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From left: Silvana Lemos, Hal Collums, Lawrence Falencki, Bryon Cornelison and Leah Collums Glade peek through a window pane produced by Hal Collums Construction and Crescent City Millworks.<br />
Photo by Frank Aymami<br />
Hal Collums Construction/<br />
Central City Millworks<br />
Employees of joint firms Hal Collums<br />
Construction and Central City Millworks<br />
don’t have a problem with the struggles associated<br />
with working for a small business, which is<br />
often synonymous with more work and fewer<br />
benefits. To the contrary, many of them say they<br />
are happier there than they have ever been.<br />
Owner Hal Collums is a cancer survivor<br />
whose experience has given him a new appreciation<br />
for life and everyone’s contributions,<br />
employees said. Each day, he shakes each<br />
employee’s hand and thanks them for doing a<br />
great job and being part of the team.<br />
“People ask me, ‘Do you ever get tired of<br />
working at the same place?’ and I say, ‘No, it’s<br />
great! Do you ever get tired of your family?’”<br />
said Yeni Salinas, administrative assistant.<br />
Salinas said she walked out of the office with<br />
tears of joy in her eyes the day she was hired<br />
after moving from <strong>New</strong> York to <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
with few skills or connections.<br />
“I would always be grateful for that,” she<br />
said. “I was broke, and I had no family here.<br />
That just shows what a good person Hal is and<br />
what kind of a company he runs.”<br />
Salinas is not the only person who refers to<br />
the joint companies as her family.<br />
“As you grow, the company grows. And as<br />
the company grows, you grow,” said Johnathan<br />
Anselmo, operations manager. “It’s like babysitting<br />
someone’s child or raising your own.”<br />
Anselmo compared working at a small business<br />
to a profit-sharing venture.<br />
“The more you put in, the more you get back.”<br />
That also means his co-workers pick up the<br />
slack when he’s dealing with a lot, and vice<br />
versa.<br />
“That’s good stability for me,” he said.<br />
Nairne Frazar, project estimator, said what<br />
the construction industry lacks in security, it<br />
makes up for in work satisfaction.<br />
“<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> has a great housing stock,”<br />
she said. “The housing stock has been here for<br />
100 years, but we get to put it together for the<br />
next 100 years.”<br />
Frazar said it’s exciting to come to a office full<br />
Nature of business: residential renovations/millwork<br />
Where based: <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Employees: 45<br />
Average starting salary: $22,000<br />
Median salary: $50,000<br />
Average employment time: eight years<br />
Benefits: health care with 75 percent coverage, dental, vision<br />
and prescription plans, paid maternity leave, flexible hours<br />
Wait time for benefits: none<br />
Paid days off: 17<br />
Web site: www.centralcitymillworks.com<br />
of “young, talented and driven” people and be a<br />
part of restoring parts of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>’ history.<br />
“This is the first office I’ve ever worked in<br />
where everyone wants to help each other,” she<br />
said. “Because it’s a small office, we all do so<br />
much more than our job descriptions. But you<br />
don’t do it because you have to, you do it<br />
because you enjoy it. You learn from everyone<br />
and you’re always learning new things.”<br />
Frazar said not to overlook one of the best<br />
perks of working for Hal Collums: Employees<br />
are allowed, and encouraged, to bring their<br />
dogs to work. Frazar has two basset hounds she<br />
brings to work every Friday, and on any given<br />
day they may have five to eight dogs roaming<br />
the office and mill shop.<br />
“Contractors sometimes get a bad reputation,<br />
but everyone here really does care,” Frazar<br />
said.•<br />
— Katie Urbaszewski<br />
60 2009 Best Places to Work