows him to help care for his kids, which is impossible to do in the office. Having the hard stop for family time keeps him from inevitably being drawn back to work. “I think everyone will continue to struggle with defining those work/life boundaries because working from home has become the norm. It will be interesting to see how that affects our mental fatigue and burnout.”

Prevent Burnout By Recharging

The idea of burnout has not gotten a lot of analysis or investigation. Those who have worked from home can attest to how easy it is to work longer hours, and David makes a good point. “No one can really go from college to a twelve-hour workday. In the same way, very few people can work longer hours without recharging. Some can push through weeks with sixteen-to-eighteen-hour days like accountants in tax season, but then they allow themselves to recover. It is the same way with working from home.”

Workplace Compromise: Realign Client Expectations

Without a doubt, there will always be more work to do. So, the best way David has learned to create time to recharge is by realigning client expectations. “I want to be the manager I feel like I never had in my first ten years of work. I never felt like my manager would bump a schedule for me or fully advocate for the production staff when we were stretched thin with deliverables and deadlines. So, I am trying to align customer expectations, so my team members know I have their backs. If we can’t make a deadline or feel as though quality is suffering because we’re rushing, I will do what I can to internally address items, and then I will have a transparent conversation with the client to reset their expectations.”

*David will be featured in our next edition discussing the work from home compromise from a leadership point of view.

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Layton Construction has been in business for almost 70 years. It has grown from a small, family-held construction company to a major Contractor operating in eight states. Idaho is just one of the states where Layton’s Interior Construction Specialists (ICS) branch operates. To learn more about Layton and the incredible team at ICS, OEC met with ICS Senior Project Manager Tracey Felix and Layton’s Superintendent Jason Horst at an active job site in Meridian.

Dark To Dazzling

At the moment, Elase Medical Spa is a 3,400sf gray jungle of metal framing. However, in the fall of 2022, it will be a dazzling white, high-ceilinged consultation and treatment center offering high quality services with everything from BOTOX and CoolSculpting to skincare and laser hair removal. This Meridian branch will be Elase’s fifth location, with the other four currently in the Salt Lake region.

The project is a design-build, and even as Tracey gives the tour, there are decisions she is making with the owner. What kind of bottle filler do they want, how can they get the most usable space out of their storage room, and how will OEC install the gauzy blue curtain in their lobby? Having a trustworthy construction partner like ICS is what brings customers back time and again.

Local ICS Projects

ICS was founded in 2000 to supply the demand for sophisticated, quality tenant improvement and remodeling services. Since its founding, ICS has become the Top TI Contractor in the Intermountain West. It’s not just Elase that has built a trusting relationship with ICS over the years – companies like Traeger Grills, Google, Pluralsight, Zions Bank, and Workday, to name a few – have partnered with ICS time and again to ensure the most quality, predictable outcome. ICS expanded to Denver, Colorado in 2018 and last year, officially opened an office in the busy Boise market.

The Key To Success: Hiring the Right Team Members

What is the key to their success? It differs depending on whom you ask. Tracey says, “I think it is the fairness to subcontractors. We want to see them succeed and that is why we are so particular about whom we hire.”

Jason plays off Tracey, adding integrity as a significant factor. “We always want to do the right thing and hire people with integrity. We don’t cut corners, and we want to get it right the first time by communicating with owners.”

Layton’s Integrity

Layton headquarters would be proud of these two. According to their value statement, Layton’s goal is to construct with integrity through honesty, safety, unity, and quality. Honesty includes having sometimes hard but truthful conversations with owners to make good decisions.

They are also intensely dedicated to the safety of their teams. Their teams stretch and flex every morning and conduct random safety checks to ensure everyone is compliant. Layton also implements unity through mutual respect and guarantees quality by paying close attention to the details.

Celebrating Their Staff

By staying true to these values, Layton and, by extension, ICS retains excellent talent. For example, the Elase Job Superintendent has been with the company for over fifteen years. Layton also celebrates their staff on their five-year anniversaries by giving them a paid trip. Their teams work hard, and they take care of their teams in return.

When considering the fantastic work Layton and ICS are doing on its projects, it is no wonder Elase has chosen to partner with them again. Under the watchful eye of ICS and Layton, Elase will be having its grand opening in no time.

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When I was a little kid I had a favorite thinking space in my home. The space was a teeny, little hidden area behind where we would place our Christmas tree. To get to my secret thinking space I would crawl under a little storage hutch next to the tree and when the tree was decorated you couldn’t tell I was back there. Thankfully, my mom put the Christmas tree up early and I was able to enjoy my space for almost a full month.

I still like the idea of being “alone” in my thinking space. I don’t have a Christmas tree up all year long, but I do have a location and time where I get my best thinking done. My office is relatively empty
between 5am – 6:30am so I have a quiet place and time where I can get some of my best thinking and subsequently my best work done.

What about you? Where do you get your best work done? Do you have a time and place to go to where you feel comfortable and can do your best work? If not, I highly suggest you do some reflection on the subject and identify when you are at your best. Then make sure you recreate that time and experience as often as possible.

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