PROVIDENCE – Stephen A. Duvel, the Gilbane Building Co.’s senior vice president, division leader for New England, who is based in the company’s Providence office, said that Gilbane allocated $700,000 from its Paid Time Off Donation Program by the end of May to assist its employees experiencing hardship. He also said that adjusting to the new normal made the company stronger, which includes implementation of an emergency management plan. Duvel, who oversees 524 employees in Gilbane’s five New England offices, said the company has learned from the pandemic but is also concerned about a second wave of the virus.
“We are concerned about a second wave; health care experts have said from the beginning it was a possibility,” said Duvel. “We have learned a lot from the time when shelter in place was mandated at the beginning of the pandemic and developed a comprehensive roadmap informed by the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government agencies on how to best prevent the spread of the virus. Much like the safety plans that are mandatory on every Gilbane jobsite, our pandemic plan will contain specific protocols and guidelines related to any future pandemic.”
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“The Gilbane offices are reopening with varying timelines and guiding factors depending on state requirements,” he said. “Our project sites are fully staffed and operational and in many of our offices, people are working remotely to reduce office density.”
PBN is asking local business owners and leaders five questions in a survey designed to understand how the new coronavirus has affected them and their businesses and what they have learned from the unprecedented challenges. Here are Duvel’s responses:
How are you coping amid the COVID-19 crisis?
To say this has been a strange and unsettling time is an understatement. Coping with the loss of interpersonal connections and interactions has been tough for me. I miss the face to face meetings, lunches together and hallway catchups. Humans are social creatures and it is not natural for us to stay apart from one another; we need personal connections. For now, we do the best we can by phone, video meetings and six feet of social distance.
On all our projects, our teams are responding and adapting really well across the region. They have been extraordinarily busy implementing all the new health and safety requirements on our jobsites and in our offices. I could not be prouder of the way they have all pulled together to ensure that everyone remains safe and work is proceeding efficiently. The teamwork that I have seen across the region inspires me and reminds me that we all need to pull together in the same direction in times of crisis.
Have you found silver linings in these difficult times?
I have noticed that the connections between our teams and each other have gotten stronger. As we navigate this new normal, I am finding remarkable resilience and compassion everywhere. On every zoom call, of which there are many, we get a little glimpse into people’s lives that we would not normally be seeing. It has been remarkable and many times, uplifting and hysterical. Every day I am amazed at how caring and adaptive our teams have been.
It may seem strange but this seems like a good time to step back and do some self-reflection and self-discovery. Personally, and professionally, I have been taking some time to push myself into my growth zone. I have taken an executive leadership course in innovation; I was a guest on the Mass Construction podcast and spoke about leadership; and I have focused on making a deeper connection with my teams. I serve on the board of Leadership Rhode Island and I came across a post from the Deputy Director, Michelle Carr on LinkedIn, it really inspired me. For more from Leadership Rhode Island, visit their website here: leadershipri.org/.
How are you maintaining your company culture?
Gilbane’s core culture of caring has been our north star as we chart our way through this pandemic. It is the basis for all decision making as we keep or teams and industry partners feeling safe and cared for. Actually, all of our core values come into play now, more so than ever. Caring, dedication to excellence, teamwork, and entrepreneurship, to name a few. We need to summon all of the values we have to get through this as safely and thoughtfully as we can. Our culture of family is strong; and it is this strength that bonds us together through these uncertain times.
Did your business continuity plan work or were there surprises?
Fortunately, we do have plans in place for times of economic crisis. While we did not plan for a pandemic, we are putting a pandemic plan in place now, we did plan for times of hardship. As we began to get an inkling that there could be severe financial impacts as a result of COVID-19, we reallocated our investments to preserve our financial position, and as a result, we have an extremely strong financial portfolio.
We created a company-wide Personal Time Off pool where our employees could voluntarily donate some of their PTO to support those that needed additional time at home with young children or aging parents.
Do you have advice for other local companies?
Stay optimistic and look for ways to adapt and improve in this environment. This is a time to pivot, this is a time to lean in. This is not a time to set back or hide. Reinvention comes from challenge and we are being challenged in many new ways now. Keep the connections strong with your people and make sure they are comfortable in their work arrangements and feel safe.
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer and researcher. He can be reached at shuman@pbn.com.
