March 2007: The 100 best companies to work for in Oregon
NO. 7 LARGE COMPANY: WALSH CONSTRUCTION
Assistant superintendent Bennett Barnwell, left, and
Andrew Beyer, Oregon GM, survey a Vancouver senior
housing project.
Photo by Leah Nash
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Building success on shared values
Bright morning sun is streaming through the three-story-tall
lobby windows of Walsh Construction’s Portland
headquarters. Outside, a sculpture of two hammers forms a
gateway to the front door.
Inside, the lobby of the 7-year-old building is more than just
a visual feast of sun-dappled concrete, wood, and steel;
it’s an homage to the wide-ranging skills of the company
and its employees.
The lobby is also full of the sound of construction as workers
in a nearby room add walls for more offices — project
managers, estimators and the IT department all need more space.
“When we built this building, it was supposed to be big
enough for the next 30 years,” Kim Lane, business
development manager, says with a shake of her head.
Lane shouts “hi” to two tow-headed girls —
daughters of an employee — as they run past the
construction site and into the lobby. That’s the same
lobby where, one Monday a month, an espresso company sets up
shop and serves unlimited free drinks to employees and guests.
Come Christmas, it’s where the company has the
tree-trimming party. One floor up are training and lunch rooms,
home to the holiday cookie exchange, birthday potlucks, holiday
parties and free soda, juice and tea the rest of the year.
Walsh — which has more than 270 employees in Oregon,
branches in Washington and California, and is projected to do
nearly $300 million in sales companywide by the end of its
fiscal year in June — doesn’t stop there: For
salaried employees, there’s the company picnic, the
appreciation dinner, the fiscal year-end party, the luncheons,
the golf tournament, the all-expenses-paid retreat, and the
summer afternoon barbecues in the backyard behind the company
office. And to encourage working off some of that merrymaking,
there’s money for anyone who belongs to a gym.
The shower and locker room the company provides for its
workout-minded workers just may be chief estimator Bob
Trapa’s favorite perk. “I come to work after
working out and I feel so energized,” he says.
Like many other businesses at the top of the 100 Best list,
Walsh’s hiring process is intensive, which impressed
Trapa, who went through four separate interviews before he was
offered a job three years ago. Because of details like that,
it’s not by luck that the company has happy employees.
Trapa says top management, from co-founder and president Bob
Walsh down, are as interested in finding qualified people as
they are in making sure they fit into the existing culture.
When describing life at Walsh, employees point to their shared
work ethic and sense of fun as examples of that culture. Few
mention the perks, and instead use words like family, caring,
teamwork and commitment. But it’s clear they also share a
strong sense of values. They’re deeply proud of the work
the 45-year-old company does, whether it is its philanthropic
donations, volunteer work events, its support of nonprofits or
the projects it takes on.
The company considers multi-million-dollar mixed-use
residential projects its bread and butter. And while it also
builds destination resorts and condos, there’s a long
list of other projects that inspire excited descriptions from
its staff. New Columbia, a $155 million low-income and senior
public-housing project. The Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
in Portland’s Pearl District, a renovated warehouse with
a gold LEED certification. A school for at-risk students.
Housing for the deaf.
Lane thinks the company’s working environment is driven
by a simple, almost cyclical process that has surprisingly
little to do with parties and dinners. People at Walsh embody
community-minded values, which the company culture then
reflects, which in turn draws more people with those
values.
“We’ve never gotten too far away from the fact
that we’re builders. You can look out the window [from
these offices] at a $92 million project we’re
building,” she says. “We like the excitement of
construction. It’s rewarding. When you look at what
you’ve done at the end of the day, you have a sense of
pride. That’s what keeps people here.”
— Abraham Hyatt
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