Solving Construction's Labor Challenges with Carrie Gardenhire

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer

of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.

And today my co host is Ryan Bell.

Hi, Ryan.

Welcome to another episode of Construction Disruption.

Thanks, Todd.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing well.

I am going so you and I were chatting a little bit and I realized that you are

not familiar probably because you're a lot younger than me with a comedian by

the name of Stephen Wright and Stephen has this very dry sense of humor.

So I'm going to share.

A few of his one liners that I think are funny and everyone else can

either groan or laugh or ignore me.

Oh, here's one borrow money from pessimists.

They don't expect it back

Nice.

Here i'd kill for a nobel peace prize.

Don't know about you

The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese Oh, here's

one of, here's one of my favorites.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend once, but she left me before we met.

Nice.

Okay.

are good.

I can appreciate that.

Made me laugh out loud.

There you go.

Well, maybe I'll share some more of these at a different episode.

Anyway.

Um, so let's get started.

I will remind our audience that we are doing our challenge words for each of us.

Ryan and I, and our guests each have a word that one of the others

put forth that we are challenged to work into the conversation somehow.

Oh, I should have done mewing as my challenge word, maybe a different time.

Anyway.

Um, I'm just fascinated by all the stuff the young kids are doing these days.

But anyway, um, the audience can be listening.

See if you can figure out what our challenge word is.

If we say some unusual word and the end of the episode, we will say

whether we've been successful or not.

And we will do a grand reveal of our challenge words.

So Ryan, you good to go?

No cap.

Let's roll.

No cap.

That is not a challenge word.

No, it

Not this episode.

Okay, Governor.

Thank you.

Well, for several years now, if you went out and asked anyone related

to the construction industry, what the biggest challenge was facing our

industry, the overwhelmingly number one response that pretty much everyone

would give you, uh, would relate to a shortage of workers for our industry.

Um, this is a problem that has persisted really throughout the highs and lows

of unemployment and the economy, um, and all those different cycles.

It just seems like this shortage of skilled labor, uh, for the construction

industry and even unskilled labor for the construction industry,

uh, just persists all the time.

Constantly, um, so our guest today is an expert in this area.

We're anxious to talk, um, about not just root causes, um, but possible

solutions to this issue going forward.

Today, we're welcoming Carrie Gartenhier to the show.

Carrie works for Arcoro.

Arcoro's software package is a leader in human resources and workforce management

for those in the construction industry.

In her position, working with various construction association

partnerships, um, helped by Arcoro.

Um, Carrie has great insight and keen understanding of this labor

issue that is faced by our industry.

Carrie, welcome to Construction Disruption.

Pleasure to have you on the show today to discuss what really is

a big problem for our industry.

Well, thank you so much, Todd and Ryan.

I'm really excited to be with you today.

Well, thank you again.

Before we dig too far into a discussion of the labor situation, I'd love to

hear just a little bit about your own background, how you came to be at

Arcoro, and maybe give us some insight.

We'll ask more later, but give us a little insight into what Arcoro does.

Absolutely.

So I joined Arcoro about three years ago to help grow our association

footprint, um, to really grow our customer base, um, additional ways that

we can engage with our 8, 000 different customers that we have network within

the construction technology community and really be a trusted partner with

these top construction associations.

So my work really is key to keeping a pulse on the challenges that

contractors are tackling and how we can provide a solution to these challenges

via the Arcora workforce platform.

So making sure that our feature set is bringing all those things to light and

helping the contractor to be successful.

Um, I grew up in a family built on construction.

My grandfather and uncles were all general contractors and my

father was a construction attorney.

So.

Um, but as I grew up, I didn't see a lot of women in construction

and, uh, I went the business route.

Um, I started my career as a project manager for several different technology

companies, as well as working in digital marketing and operations, and

then even in some cases serving as the HR role within those organizations.

So my experience with Arcora was great because it really

brings things full circle.

Circle with focusing on partnering with construction associations.

Um, our Coro is a HR technology platform.

Um, it has several different modules that help to, uh, facilitate the ease of those.

Manual HR processes for the individual, or maybe a team of individuals,

or maybe an individual that has multiple things on their plate.

Maybe they're doing payroll as well as HR, as well as many other operational

things within the organization.

So, the idea is that you're able to take many of those paper processes and

large file cabinets full of employee files and digitize all of that using

technology and being able to use workflow.

dashboards to really understand what's going on with your people data

and easily be able to report off of that if you're subject to an audit,

OFCC, OSHA, things of that nature.

So all those things that tend to halt many of the operational tasks within the

organization because something unexpected might come up, such as an audit.

Being able to have all that information in one place and work with a partner like

our Quoro to help report on those items as well as really grow your workforce.

So being able to work on things like performance evaluations or learning

management or succession planning or compensation management within a system so

that you can plan for the future as well as help to retain and grow your workforce.

Uh, utilizing technology like this to help amplify it.

Very cool.

You know, I love the fact that, You know, here you are with a software

platform now, um, working in this area of HR management, um, and workforce

management, and yet, you know, you came from the real world side of it as well.

And that has to give you a great deal of extra insight when you're

working with associations and clients.

And I know that one of the associations you work a lot with is AGC, which

is Associated General Contractors of America and, you know, of course, they're

pretty well known for watching the labor situation closely, including a survey

that you recently partnered with them on.

Can you tell us, you know, what were some of the findings from that

survey you did with the AGC group?

I'm so glad you asked Todd.

Um, many contractors upwards of 90 percent of them are finding it hard to fill

positions across the workforce, but, um, we did look specifically within this.

Our Quoro and AGC survey at a specific question about the positions that they

were finding most difficult to hire.

And what we found is that labor roles were over the hardest to hire.

So things like equipment operators, mechanics, truck drivers,

concrete workers, those positions are giving hiring managers and

business owners the most headache.

And those are the ones that have the most competition.

So, you think this might be, you know, interesting with the fact

that, um, less skilled, perhaps more entry level employees are

presenting the greatest challenge.

That seems somewhat counterintuitive.

You might think it'd be harder to hire more experienced

tradespersons, um, but it's not.

That it's hard to hire them, uh, those experienced trade persons, but really

the issue is where the pay is the lowest.

There's more competition from other industries for those specific

individuals for those labor roles.

Gotcha.

Makes a lot of sense.

I mean, when you look at what, you know, fast food is paying and data

entry positions and things like that.

And, you know, those are positions people don't have to be outside on.

They're not at the mercy of the weather at all.

Um, certainly.

Less hazards in those positions.

And yet they're paying, uh, enough that that would be strong competition.

That makes a lot of sense.

Um, so it sounds like the industry is working, um, to address this

simply by hiring more people faster.

But maybe that isn't working out so well either.

What can you tell us about, you know, trends in hiring and, and some

of the things people are doing to, uh, try to overcome this situation?

Absolutely.

So hiring additional people as quickly as possible is certainly something

that companies are looking to do.

And they have been doing for many years as the employable workforce has gotten

smaller with many baby boomers retiring.

The challenge continues to be finding workers that you need.

Um, in case of those laborers that we just talked about, you may be competing

just like you mentioned with retail, hospitality, fast food, who have.

Equal pay per hour for some of the jobs that you're looking to source.

Um, but with challenges across both hourly craft workers and salary position,

it really comes down to sourcing all of those potential employees.

Really?

Where are you looking?

Where?

How are you sourcing those employees?

So we know that most companies are looking to increase staff and you've got

a limited employee pool that everyone of your competition and other contractors

alike are going after that same pool.

So really, the tactics that have been used in the past to hire

employees may not always be working.

So you really have to focus on what aspects of your company are Are you able

to offer to those new hires benefits, compensation, culture, those things

that may not have been a big focus in the past and recruitment really,

um, take a position front and center.

So over half the companies have indicated that they have a well defined,

strong culture, uh, that helps them with recruiting and retention, but

only about 25 percent are working on strengthening their corporate culture.

So there's a lot of room for growth, and only 13 percent said that

they don't have a defined culture.

So that's potentially a miss for a sizable portion of the industry,

and really an area of potential focus for both short term and long

term growth with your employees.

You know, it seems like culture would have or does have a lot

to do with retention in particular, um, but yet it still seems like I

think everyone who's ever owned a business has experienced the fact that

someone can still be pretty quick to.

Jump ship for an extra buck or two bucks an hour or something.

Um, despite the culture, any, and I realize I'm kind of going off of what we

discussed earlier, but any helpful hints for companies to reinforce what their

culture is and, you know, that idea that, Hey, the grass may not always be greener

on the other side of the fence, even though that's what people often think when

they go, you know, chasing after a, an extra buck or two an hour or something.

Absolutely.

So, I think that there's a few different ways that companies

can emphasize their culture.

Um, we see that construction companies are maybe utilizing social media where

they would have normally used it to help recruit new business and new projects.

They're changing that to display their culture.

So whether that might be that someone from the home office is going on site, they're

consistently taking pictures or they're asking questions of the folks in the

field to be able to say, what is it like, what's your favorite thing about working

for XYZ company and asking the same question over and over again, and just.

Filming it with their phones.

This doesn't have to be a large production or anything like that.

There's plenty of tools out there to quickly be able to, um, edit

those videos and post them up.

In fact, I don't think that a lot of people expect a real professional

video on social media or something.

So as much as you may be doing these cultural things or showing things and

and sharing about what your company is doing, whether it's a company picnic, some

sort of celebration, but just displaying that not only works for those outsiders

that are looking in to see what your company culture is about, but it helps

to strengthen those employees pride in what they're seeing about their company.

Going home and talking about something fun, helping to perpetuate that

experience together is a very short time.

And simple way to keep, um, that culture top of mind for your company.

And of course, there's things that you want to make sure that leadership is

very involved in emphasizing the culture whenever they're interacting with all

different levels within the organization.

But there's just some quick hits that can be made with, um, simple things like.

Social media where you think it might be a PR or marketing thing, but it really is

an employee retention and sense of pride.

Very interesting.

And I, and I do think that's something that a lot of

companies aren't thinking about.

Um, I don't see a lot of that going on, but yet, as you talked about it, I

do see some of the leading companies, you know, using social media that way.

So, uh, good input there for sure.

Well, um, can you give us a little bit of an overview of the types of, um,

HR software that exists today and, um, maybe what a construction contractor,

um, seeking The biggest and best impact on their staffing situation.

What should they look for when they think about a worker HR

management software package?

So really hiring is a process, right?

It's not one moment in time.

It takes a long time and oftentimes you're hiring for the

same role over and over again.

So really being able to attract candidates across multiple sources.

Um, interacting with them in a professional way, helping to make

sure that they have connections and nurturing through the interview process

and the different steps within your hiring process, and then really being

able to articulate your culture and your value proposition consistently.

Across all of those candidates that are coming through the pipeline.

So that's really a big opportunity because the first, everyone in the

hiring process is a marketer for your company, and you want to make sure that

you are putting your best foot forward.

Do what you say you're going to do.

If you're going to email them on Tuesday, email them on Tuesday.

All of that are indicators.

So it's very hard for one person that is juggling so many different things.

Maybe HR is not their only job responsibility to be able to make

sure that they're putting their best foot forward when they're

juggling many open requisites.

So, one thing that we can do is create workflows and standardize,

um, job descriptions and things that help with responsive emails

or maybe screening questions.

And all of this is done through an applicant tracking system.

So, you might hear it referred to as an ATS.

But it's really that pearl that helps to grab those candidates in and bring

them through the process so that they can have a truly unique experience to

your culture and be able to understand what types of things they're going to see

once they're part of the organization.

So an applicant tracking system will take your job description.

It will post it out on multiple job boards.

That's really important.

So it's construction specific job boards, military specific job boards,

as well as your typical job boards, including zip recruiter, indeed, glass

door, linkedin, things like that.

And so being able to do that at a click of the button and have that distributed.

And then all funnel back into one location.

That's what an ATS does for you.

And ATS allows you to then also make sure that you have tagging.

Where are these candidates coming from?

So I can know over time, where is those, where are those great resources?

Also another great resource for, um, your recruitment is employee referrals.

So a lot of companies will have an employee for old program.

So you want to be able to have one location that all

of those resumes come in.

That's not necessarily an email inbox, tag those and process those.

You can also have cut down some of your time by having screening questions.

Those screening questions can be, um, as well as your, upload your resume,

but do you have this certification?

How many years have you been using this tool?

Whatever those things might be can be done early on.

And then through that, once someone has submitted their, um, application

via the ATS, you can say, okay, these individuals did not meet the criteria.

They're going to receive this email as a thank you and please stay on or these

individuals, um, Are going to be pushed through to the interview process and those

individuals that are interviewing can give their feedback via the ATS as well.

So that you have that consolidated view of what the employee or the

potential employees experience was going through that recruitment process.

And say you have a few individuals who are highly qualified, but they're just not

going to be the fit at this point in time and ATS can help you to build your talent

bench so that you know, who are those folks that we talked to and tag them so

that you know, those are the individuals I'm going to want to talk with, we've even

seen success with, um, an HR team helping to propagate their culture by sending

a version of their employee newsletter.

To their talent bench.

Look at all the great things that we're doing.

Don't forget to follow us on social.

So being able to keep that rapport up with your talent bench is something

that you can easily do through your applicant tracking system.

And better yet, you've got all that great data electronics.

So it's easy to report on, um, easy to be able to show your hiring practices

and what you're doing, but also you want to have it mobile friendly.

So you want to make sure that your applicant tracking system works for those

folks that may be on a break on the job site and they're scrolling through jobs.

Is it easy for them to apply, uh, with, with your system currently?

Um, good applicant tracking systems give you a very nice web friendly webpage

on your website that will also help you to funnel those things through.

So those are just a few things to really think about when it comes to

just one, that first starting module, that applicant tracking system that

really kicks off the hiring process.

You know, one thing you said there that really struck me.

I think, One of the things you often hear about with the younger

generation today is they really seek authenticity and they can see through

when people are not being authentic.

And yet, you know, you're using technology to help ensure that authenticity is there.

And I think sometimes we kind of think technology and authenticity

are at odds with one another.

Um, but yet here you are using the technology to make sure that you're being

authentic and you're relating to people personally and all those types of things.

And That, that seems like it's going to resonate very well

with a lot of today's workers.

Um, I know you mentioned using, you know, some of the boards and Indeed and

some of the, those different things for recruiting and getting your message out.

Any.

Tips you have as far as people who are putting together that back in my day,

we called it a help one a dad, um, you know, any, any ideas for them to put

the, put those together in a way that kind of tells their company culture and

their company story and, um, kind of.

You know, gives forth that idea that, hey, this might be a good company

to work for and authenticity and all those things kind of showing through.

Absolutely.

So there, it's really multiple things.

So you want to make sure that on your website, when someone clicks on careers

or learn about us, there's pictures.

There are things that exemplify your culture.

So being able, if you scanned your career pages, Is it just text or would people get

a glimpse of what it's like to work with your organization that can be very simple

to do and then helping them to get through that step of actually clicking apply.

Um, one other thing you want to do is make sure that, um, your job posting

and the content within it is really an advertisement about your company.

It's not just about the role and what they're doing, but it also has

components of it that help to exemplify who you are as a company and some

of the benefits that you provide to your, uh, very valuable workforce.

You also want to avoid.

Jargon.

Uh, you want to make sure that you're not using language that might be

something specific to the day to day operations of your organization.

Make sure, especially because we're seeing that some of the most effective

resources, some of those individuals with the 5 to 10 years experience

that you're seeking are coming from outside the construction injury.

So you have folks that are doing career changes.

So you want to look at this through the lens of those that may not be

a contractor, may not be in the day to day operations of construction.

Would they understand how their skillsets translate?

We also see that a lot with military individuals that are coming, veterans

are coming out of the military.

Sometimes it's.

difficult to be able to understand what they have done in their

previous roles that have been extremely important and vital.

They may not understand how that translates.

There are some resources out there that helps them with that translation, but

just make sure that what you're talking about is necessary is not a lot of jargon.

You want to make sure that there's not sexist language or ageist language.

You want to make sure that you are talking to a broader scope.

Um, and also you want to be extremely honest about the job responsibilities

and the expectations and carry those expectations and job responsibilities.

Kind of the talk track on that carry that throughout the interview process.

Because we know, especially with the younger workforce coming in, they want

to know what the expectations are.

They also want to know where their career path might be.

You might be thinking, in my generation, I'm like, golly, you

just got to work hard, and then the opportunities are going to come.

Present themselves based on your performance.

Well, it's not like that right now.

A lot of the younger generation that is coming in, they want to know what the

next step in the process, they see this as an entry, but they want to know that

there is career pathing, that there are opportunities for them to learn and grow.

Um, so those are just a few things that.

You know, you may think I'm giving them the black and white of, here's

what you're going to do every day.

And here's what expected of you, but really it's your first level advertisement

for your company is that job description.

And we do provide templates and best practices as well as, um, a consulting

group of HR professionals within our organization to help individuals

that are using the R Core platform to optimize what they're already doing.

And many times it's not necessarily always the process, but it's just

simply the words that are being used in those emails, job descriptions,

follow up calls, things like that.

Gosh, there's a lot of wisdom in what you just said,

and got me thinking a little bit.

So my son works for a sort of midsize, um.

Software company, and one of the things I always watch their company is their posts.

And, you know, they post a lot of pictures of their team doing fun

things because they're always in recruiting mode and at their business.

And, uh, I just think that's really interesting.

I'm always looking for my son, but he's a bit of a wallflower.

So he kind of avoids.

Most of the photos every once in a while, it pops up though.

Well, I'd like to hear you talk a little bit about women in construction.

Um, for many years, it seemed pretty unusual to have, uh, women

with careers in our industry.

Um, but gradually maybe even a little bit quietly that really seems to be changing.

Um, I know one of the trade associations I'm heavily involved with, um, has really

been active that promoting and engaging women for careers in construction.

Um, do you think.

Women are going to continue to be an increasing part of the

construction workforce, or maybe reflect a little bit on that.

If you would,

Absolutely.

So, um, I work very closely with National Association of Women in Construction

NAWIC, as well as a few, um, AGC chapters that have women in construction, um,

Committees and I absolutely think that it's changing more and more with women

entering the construction workforce.

So, we ask companies in our survey, um, whether they're actively

recruiting all types of different employees and a majority are

recruiting specifically women, uh, 79 percent are looking to hire women.

And actually what's interesting is the number rises to 97 percent

with companies that have revenue over 500 million annually.

So the industry clearly understands how important it is to be inclusive and

include women in the search for, for their employees, um, but we're not there yet.

Um, there's still a ton of progress to be made.

Um, There are still companies that say they have no women on staff.

Um, we did find that 13 percent of respondents said that 20 percent

of their workforce is female.

The national average is somewhere, you know, you can hear, um,

stats between 10 and 13%.

Um, but really most of those are salary positions.

So with, you know, very little being, uh, tradeswomen, um, in the crafts.

So we're seeing.

Increasing representation, more focus on that representation.

Uh, the more women that are in construction, the more that women feel

comfortable working alongside them, the more mentors that are available.

I know a lot of our work within NAWIC as well as women's committees are

for displaying and helping to get out the word about women in construction

and the success that they're having and helping to be a role model.

For other women to come in and, and represent the

success that they are having.

So there's definitely, um, work to be done.

Um, there's a lot of wonderful work that NAWIC is doing around, uh,

growing leaders, uh, within the construction industry that are women.

Um, you have women that are part of all different assets, um, aspects

of a construction firm, um, with roles and helping to mentor others.

Put them through leadership training, different certifications, um, and really

come together as women to help solve some of those barriers and, um, work towards

it, but, um, there's a lot of opportunity.

I know growing up, there may have been a few women.

They were the ones that were in the office, maybe doing the finances, um,

or a secretarial role, you know, very early on, uh, when I was very young.

So, um, but you're seeing much more depth and breadth of women within

construction firms, but it's still a conversation that needs to be had.

Um, it's part of that group of the non traditional construction

workforce that is going to help with filling a lot of those workforce.

Um, gaps that we currently have.

makes a lot of sense.

And, uh, yeah, I think it's a huge, uh, development and a good

thing for the industry as well.

Um, well, for any of our listeners out there that just, you know, they're just

sitting there saying, Hey, this is all nice, but I just can't get my head around

how to hire and retain more workers.

Any key words of advice for them?

Oh, that's a great question.

I think it's really about finding the right people and the right mix of people.

Um, and we know that there's research around, um, From our survey that around

80 percent of companies are actively trying to recruit women, veterans,

minorities, but, and over half indicate that they're recruiting career changers.

So it's really thinking outside the box, um, using your employee

network to be able to do that.

Um, and really.

When it comes down to it, you know, we mentioned culture, culture sometimes

seems like a nice to have, but it really has become a must have,

um, and then the company is like, well, that's just the way we are.

We don't know how to articulate our value proposition.

How do I tell people what we're like?

How do I put that in words?

That's going to bring in more people that want to be a part of us.

So one quick.

Advice that I have is do stay interviews.

Have you guys heard of stay interviews?

I have not, no.

Okay, so we Have probably heard of x interviews when

someone's leaving you might have an x interviews So it's almost like the the

upside of that doing stay interviews stay interviews Are interviews that some?

Uh, firms might do six months in, they might do it annually

with a sample of their workforce.

They might do it with a really high performers, those that are really

on a great succession plan or a trajectory within the organization.

You can Google stay interview questions.

But what I like about it is from an HR perspective, it's a.

Double whammy.

You get, um, to learn about that individual and what is going to

help retain them as a person, but you also get that valuable words.

What are the words that they are saying to articulate why they look

forward to coming to work every day?

What motivates them?

How do they describe your company in three words?

Why would they recommend that someone works for your company?

Maybe even ask, hey, can I record this?

And then take those words and craft What you're wanting to articulate in

your culture, so you're getting those words directly from those individuals

that really have that love and drive to make your company successful and

you're helping them to be heard.

They're like, wow, somebody, you know, the HR person that's.

So busy spent 30 minutes with me asking questions about what I'm

looking for and what motivates me and what I think about the company.

And I had the opportunity to tell them what I think, but also that HR person

is getting the opportunity to have that valuable insight and the words.

And those are the things that you mold into that value proposition

and re say over and over again.

And that's how a culture evolves.

That's how you're able to put a culture into words.

Is that quick routine study of doing stay interviews?

I love that.

No, I was not familiar with that.

But as you were saying it, I was exactly where you ended up saying this has a lot

to do with establishing your culture.

Um, so good stuff.

Well, I know that our Coro has, you know, different modules and things.

Tell us a little bit about what that is.

What it's like to get established with our Coro and what the

onboarding process looks like.

And, um, does someone have to go, you know, full in with all the modules

initially, or can they pick and choose or what does that look like?

Thanks for asking.

So, really it starts with a conversation.

Um, we call it a discovery call.

So, it is to meet with those individuals that are managing the workforce

recruitment and retention and growth in the organization day in and day out.

Um, they, we, so we learn about what challenges they're looking to solve.

Are they spending every Tuesday is blocked off on their calendar

because they're entering time for everyone to be able to process payroll

and they can't do anything else.

What if they had that 8 hours down to 1 hour?

What else could they do within the organization?

Are they worried about some auditing that are coming along?

Are they doing federal contract work?

And they know that they have to adhere to certain rules when it comes to hiring?

Um, and tracking time, maybe prevailing wage is part of

what they have to deal with.

Um, so really understanding what they're doing, but also understanding

what are the current technology tools that they're currently using.

That's, what's one of the most valuable things about our Quoro.

It is built for construction.

So we are interfacing with a lot of the ERPs.

Vista, Sage, CMIC, many of those larger investments that the firm

has already made in their business, we are connecting with those.

So we talk to that, the employee data would be within our Coro

as the HRIS or HR information system, and then that would talk.

So when a new person comes on board, we talk to Procore so that that

information can be sent to Procore.

Um, we also have a, uh.

A timekeeping tool called exact time by our quarrel as well as many other modules.

There's about seven in there and we have companies, um, typically we'll start

maybe with high, you know, whatever that challenges that they're trying to solve

will help to say, okay, so based on that, you're probably going to want to start

with the employee portal core HR, and then that will help to interface with, um, with

Vista and be able to take those job codes.

And things that you're doing and perhaps, um, relay that back and forth, or you want

to make sure that your employees can see their pay stubs inside that query chart.

So make a long story short, you start out with a discovery.

It's, um, it's really to find what pain points, what technology you're

currently using, how many employees you have, because the pricing is based upon

number of employees for each individual.

Um, System that you're planning on using and then, um, we also

go through, um, demonstrations.

We have, um, we go through an R.

O.

Y.

process because a lot of times for about 90 percent of the companies

that are purchasing our coral.

This is their 1st H.

R.

technology.

So how do you quantify the opportunity cost of H.

R.

This is not like you're swapping out a piece of equipment and you're

able to say, here's the hard cost.

This is very much like what are the hours being spent on some of these tasks that

can be more efficient with technology?

What is the salary of that person that is doing those tasks?

What are the things that they could be doing?

working on culture, working on those stay interviews that could help with

employee retention if they weren't spending so much time trying to give

a report on where they stand with recruiting when it could be visualized

in an applicant tracking system.

So we go through that process and help those key stakeholders within the

organization be able to tell the story.

Arm them with PowerPoints or Excel documents or things that help them

to say, for our company, taking this leap into utilizing technology into

something that we haven't done before.

Um, here's what we can gain.

And then after the deal is done, um, we have an implementation team.

We have a very.

Documented, well thought out, successful, proven, adopt methodology.

So, our implementation team works with the firm that just purchased

the software, and they determine, okay, you purchased three modules.

Let's talk about what your biggest pain points are and your challenges,

and let's work out, maybe you have a prevailing, maybe you have a

vent, like benefits are coming up.

Okay, so let's do this module so that we can get you set up

for your benefits enrollment.

Um, so they have a kickoff call project timelines.

It's very much run like a project would be.

Everybody has a project, you know, project, um, timeline in front of them.

Um, and then there is some work on the person that is purchasing

it to be able to provide data.

So they needed to let us know how are you currently collecting this information,

you know, and, and so there's some back and forth and then we configure the

platform specifically for what they have, you know, what they're using or payroll

system if they have an integration or not, they don't have to, um, and then

we work through some training, uh, we provide them ongoing resources and

then there's a consistent follow up with their account team and transition.

Um, so.

It's not just a fill out a form online and you now have access to

this technology and now someone has to spend time that they don't have already

figuring out how to implement it.

So, um, it is truly a partnership, um, and, and that's what helps us

to be better under the more and more we talk to these contractors.

Um, but like I said, we have over 8000 customers today

and are continuing to grow.

Wow.

That's fantastic.

And I love the way you see it as a partnership with your clients.

Um, I think that oftentimes is a.

Problem with tech folks enroll in it.

And then they just feel like they're kind of abandoned out

on their own to figure it out.

So makes a lot of sense.

Well, thank you so much, Carrie.

This has been great.

We're thankful for your time here today.

Uh, we're close to wrapping up what we call the business end of things.

Is there anything though that we haven't covered today that you wanted

to be sure to share with our audience?

Um, just that we're here to help, uh, our Quora would

love to be able to talk with you, um, your listeners and really understand,

uh, where some of their challenges are and how we might be able to help.

We are completely construction focused, so our product roadmap and our, and our,

uh, product teams are, are here in the U.

S.

and they are working on developing those feature sets that help

make contractors successful.

Well, great.

And we certainly hope we have some listeners reach out to you.

And in just a moment, we'll get your contact information.

We'll also put that in the show notes.

But first, I want to ask if you're willing to participate in something

we call our rapid fire questions.

So these are seven questions.

You have no idea what they're going to

Okay.

Hit me.

Okay, Ryan, you want to ask the first one?

I would love to.

Question number one.

What's a product or service you have recently purchased that

was a real game changer for you?

I recently started working out at a new location called

Hot Works, and it's Infrared Saunas, and it has been a game changer for me.

I thought I always avoided the hot, but I'm really enjoying these, uh,

quick hit workouts at Hot Works.

Okay, next question.

Have you ever followed a fashion trend that now seems ridiculous, kind

of like the mullet I had in college?

Um, if so, um, what was that?

Oh, um, in high school I had great bangs.

I had, you know, lots of, with lots of hairspray in them.

That was definitely something that I try to hide those pictures.

they're out there someplace though, I

Uh huh.

Uh huh.

I think that's coming back.

It is.

It does

please no.

Question number three.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Time travel.

Oh, I like that.

Yeah, I'd really like to have some, um, ask some questions,

you know, I think growing up, we can be so, um, my op, you know, thinking about

yourself and I wish that I'd asked more questions of some of my family members

that have since passed and just learn more about them with my, with my brain today.

And my age today.

Yeah.

I hear you.

I, I agree with you.

Yeah.

Lots of things.

I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, I should have sat down and just had a

conversation with them and too late now.

Yeah.

Next question.

Uh, who has been a strong mentor in your life that helped shape

you, uh, to be who you are today?

I have had some amazing leaders and coworkers that.

Believe in me more than I believe in myself.

Um, I've had some individuals, I am very much a getter, dunner.

I, you give me an idea with little direction and I execute on it.

And, you know, I'm pride myself on making sure that it's done

to the top of its ability.

And I've had individuals that have planted ideas with me that have

really been a turning point in my life where I haven't been able to come

up with that creative portion where I'm very much an execution portion.

So I would say, um, one in particular is a colleague that.

Is now my leader, but they see more in me than I see in myself and they do an

excellent job of planting an idea and helping me to nurture that idea and then

just know I'm going to run with the rate.

You know, I'm going to take it off and run with it.

Um, but I.

Those nurturers and those individuals that simply give me thoughts about

ways that I could change myself or ways that I could take my role within the

organization or ideas of different things.

Um, I really appreciate that because that's not, uh, one of my strongest

skill sets, but once it's there and that idea is planted, I can make it happen.

I love that.

And I think we.

You just really reminded me of something I need to be more cognizant of it

is that is helping people to to see how I believe in them and and how

what I know that they're capable of.

So that's good stuff.

Absolutely.

Next question.

This one is one of my favorites.

If you had to eat a crayon, what color of crayon would you choose to eat?

Oh, red.

Cause then I wouldn't have to put any lipstick on.

There you go.

I like it.

Next to last question.

Um, what person from history would you love to have dinner with?

And what's something you would ask them?

So I've been watching Vikings on Netflix.

Have you guys watched Vikings?

Have not familiar with it.

Okay.

I'm kind of fascinated with, um, some of the, the

culture back in the very early Vikings.

And so there were shield mating maidens, these women who would fight

alongside the men or Oftentimes be leaders within their tribe.

And I would love to learn more from a shield maiden and 980 in Sweden.

Very interesting.

Wow.

Had no idea such a thing existed.

I think I would be a bad ass shield

There you go.

Amen to that.

Sounds like a good Halloween costume idea for you.

It's basically like, do you remember she,

uh, he, he, man and Shira.

Yeah.

There's your visual,

Absolutely.

Interesting.

Alright.

Well, this is the last question here.

What would you like to be remembered for at the end of your days?

the amazing children I've raised.

Awesome.

That's good.

That's neat.

Love it.

Well, Cary Gardenhier, thank you again for your time today.

Um, for anyone who wants to get in touch with you or learn more about

Arcoro, uh, how can they do that?

Well, it's really easy.

Um, let me spell out our quarrel because it's kind of it's kind of fun.

Um, a r c o r o dot com a r c o r o dot com and my name is

long So but my email is carrie.

gardenhire at arcoro.

com.

So i'm sure you'll put that in the in the comments for me but

um Please reach out directly.

I would love to help you, um, and help the listener, um, to help

solve some of these challenges.

If this is something that you're ready to take that leap and see where technology

can help save some time and really save money too, um, when it comes to

opportunity costs, as well as some of the time theft that can come along with not

having a digital time tracking solution.

So I'd love to talk.

Um, please reach out directly.

Very good.

Well, thank you again.

This has been a very informative episode and a lot of fun.

I've enjoyed it.

Um, so just to let our audience know, we all got in our challenge

words, I think, Ryan, your word was

I had the phrase laugh out loud.

And you worked it in early on.

Good job.

Um, Carrie, you had,

Pearl.

and you worked it in really well.

When I think of Pearl, I think of Mr.

Crab's daughter on SpongeBob.

I think her name was Pearl, but anyway,

Oh my gosh, yeah, I think you're right.

going back a few years and I had the word governor, which I just

got, ah, I'm going to use governor here.

I got called Ryan governor.

Why not?

That was

Yeah.

Well, thank you again, Carrie.

This has been a real pleasure.

We enjoyed it.

The pleasure's mine.

Thank you.

And thank you so much to our audience for tuning into this

very special episode of Construction Disruption with Cary Gardenhier of Arcoro.

Please watch for future episodes.

We're always blessed with great guests.

Don't forget to leave a review or give us a thumbs up, whatever you want to do.

Until the next time we're together though, keep on disrupting, keep

on challenging, keep on looking for better ways of doing things.

And don't forget to have a positive impact on everyone you encounter, make them

smile, um, encourage them, um, make their life a little bit better at that time.

So God bless and take care.

This is Isaiah industry signing off until the next episode

of construction disruption.