Month: June 2018

Categories
Company Spotlight

Company Spotlight: Prosoco

PROSOCO is a national manufacturer of products for cleaning, protecting and maintaining concrete; making building envelopes air- and water-tight; and cleaning, protecting and restoring new and existing masonry buildings.

Since its founding in 1939, the company has excelled at the innovation and development of superior products and services for the construction industry.

PROSOCO has offices and production facilities in Lawrence, Kansas with an extensive sales and technical support staff throughout the United States. PROSOCO products are available internationally with products currently sold in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and China through licensed manufacturers.

​​SMXLL

 

PROSOCO Products

Sure Klean

Sure Klean products first hit hardware store shelves in 1956. Ever since then, Sure Klean has been a go-to product for engineers, contractors, and architects across the country. These industry professionals quickly realized the dual purpose that Sure Klean could solve, it was great for the final cleanup of new construction and equally as great for restorative cleaning of existing masonry buildings.

When you look at the enormous price of a building, the price of masonry cleaners does not even become a thought for most people. When masonry cleaning, if done properly, not only does it look great on the contractor but makes the natural beauty and appearance of a building much better as well.

PROSOCO has created a special formula in this product that allows the user to apply it to Masonry to remove stains without damage to the surface. Professional after professional have attempted to clean masonry with a solution not intended to clean masonry and ended with disastrous results. Sure Klean ensures that this never needs to happen and PROSOCO is so confident in this product that every gallon is backed by free job site testing and support as well as a toll-free customer care line for any questions regarding Sure Klean.

R-Guard barrier systems

One of the biggest things looked at when architects design a building is controlling the leakage of air and water to maintain an energy efficient building. R-Guard is a barrier system that helps these architects achieve a building that is capable of withstanding extreme wind and wet conditions making the building more durable, resilient, and sustainable.

PROSOCO designed the R-guard air barrier system to stop air leakage in rough openings, through wall structures, sheathing seams, and material transitions to create a building that is virtually air tight. The result of an air tight building is a building that is energy efficient. Some of the buildings that receive the most extreme weather in the world rely on R-Guard by Prosoco. One of these is the Bullitt Center in Seattle that utilizes R-Guard because of the amount of wind and rain it encounters.

Blok-Guard & Graffiti Control

One of the unforeseen and costly issues for any building is graffiti cleanup. Sure Klean Weather Seal Blok-Guard and Graffiti control helps alleviate those costs while also providing protection against the elements. Blok-Guard and Graffiti Control is a solvent-based silicone elastomer that PROSOCO formulated to weatherproof custom masonry units, architectural concrete block, cast stone, wood, precast concrete, and any other porous material that could soak up the paint from graffiti or rainwater and ruin the material. Blok-Guard and graffiti control protects these surfaces from repeated graffiti attacks without altering the natural appearance, the treated surfaces resist penetration of most types of graffiti making the graffiti removal process quick, easy, and cost effective. The product also controls rainwater penetration through exterior blocked walls but the treated surface breathes so moisture does not become trapped.

Enviro Klean

Back in 1998, Prosoco developed the first environmentally safe all surface cleaner and became a pioneer in the green movement. Ever since then the cleaning company has been pushing the industry to develop safe for the environment cleansers and chemical technology. Prosoco employs a full staff of chemists whose job is to develop cleaning products for masonry buildings while staying ahead of the consistently changing chemical regulations industry.

The Enviro Klean product line effectively cleans masonry without the addition of caustics, solvents, or harsh acids. These products are a safer alternative than all the other abrasive alternatives on the market today.

Consolideck®

The Consolideck system is a line of products from PROSOCO that comes with 100% Free training to ensure the end users have the ultimate system for finished concrete flooring. The system included water based stains, color hardeners, concrete hardener and densifiers, protective treatments, and maintenance cleaners.

Sustainability

Since the beginning of the company, PROSOCO has been leading initiatives for transparency in the construction industry. The company has spent millions of dollars while working alongside contractors, building scientists, architects, and more to develop sustainable options for the construction industry. All PROSOCOS products surpass the highest green standards in contemporary building design and construction and they have a plethora of awards and achievements because of this.  The LEED v4 and Living building challenge V2.2 are a blueprint to a great deal of PROSCOS’s formulations that have led to this success. PROSOCO has a broad mission to design products that maximize building energy efficiency and durability while leaving the smallest carbon footprint possible.

Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge has high standards for acceptance and PROSOCO has met the all. The standards are net-zero water consumption, net-zero energy consumption and reduced construction materials, impact on people and environment. With very few exceptions, any materials used in the creation of products must not have any “Red List” materials. The Red list is a gathering of items that have been selected to be phased out because they present some health or toxicity concerns with most of these coming from the construction industry and building materials. There are hundreds of unique chemicals on this list. PROSOCO was selected as the concrete finish and air and water resistive barrier supplier for the most notable Living Building Challenge commercial project, the Bullitt Center.

The effect PROSOCO has on the environment is just one of the many reasons to buy products from this company. Not only have they been in the marketplace for a very long time but their products are also amazing. When it comes to a wide variety of products and the customer support to ensure that you use the correct product to get the job done, it is hard to beat PROSOCO.

Categories
Human Resources

Secrets of Retaining Top-Performing Millennials

Four young adults in city

Retaining the Millennials

Written By: James Aiken

Email | LinkedIn

Common “Solutions” to Retaining Millennials:
– Increase compensation
– Give them newer tech (cell, laptop, etc.)
– Let them work remotely
– Tuition reimbursement & training opportunities
– Increase company social events
– Avoid requiring overtime

Retaining your employees is one of the most crucial aspects of leadership. There’s a lot of different options on how to address chronic millennial turnover in a certain position. We have come to realize that all of the above solutions are actually just added bonuses. They’re often like a band-aid over the issue. A manager shouldn’t focus on implementing one of these as a solution until making some other changes first. Often times, turnover isn’t an operations problem, it’s a recruiting problem. In the building materials industry, there has never been as much need for focus on retention.

Creating Workforce Inertia – Pairing Common Goals

A manager can lower their turnover by understanding who they are recruiting past their objective skills. Dive into the DNA. Often times managers will get caught up in technicalities, which is so easy to do. The technical aspects of a candidate are certainly important. However, an employee shouldn’t just be viewed as “can this candidate do the job?” Managers should consider “how can I create workforce inertia to keep this candidate performing at their best?” There should be a focus on helping them advance their own personal career goals.

Understanding the Future to Motivate the Present

Some managers will complain that they can’t retain someone in a certain position past a year, but they never ask the candidate/employee where they want to be in a year. When a manager recruits for a position, they need to use candor – plain and simple. They need to understand a prospect’s aspirations. Hiring managers need to understand what makes the candidate tick. There’s a need to understand the candidate’s vision for their future.

Our interactions with millennial candidates has concluded that for millennials – its often a matter of them wanting to do more. They want to increase their scope – they want to develop their career. They want to build a legacy. Keep them happy up front by understanding where they want to be. Help carve the path in front of them. If managers want to retain, they need to understand their yearly outlooks (1, 2, 5). These should be kept up with as much as quarterly. Don’t have them answer by a form, ask them face-to-face. Having a candidate or employee answer on a form doesn’t help them feel like you actually care about their future. This will make candidates more apt to stretch the truth on their answers for short term solutions.

Be Frank like Sinatra

On the other hand, managers/interviewers need to be frank with the candidate on what the position entails. If the position is one of those positions where there’s no vertical opportunities, managers/interviewers need to disclose it. Is the person going to be traveling three weeks out of the month? Disclose it! Even if the company vehicle is a PT Cruiser, disclose it. Disclose to the candidate the most difficult parts about the responsibilities and environment. Disclose it up front and save Human Resources the tears, time, and money.

It’s tough to retain millennials. However, with the right level of communication, forecasting, and planning, you’ll be able to cut down on your aspirin bill.

 


Categories
Human Resources

Interview to Understand Aspirations

Recruiter checking the candidate during job interview

Peer into the Future to Retain Employees Better

Written By: James Aiken

Email | LinkedIn
Depending on the hiring manager, recruiter or human resources department – interviewers may not necessarily have as much time to interview as they wish. I’ve seen interviews that last from thirty minutes to a chain of interviews lasting eight hours. Regardless, interviewers need to make sure to take advantage of the time spent interviewing. More often than not, they ask questions that don’t necessarily give a real understanding of the candidate.

Reading the Future: Crystal Ball Questions

In a previous article, the importance of understanding a candidate’s foreground, or what they understand as their near future (aspirations etc) was put into consideration. Technical questions are absolutely critical in the process. However, time needs to be taken to interview for personality and aspirations. When a hiring manager doesn’t understand a candidate’s aspirations, it makes it much harder on the firm to retain an employee since they don’t know what would actually make them happy!

Interviewing on Past Behavior

Some do not necessarily put a huge deal of weight on the new fad of “behavioral questions” in human resources, although some firms do put a lot of confidence behind these questions. These are often more reactive questions and certainly help hiring managers understand a candidates reactions and past actions. They are also likely to hear the highlights of that candidate’s career versus everyday interactions. In this case, it may not necessarily be the most accurate representation of the candidate. If someone is interviewing to be a fisherman, they’re more likely to tell you about the time that they saved a coworker from going overboard than the time they tossed another fisherman overboard. These are good questions to ask, but the answers should certainly be taken with a grain of salt.

“I’m Best When I’m at My Weakest”

An interviewer could technically flip the questions to make them a negative as in “What are your weaknesses?” but you’re likely to get a less extreme version of Michael Scott’s answer when he said:
“…my greatest weaknesses? I work too hard. I care too much. And sometimes I can be too invested in my job.”
 All the more reason to focus on the candidate’s aspirations and what they see as their future to see if it matches up with the future an interviewer sees in the possible associate.  More importantly, down to the questions:

1. What do you see as the next big step in your career?

This is nearly always the first question a good recruiting firm will ask a prospective candidate. Before speaking about the job opening, the company or details on what the candidate does – a candidate’s aspirations must be addressed. If the opportunity doesn’t match up with what they realistically see as their future, it probably isn’t the best fit. Not to say this is a disqualifier, but you can be assured that the candidate will not be as enthusiastic about the opportunity than someone else who really matches up as far as aspirations go.
In addition, this gives the interviewer or company as a whole a clearer image of the candidate in order to emphasize the parts of the job that do line up with their aspirations

2. If you could change one thing about your current employer, what would it be?

 Associates always have some type of idea or suggestion to make their workplace better. They may be in an environment where there are already so many processes they don’t have an opportunity to implement anything. This question gives an interviewer an inside look at a candidates analytical thinking as well as how well they can put up with not being able to implement/influence a change.

3. Being from a (small/large) company, do you prefer an environment with established processes or an environment with more opportunity to implement processes?

This is an important question to ask due to polarization. Associates from small companies gripe that there aren’t processes in place, that software isn’t sophisticated or that things are inefficient. Associates from large companies gripe that they are being drowned by processes. They mention that there are many things they would like to change, but can’t. On occasion associates believe their employers strategies “can’t see the forest for the trees”.
This gives a hiring manager another opportunity to sell to strengths. Many times, an associate from a large process-oriented firm will be very excited to join a smaller firm if they have the opportunity to implement processes of their own. On the other side of the coin, associates from a smaller more liberally run firm may be excited to join a large firm where they can learn processes, techniques and strategies that they didn’t previously have the opportunity to be a part of.

4. What accomplishment in your current role makes you most proud? 

This may seem like a background-searching question as the setting is in the past, but its actually forward-looking as the interviewer is figuring out what drives pride behind an associates work. An interviewer is greatly benefited by understanding what makes an associate happy with their work, go figure!
The interviewer may also be surprised, as the answers aren’t always profit or process-driven. Occasionally there are answers focusing on healing fragmented teams, improving employee pride or team engagement.

5. If you had to train someone in one of your current work-related skills, which would you be most enthusiastic about?

Teaching is a key factor behind leadership. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” According to my application to Harvard’s Law Department, you can’t teach something you don’t know! In addition, this again explains the passions behind an interviewee’s background in order to more accurately predict their future.

Understand Employees to Better Motivate Them

Some of the most important information to understand about a candidate is what drives them. An interviewer should understand what their passions are, as well as where their pride and enthusiasm lies. When a company can line up the succession plan of their open role with the future aspirations of a current candidate – they will greatly increase their average employee tenure.