Member Spotlight: Turner Construction Company

Name

Jason Jones

Job Title

VP, Regional General Manager

Company Name

Turner Construction Company

What does your company do?

We are a General Contractor/Construction Manager that serves clients across nearly all market segments in vertical construction. Our firm has earned recognition for undertaking complex projects, fostering innovation, embracing emerging technologies, and making a difference for their clients, employees and community.

What is your favorite part of your job and why?

I love the fact that no two days are ever the same in this industry. I get the pleasure of working with our teams, our clients, and our other industry partners to build projects that change the skylines of our cities.

What is the key to your company's success?

Living by our company's core values of Teamwork, Integrity, and Commitment. These three core values have been with Turner since our company's founding by Henry Turner in 1902 and are still relevant today. We work to treat our customers as "respected friends", and as a result over 75% of our business is from repeat customers.

What important changes/initiatives are you working on right now?

Starting in early 2021, we have begun to focus on the creation of a formal Environmental Social Governance strategy. For many years our company has focused on issues of sustainability, DE&I and business ethics, but our focus moving forward is to tie all three of these important topics so that we can communicate to our employees, our customers, and all of our stakeholders.

How does your company find and retain talent?

Turner has a long history of working closely with the local colleges and universities where we recruit engineers, construction managers, and other graduates of STEM programs. We value the benefits of cooperative education programs and seek each year to have multiple co-op students working within our firm. In the long run, over half of our new hires each year are individuals who have completed at least one cooperative education assignment with our company. Retention of talent involves creating the right work environment and building a connection between the employee and the company. Our company's single most important asset is our people and as such we build the Turner Family by continuously evaluating our benefits and compensation packages, making sure that we have the appropriate investment in employee training and, most importantly, making sure that each of our employees have a senior management advocate who helps them as a development partner during their long career with Turner.

What advice would you give to somebody just starting their career in construction?

You are starting a very rewarding career. You will face many challenges, but you are in a unique position to have a career where you will contribute to teams that will produce buildings and infrastructure that will better your community. You will find success by being a great team member and lifelong learner. If you find a way to help a teammate and to learn something new every day you will find great success in your career.

What CEA initiatives have you been involved with?

Turner's participation in CEA spans many decades. Through the years, members of our team have benefitted from CEA's educational programs, participated in collective bargaining negotiations, contributed to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and have provided leadership with the Board of Directors.