Whether it’s helping staff to realize their goals of travelling or enabling them to better care for their families, flexibility is a priority for the Temiskaming Shores-based Wabi Development Corporation.
With a broad range of tasks including project management, construction, maintenance, engineering and fabrication, Wabi Development offers no shortage of opportunities for its 100-strong workforce.
Founded in 1991, the company has just three local clients, with the remainder of its work coming from companies far and wide.
From the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories to the oil and gas industries of Fort McMurray and mining projects in Mexico, Wabi workers have ample chances to find a reason to travel.
“Everybody in different points in their life would like to travel and make money,” says Brian Skeoch, president of Wabi Development.
“Or certain times in their life, when they have children, they want to stay around. In construction, you do the best you can with it and you can offer them what you have got, though you try and get a mix of work, both local and far away.”
While the opportunity for international travel may seem attractive to some, employees’ personal or family situations might make work-related globetrotting
a difficult proposition. As such, Skeoch says these circumstances are kept in mind when deciding which people are assigned to certain jobs and roles in order to best suit their individual needs.
Although local work has been harder to come by in recent years due to the downturn in forestry, officials still endeavor to match people with their preferred tasks.
“We do our best, and a lot of that is involved in the make-up of crews and how things are done,” says Skeoch. “If the kids have left the home, then we have people who are interested in going out and making more money on the more remote jobs; if the kids are two, three, four years old, then they’re looking at hanging around and doing fabrication, maybe servicing local customers.”
As a result, Wabi Development has had an easier time than most in finding qualified people for its workforce, even during the more competitive periods seen in 2007 and 2008, when such people were at a premium. Skeoch says the company has “no difficulty” in lining up the necessary skilled workers.
This was clearly the case three years ago, when Wabi Development employed no less than 1,500, when they simultaneously built four oriented strand board plants for the forestry industry.
Skeoch says that an open flow of communication is important for maintaining morale for a workforce of any size.
This has led to a strong open-door policy, and Skeoch encourages everyone to approach him or anyone else with any concerns they may have. As such, staff has a sympathetic ear with anyone from a fellow employee to a supervisor to the president himself.
“There are no real barriers to talking to anybody in the company,” says Skeoch. “I’m not going to overstep people in terms of providing the answer, but I’m glad to listen to their concerns.”
Many of these efforts have allowed the company to retain many of its people through the years, with most of the key staff having been part of the Wabi Development team for more than 15 years.
Internal development of some of these roles has also been a focus for Wabi Development. Apprenticeship programs are available at all levels, meaning labourers may later become licensed tradesmen.
This approach has remained consistent throughout the life of the company, says Skeoch, even in late 2008, when Wabi Development was purchased by KBR, a
Texas-based engineering, construction and services firm.
Although Wabi staff has joined KBR’s 60,000-strong global workforce, the move has effectively changed nothing about how the company operates, says Skoech.
