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Photo by Frank Aymami
Employees of Durr Heavy Construction try workout equipment in the company’s new on-site fitness center. Front row, from left, are: Controller Patricia Champagne, Senior Estimator Bill Johnson, Project
Manager Jonathan Brisbi and receptionist Swanika Johnson. Back row, on treadmills, are: President and Chief Operating Officer Freddy Yoder and Systems Administrator Fred Rivette.
F O U R - T I M E H O N O R E E
Durr Heavy Construction
The world of contractors and builders is a competitive
one. But the only competition at Durr
Heavy Construction is what takes place outside
the office doors, employee Chip Donewar said.
“We don’t compete with ourselves at Durr,”
said Donewar, who has been an estimator for
more than three years. “When you get a job to
bid, you may have a question about what you
are doing. I can go down the hall to accounting
and ask them what a piece of equipment might
be valued at. Across the lobby are the project
managers, and I can ask them about similar
jobs they have handled in the past.
“The idea is that every door around here is
open,” Donewar said. “We are all pulling together
as a team.”
That atmosphere is anything but accidental,
said Freddie Yoder, Durr president and chief
operating officer.
“From the start, we have wanted to create an
environment where everyone was not only
working well together but was also a part of the
process where their input was valued and they
were not regarded as just an entity,” Yoder said.
To emphasize employees’ personal needs,
the company has a fitness center and chapel
inside Durr’s newly built headquarters.
“Other people in the business said we couldn’t
do that,” Yoder said. “But we did because
it’s all part of our culture.”
Outside the office, Durr plays an active role
in the community. Among its dozens of initiatives
in the past year, the company held a toy
drive for the children of Lafitte after hurricanes
Gustav and Ike and generated 1,200 pounds of
food for Second Harvest Food Bank.
Durr also offers flextime for its employees.
“You don’t have to work the standard 8 to 5
if you don’t want to,” said Debbie Champagne,
who works in Durr’s project management
department. “You can maneuver around your
family life, and that really helps.”
Nature of business: general contractor
Where based: Harahan
Employees: 134
Average starting salary: $57,500
Median salary: $66,000
Average employment time: 12 years
Benefits: health care with 75 percent coverage, dental and prescription
plans, 401(k) with 6 percent match, continuing education,
relocation assistance, telecommuting, flexible hours,
employee recognition program, fitness program, subsidized meals
Wait time for benefits: 30 to 90 days
Paid days off: 17
Web site: www.durrhc.com
“I have two children, so that goes over very
well with me. But beyond that, just knowing
that I can change my schedule if I have to
makes me feel that this is a company that cares
about me as an individual.”
Yoder said Durr’s flextime program is just
one piece of a larger picture.
“We know that our employees have families,
and we try to work with the needs that they
have,” he said. “But the flextime is also a part of
letting our employees have a say in not only
how the business is run, but how the business
is run in conjunction with their own private
lives. And we think that’s important.”•
— Garry Boulard
December 14, 2009 13