Hollister Construction: A Culture of Ownership
By Christopher Johnson, Head Coach
Hollister Construction is made up of 165 teammates, all passionate individuals who not only bring their own individuality, culture, charm and experience but also strongly believe in Hollister’s core values.
We formulated our own core values based on attributes displayed by our teammates that best represent Hollister. What is it about them that makes them special? What adjectives best describes them? From these sorts of questions, we identified seven characteristics that truly represent Hollister and what we are all about.
1. Ownership
2. Team Player
3. Problem Solver
4. Integrity
5. Evolve/Grow
6. Humility
Our teammates are Hollister and as we continue to grow, we focus on bringing aboard individuals who want to be part of a company that resembles their own personal beliefs on how one should live their life. We also realized that retaining individuals with these values unleashes the best in people and positively impacts the community around us in immeasurable ways.
Culture Committee
To further strengthen a positive spirit among our team, Hollister Construction organized an internal culture committee, made up of office and field teammates. The committee members changed after one year filling the committee with new teammates from different departments and from all levels at Hollister. The culture committee organizes monthly events for teammates, families and communities. From company picnics to friendly sport challenges to philanthropic work and educational seminars, the wide range of events allow the team to cultivate collaboration, build team morale, give back to the community and share knowledge.
We strongly believe the environment you experience influences your doings and encourages you to follow your passion or develop a new one!
Below are examples of two company-wide efforts we partake in every year.
Community Food Bank of New Jersey
The Hollister team has been volunteering time and labor to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey for over 8 years. It’s one of our favorite philanthropic outings we partake in as a company. As we grow, the # of teammates participating has increased from 50 to 100 to 165. At an average, yearly we volunteer a combined total of 200 hours during the course of a single day, assembling approximately 700 package instruction sets for seniors in the local community, labeling about 4,000 soup cans and sorting more than 120 boxes of food to be distributed to those facing hunger in New Jersey.
In 2017 our efforts benefitted those affected by hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico and the next year, the food products we repacked and sorted were distributed throughout 16 of the 21 counties of the state.
This effort really brings the team together with pride and joy knowing that we are doing something to help the problem. We are doing something together as a team—making a bigger impact.
Teammates have expressed that working as a team produces a powerful sense of purpose, while also raising appreciation for the fact that people are in need of the most basic necessities that many of us take for granted. It also allows them to open their hearts and give back to communities in need and working with all teammates at this allows us to get to know each other better while working for a great cause.
“Dream On” Program
In 2016, Hollister initiated the Dream On Program, a charitable program that mirrors the Make-A-Wish Charity, but for internal employees. Created in 2008 by the CEO and founder of Appletree Answers, the program strengthens teammate engagement and builds a meaning company culture. Every teammate at Hollister has the opportunity to submit one “Dream” to the Culture Committee. There are no limitations or restrictions on what the dreams can be. The dream can be for a coworker, family member, neighbor, or anyone else you can think of. The culture committee will then grant dreams and notify the individuals. Initiating this program at Hollister, has truly impacted our culture. Being part of a company that cares about you and or your loved ones wellbeing is rare to find. It’s not only about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., it’s about your entire day, every day.
Below are individual stories on three of our teammates. Three of many that we feel are very inspiring and exemplify our values at Hollister.
Michelle Rogers
While working in Newark, NJ, we ran into a huge opportunity to help local residents struggling to find jobs. The city offers a tax credit for firms that employ a certain percentage of Newark residents. This can lead to a quick search which yields no results but will render a “good faith” letter from the unions which allows the credit to be claimed without actually employing the residents. Obstacles were abundant in going through the traditional channels due to lack of updated information on potential workers. We wanted a real solution and not a letter that said we tried.
This is where our teammate, Michelle Rogers, Assistant Project Manager, stepped in, took the ball and ran with it. To solve for not having access to Newark residents’ information, we called on our pre-existing relationship with David Muhammad, Manager at the Mayor’s Office of Affirmative Action. Michelle worked with the Affirmative Action office to evaluate the information on file, qualify the resumes, and run down the correct information. Hollister does not do the hiring for field workers on projects, but due to this initiative, we have grown into a facilitator between these potential workers in Newark and the subcontractors we hire for our projects. Through Michelle’s efforts, we have placed at least 20 people into true employment-not just a job, but a foundation for a future career through this process. That is 20 households that are living a different life than before. Our job sites in Newark have become more than that, now they have the potential to be a job forum for the community.
Mehul Desai
Mehul Desai joined the Hollister team bringing with him extensive knowledge in the construction industry. He had previously taught CAD software classes in multiple countries and even put time aside earlier in his career to teach a foreman how to properly read and extract all the information from drawings. Mehul’s passion for sharing knowledge re-emerged during his weeks at Hollister as he experienced the corporate culture. During a coaching session with his coach, Mehul’s passion for teaching was discussed and this is when “The Fundamentals of Construction Class” was born. Mehul developed a 20-week course outline to further educate teammates looking to enrich their construction industry knowledge. The Fundamentals of Construction successfully kicked off in early 2018 with 15 of our teammates as students. The class explored the fundamentals of construction and evolved into a class where guest speakers participated and shared their knowledge. These Tuesday morning classes truly made an impact. Ekrem Bermek, an Assistant Project Manager and student, was clear in recognizing Mehul’s passion as a driving force of engagement.
“Mehul’s vast experience combined with his passion for teaching makes his class very rewarding and continuously engaging. He has a genuine interest for everyone to fully understand all the material. The class has greatly benefited from Mehul as he has helped everyone grow.”
Ed Shannon
Five years ago, our teammates, Ed Shannon and Chris Johnson, were introduced to Al-Tariq Best, founder of the FP YouthOutCry Foundation, a nonprofit in Newark, NJ focusing on providing alternative positive programming for youth and families in underserved communities. Al-Tariq’s most recent initiative is to build The HUBB (Help Us Become Better) HELP Center, a facility offering trauma-informed mental health and healing programs to kids who are survivors of violence. The facility will be the first of its kind in New Jersey providing kids with unique life experience. Learning about this new initiative, Ed Shannon, in a true demonstration of the core values we strive for, took initiative and planned a daylong event, where we hosted 50 kids from the program for an introduction to the construction industry and a day of fun at Anchor Golf Land, which Ed owns. Additionally, our teammates, Gio and Caitie, lived both teamwork and problem solver values as we were expecting high school aged kids and instead were greeted with a range of ages, from six to 15-year-old children. Gio and Caitie dug up art projects from our previous Bring Your Kids to Work Day to create a more age-appropriate environment on no notice. After exploring our offices, the group went to Anchor Golf. The kids played soccer, drove golf balls, and shot paintballs, all thanks to Ed’s gracious donation of his facilities and food.