Vice President, Energy, Cumming, Los Angeles, CA
“By working from home, we can be more environmentally friendly, save money on real estate, be safer from this kind of threat in the future, and be more productive.”
What steps have been taken to help ensure the health and well-being of those workers who are still coming to the jobsite?
Early on, even before the mandatory stay-at-home order, the sustainability team had started the transition to working from home. We were sensitive to the seriousness of all this, and started the process to move everything to virtual early on. We use Microsoft Teams and DropBox, and we worked with our clients to do this and it was pretty seamless. Our clients have really appreciated it. I’m creating program-level reports that go out every Monday that provide updates on all the work the team is doing — this lets our clients know exactly what we’re working on and that our fees are justified.
Have your daily tasks and/or role changed as a result of the impacts of COVID-19?
It has changed how we interact. We started a virtual staff meeting that we do every week, which is a new thing. We have an ongoing group chat on Microsoft Teams, which helps us keep in touch more casually, the way you would in person. We are doing a virtual happy hour where we conference in, even with our kids and families, and share food and drinks with each other online.
Have you experienced any supply chain issues? If so, how are you dealing with those?
Not the supply chain per se, but we have seen labor issues. One of our projects has a two-week hold on it because the labor is being supplied by the California Conservation Corps, and they are trying to figure out how to best protect their workers before sending them back out to work. No work is allowed on this project for at least two weeks, so we are looking into how we can use our contract to provide other services for them, such as energy auditing – we are being as creative as we can and thinking out of the box to see how we can continue to add value.
How is morale on the project? Any insight into how to maintain team member morale during a time like this?
Morale is actually pretty good. I think people are still adjusting, but they are also really grateful they have work to do. That’s not true in every industry or at every company, so we don’t take that for granted. We are healthy, we are working, and we’re doing it together.
Do you see the industry’s approach to construction changing over the long term in response to some of the lessons we’ve learned during this crisis?
I think more people will be allowed to work from home when this is over. We have had this forced on us, but now we see that people can be just as productive, if not more so, from home, depending on their role. By working from home, we can be more environmentally friendly, save money on real estate, be safer from this kind of threat in the future, and be more productive.
Are there any particular people or companies you feel deserve a shout-out due to their extraordinary efforts in navigating this situation?
L.A. Metro has been so great. They have been absolutely seamless in allowing us to shift to virtual/remote working. They have been flexible and easy to communicate with, which has made this transition easier for everyone.
