Family atmosphere, quality of life key at DesCor. Employees enjoy flexible work hours, a team environment and an opportunity for community service

Sacramento Business Journal, October 12, 2012
A+ Employers Award / Best Places to Work
Small Company Winner 2012: DesCor Builders

A mother of two, Summer cherishes time with her two children. Fortunately, she works for a company that offers flexible work hours. It’s a perk she has enjoyed since her daughter was born. Summer has been an administrative assistant for six years with DesCor Builders, a general contractor and construction management firm. While effusive in her praise of the company’s culture and mission, she’s especially appreciative of her flexible work hours.

“A company that cares more for their employees for who they are than what they do, focusing on the “quality of life” of their people. An A+ employer creates an environment for teammates to succeed by using their talents and skills while enjoying what they do and who they work with.”

– Brad DesJardin, President & CEO

“DesCor’s just very much about the people. They make sure their people are happy,” said Hilton. For Katie Gill, it’s the family atmosphere that she finds most gratifying about DesCor. The company fosters that environment by organizing picnics, outings to River Cats games, and holiday parties. “These guys-they talk the talk and walk the walk. I wouldn’t work anywhere else.” said Gill, a project administrator.

“This is very much a family atmosphere here: everybody knows each other’s spouse’s name, parents’ names. There’s a very good rapport with people here,” she said. “I’ve worked at places where there are some cliques going on; I don’t see that here.”

Job applicants usually cite DesCor’s commitment to community service, said Gill, who heads up the company’s annual Oktoberfest event, which raises money for nonprofits.

President Brad Des Jardin said that nearly all employees participate in company-organized community service, even though the events usually take place on weekends.

“Last year, we managed and built -with our subs- a downtown youth facility,” he said. The VIBE Urban Youth Lounge is located in a midtown space donated by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. DesCor employees Volunteered, but subcontractors were paid.

“We support individual efforts, but we also create an annual volunteer charity program that generates full company involvement,” he said. “Our (mission) is to be a leader in the community, and to be a leader, you’ve got to give back.”

This year, one community service project involved an “extreme makeover” of a home in Oak Park, Des Jardin said. “It was a complete renovation of the home of an 81-year-old Oak Park man,” he said. The company donated $65,000 and 750 labor hours to complete the renovation. “We encourage employees to participate by giving them a month of advance notice and we make a compelling argument to them,” Des Jardin said. “We sell the reason why it’s important to help the people we’re trying to help, and we get buy-in.”

Des Jardin said the company is committed to doing what it can, not only to support employees and their families by providing full medical and dental insurance, but also taking the time to learn and understand each employee’s career dreams in order to “do our job to create an environment for people to succeed.”

“We want to be a company that their family is proud they work for. That means we make sure we’re on the cutting edge of benefits we offer and are generous in our vacation policies (three weeks off a year for the first five years),” he said.

“We also look for opportunities for them to succeed professionally by matching their skill sets with different types of projects.”

Danielle Starkey | Correspondent | Sacramento Business Journal
October 12, 2012