Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 32
32
( 2025 )
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Employee-owned Graham has built a culture of engagement
S
ince Dmitriy Kirillov’s former
employer was formally
acquired by Graham
Construction in 2021, the
health and safety specialist has seen
first-hand the ethos that the Calgarybased construction and development
company calls “the power of one.”
Kirillov has seen it in the way
company leaders are proactive in
keeping their teams connected at
all times, in the attention executives give to all employees’ careers,
and in the regular check-ins, team
meetings, casual conversations and
company-wide town halls that senior
managers hold.
“Employees don’t feel alone,
they feel that they’re part
of an organization that’s
absolutely committed to
holding this journey together.”
— Dmitriy Kirillov
Senior Regional Safety Manager
“There is continuous and constant
access to pretty much every level of
management and leadership in the
company,” says the Toronto-based
senior regional safety manager.
Kirillov says the wildfire situation
in northern Alberta, which has
threatened Graham employees on
several industrial sites in the region
in the past few years, epitomizes the
company’s all-for-one commitment
to its staff. He says its tenacious efforts to assist and support employees
potentially in harm’s way – as well as
the communities where they work –
has been “enormous.”
“Employees don’t feel alone,”
Kirillov says. “They feel that they’re
part of an organization that’s
absolutely committed to holding this
journey together.”
Keeping all staff connected at
99-year-old Graham – which has
offices and projects dotted across
North America – is born out of
the DNA of a company that is
employee-owned.
“That is really first and foremost
who we are,” says Carolynne
Laughy, Graham’s senior vice
president, people. “We truly provide
every employee the opportunity
to buy into the company, and as a
result it’s created a proud group of
employees at all levels who are very
much engaged in understanding
profitability, what we’re building,
where, and how we’re doing it. Our
employees challenge each other to
make prudent decisions because
they genuinely care about Graham’s
success.”
Laughy says Graham is very
transparent in communicating with
its employee-owners. The executives
host quarterly financial and strategy
updates, and once a year there is a
live, hosted Meet the Board session.
“Being new to an employee-owned
model myself, it’s interesting to see
how everybody participates in those
discussions and meetings,” she
says. “Our people care about each
other, our clients and partners, our
performance, and what decisions our
leaders are making.”
In addition, Graham is competitive
in terms of initiatives such as its
training programs, flexible benefits
package and mental health support,
Laughy says. “We provide training
for our staff at all levels,” she says.
“We have technical training for our
junior and mid-level professionals,
Projects at Graham come to life through shared ideas and
collaborative efforts.
management training for our new
leaders and leadership development
for more senior leaders that we hope
to advance into executive roles one
day.”
Kirillov can attest to the effectiveness of the resources Graham puts
into helping its employees advance.
He says the company offers a huge
variety of options for its staff to
broaden their work horizons at
the company through internal and
external resources.
For instance, given his interest
in health and safety issues and
the company’s continuous focus
on mental health, Kirillov had the
$
2,000
mental health practitioner benefit
opportunity to be sponsored to obtain a psychological health and safety certification through the Mental
Health Commission of Canada.
Through the program, Kirillov was
able to participate in various sets of
training around mental health and
well-being.
“Our top priority at Graham is
the safety and well-being of people,”
Kirillov says. “And when we were
offered an opportunity to broaden
our knowledge around the psychological, personal, mental well-being
of individuals and how we can affect
that positively, that was definitely an
eye-opener for me.” ¢
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