Cataylst Construction Gets Creative with Employee Recognition Awards
Things happen daily in Construction that the rest of the world simply can’t imagine. When gratefully, no injuries are sustained the stories can be quite funny and get passed down for years. Such an occurrence this past summer led to the creation of Catalyst Construction Company’s first annual Awards program.
At the beginning of a project during the heat of summer, Catalyst’s onsite administrative staff casually mentioned to our crew that perhaps there was an issue with bats. Our foreman filed the tip away, then promptly got to work. A few days later, as he reached up to move an acoustical ceiling tile, a five-foot Crown snake wrapped itself around his arm and then slithered down and wrapped itself around his body. Two of his brave crew members quickly pulled the snake off – only to be chased by it down a hall! Thankfully, no one was hurt. Critter Control was called in to clear the ceiling of the bats and rats that the well-fed snake had been dining on. Upon hearing this story, I immediately knew we had to create a Courage Award. The now annual award will be presented to an individual who has demonstrated great courage in the face of adversity on a jobsite in an unexpected situation. This year the award goes to Shawn Mathis.
We then decided to offer additional annual awards to our very talented team.
The Golden Hammer Award, voted on by field personnel only, goes to the individual who consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, devotion to the Catalyst Construction team, creative problem-solving with a “can do” attitude, and a willingness to teach/train and uplift others. It is the equivalent of an MVP award in sports. For this inaugural award, our Field Personnel demonstrated their faith in Greg Miller by choosing him as the first recipient.
The Jackhammer Award, voted on by our Foremen, goes to the individual who consistently demonstrates an eagerness to learn and assume responsibility, a strong work ethic, the ability to learn from mistakes, and has “jackhammered” their way through obstacles. As this award’s first recipient, Renard “Nardo” Charistiel sets the standard for this award.
Finally, the Skyscraper Award goes to the Foreman who has received the most outstanding customer service reviews. These come in the form of customer job evaluations as well as conversations with our clients. We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction, and this year, the award goes to the very deserving Quincy Shade.
We chose to make the awards ourselves, as they are not readily available on eBay or Amazon. We bought re-purposed lumber and had a ball at Lowe’s finding pieces to make snakes, jackhammers, skyscrapers and golden hammers. Two trusted crew members, Brian Allen and Barrett Stowe, were sworn to secrecy to make the individual awards as well as one large award to be displayed in a highly visible crew area. This custom-developed awards program has been incredibly fun to launch as we show our great appreciation for the people of Catalyst. We couldn’t do what we do without them!
Karen Yoder is Vice President-Sales with Charlotte-based Catalyst Construction Company, a design-build general contractor with focus on the Carolinas.
