Best Places to Work 2025 Awards
#1 MIDSIZE COMPANIES: New England Construction Inc.
Local Employees: 59
CEO: Matt Sluter
NEW ENGLAND CONSTRUCTION INC. abides by a simple mantra: Family comes first.
Matt Sluter, the East Providence-based construction company’s CEO, says the 59 employees understand that philosophy fully as they come to work at the firm.
“It still is about the family and about treating people the right way and about doing what’s right for the employees,” said Sluter, who is a second-generation leader at the company.
New England Construction specializes in preconstruction services and construction management. To help foster a culture blended with community, New England Construction prioritizes how it approaches hiring. That starts with Sluter, who says about a third of his job responsibilities are spent recruiting, hiring, managing employee relationships and tending to employee retention.
“It really starts with bringing the right people in the door,” he said. “The people that are here are completely bought into what we’re trying to do. It starts with commitment. Our employees are our asset as a construction management firm. So if we don’t do a good job protecting our own best asset, then we don’t really have anything.”
Sluter describes his employees as team-oriented, competitive and high-character. Being available to employees is crucial for Sluter, he says. Senior leadership tends to keep an open-door policy and employees can have access to one-on-one conversations with company leaders, Sluter says.
“We are not bigger or better than the rest of the company we’re in,” Sluter said. “We’re at the same level, rolling up our sleeves, pulling alongside everyone else, trying to make this thing work and grow this business.”
The company also tracks engagement among employees through quarterly surveys. On average, Sluter and Director of Human Resources Amy Grenga say the surveys show 60%-70% employee engagement. Another metric that truly shows employees’ fondness of New England Construction is a 91.4% net promoter score among employees who take the survey. This means an overwhelming number of employees would recommend working at the company to family and friends.
“When you’re getting nines and tens across the board, that is a pretty special number there,” Sluter said.
New England Construction’s turnover rate is relatively low. Last year, the company had a 10% turnover rate but saw its workforce grow by 21%, Sluter said.
Crucially, the company also prioritizes internal promotions and brings employees along if they are ready for a more advanced role, Grenga says. Those employees are on individual development plans that guide them to a successful future with New England Construction, she says.
“So everyone knows if you come in as an intern, what it takes to become a project engineer, and then what it takes to become an associate project manager, and then eventually a project manager,” Grenga said. “Everyone knows what that next promotion looks like.”
On how the company retains employees, Grenga says some of that comes down to having flexibility. New England Construction employees are supported if they need time to handle personal matters, she says.
“Whatever the situation is, we are extremely flexible and I think that is a big differentiating factor for us,” she said.
Other perks that New England Construction offers, such as unlimited paid time off, also contribute to employee engagement and retention, Sluter says. To help further build camaraderie, the company also organizes events, such as holiday parties and cookouts, to bring everyone together.
In the past year, New England Construction has also worked to further support employees’ mental and physical health, Grenga says. The company pays the monthly fee for the popular app Headspace, which is designed to help users improve their mental well-being through guided meditations and sleep sounds.
“On top of that, we also pay up to $80 for an employee’s mental health visit monthly,” Grenga said. “We also rolled out a wellness program. We have two coaches and an app that goes along with it, and they really help you set your goals, and those can be no screen time after 8:30 p.m. or losing weight. Whatever those goals are, it’s individualized and we have two coaches that work with our employees on that.”
