When it comes to building an inclusive, diverse and equitable workforce, representation matters—and so does recognition. Every year, ABC’s National Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) Excellence Awards honor companies demonstrating exemplary IDE leadership in their organization, workforce, supply chain and community, with best-in-class recruitment policies, retention practices and training and mentoring programs.

ABC presented the 2022 National IDE Excellence Awards—sponsored by United Rentals—during the National Excellence in Construction® Awards Gala at ABC Convention 2023 on March 16. Winners were recognized in five categories: associate, general contractor over $33 million, general contractor under $33 million, subcontractor and supplier.

Construction Executive recently talked to representatives from each of the winning companies about what it means to take IDE seriously—and how to do that for each project and on every jobsite.

ASSOCIATE: Baker Tilly, Chicago

Laura Cataldo, Director

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

The construction industry has struggled with workforce challenges for many years. In order to meet our industry’s workforce needs, it is critical that we focus on attracting and retaining a more diverse workforce—one that mirrors the demographics of the U.S. population. Today, only 10% of the construction workforce is female. By 2044, more than 50% of the U.S. population will be from a minority group and 18% will be foreign-born. Intention in recruiting a diverse workforce is important, but inclusion and equity are critical components in the retention of a more diverse workforce.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

I am proud of Baker Tilly’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging for Success (DIBS) program, because it was defined by measurable goals that were exceeded in the first two years. We have doubled the number of employees of color, doubled the number of women in managerial or higher positions and continue expanding the number of team-member networks, so that every employee has a network to connect with.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

It has been well-documented by many sources that diverse businesses are more successful and have happier employees. Diversification alone does not make the difference. It requires incorporating IDE programs that are designed and implemented with commitment and not in response to a requirement that equates to compliance. Successful IDE programs, like Baker Tilly’s DIBS program, are not “check-the-box” and done initiatives. They are strategies to integrate all employees into the organization, creating new opportunities for belonging for every employee, and continually evolve over time.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR OVER $33 MILLION: AvalonBay Communities, Boston

Joshua Spalasso, Senior Director of Health and Safety; Danielle Corradino, Manager, National Construction; Rachael Gaughan, Project Safety Engineer; and Sheryle Gaston, Director of Human Resources

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

As the world, country and our local communities become more diverse, the construction industry should reflect that, as we are part of a greater ecosystem. IDE is important because it supports recruitment, development and retention of the best talent available while creating new opportunities to innovate and strive for success in all that we do. Our offerings should ultimately reflect the diversity of our customers and the communities where we operate. So, too, should our team members—employees, contractors, vendors and partners. As an owner and builder, AvalonBay is in an influential position and has a responsibility to foster and promote IDE in the construction industry. We believe that this effort is vitally important to create and leave behind a better construction industry for future generations.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

In 2021, AvalonBay committed to a continued and focused effort on inclusion and diversity in our construction business unit. Through this ongoing commitment, we expanded our definition of health and safety by recognizing the potential stresses on our associates, vendors and contractors that can be attributed to exclusion, unconscious bias, harassment and the related impact on our individual mental health and physical safety. All of these issues can impact an individual’s sense of wellbeing and safety, and ultimately impact their contribution to the company. We want all our associates to leave work at the end of the day feeling that their sense of wellbeing has been enhanced, not diminished, by their time with us.

We have made great strides in communicating this message of “Safe Culture” to our associates, which includes an “Inclusion and Diversity/Safe Culture Leadership” presentation that is delivered to AvalonBay associates in every market that we serve. Additionally, we have added language that requires and promotes an inclusive jobsite into our contract documents, policies, training orientations and site signage.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

Building a more inclusive, diverse and equitable AvalonBay begins and ends with our purpose: creating a better way to live. Inspired by this purpose, AvalonBay’s inclusion and diversity mission is to foster an environment where all associates and those who work with us feel welcome, are supported with opportunities to thrive and are represented by our leadership team. As we grow and innovate, success for AvalonBay is bringing this mission to life and ensuring that we recruit, develop and promote associates with diverse identities, experiences and perspectives while we create an environment where all voices are heard, understood and appreciated.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR OVER $33 MILLION: Hensel Phelps, Greeley, Colorado

Brad Lewis, Corporate Director of Supplier Diversity

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

When you look at the world today, it’s clear that diversity, equity and inclusion is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Those organizations that understand IDE will be the organizations that bring in the best, most qualified people, and those organizations will have access to opportunities from clients whose award criteria include a demonstration of IDE in the organization. Being a diverse and inclusive organization is a huge way we can help to alleviate shortages of employees in the trades. Embracing diversity, equity and inclusion opens more opportunities for all that are qualified. Clients that believe in IDE want to work with partners that demonstrate IDE and understand the importance. That equals market-sector growth and profitability for us.

The organizations that are serious about IDE and have woven it into their culture will experience greater growth and success than organizations that have not embraced it. Understanding IDE as part of our culture better positions us to be leaders within our industry and positions us to excel.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

We have established DEIc (diversity, equity, inclusion and community) forums in each of our business units. The forums allow us to host conversations that are specific to their area and demographics. As a group, the forum can identify their unique challenges and come up with ways to address them. On a corporate level, we look for commonalities and share ideas which can make a positive impact across our entire organization.

Our Building Together campaign involves encouraging our DEIc forum leaders to share the stories of our people from a diversity and inclusion perspective. This campaign helps us come together and grow as an organization. In 2022, the Building Together campaign drove over 10,000 points of engagement with our employees across the country. The stories shared in the campaign resonated across the company, bringing people together to let them know they are appreciated, necessary and that Hensel Phelps is serious about creating an inclusive environment. The return on this investment is that team members feel confident about bringing their best and true selves to work every day. It has had a major impact on our organization and will be a vital component of our success going forward.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

Success is when we no longer need to talk specifically about IDE because it’s woven into our culture and is a natural occurrence. Success is seen in the opportunities we’ve won with clients that hold IDE highly in their selection criteria. We also see success in the increase in diversity of our leadership as well as in our recruiting of the next generation. IDE awards are recognition for our success across the scope of inclusion, diversity and equity, and we’re proud to have been recognized for these efforts.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR UNDER $33 MILLION: Bryson Constructors Inc., East Point, Georgia

Bryson Barnes, Principal

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

Historically, IDE has been a scarcity in the construction industry, which has been dominated by a homogeneous demographic. As evidenced by the number of retiring baby boomers, the lack of new talent pursuing construction careers and the current labor-market shortage, IDE is critical in establishing how the industry will evolve moving forward.

IDE is important to the industry because it cultivates a workplace and workforce that promotes innovation, eliminates systemic barriers, fosters a culture of equal representation and provides access to broader opportunities. The more we are able to diversify the industry, the better we will be able to serve our communities.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

Bryson Constructors’ Value Added Partnering (VAP) program has been particularly impactful for our company, clients and trade partners. The VAP program was created to establish partnerships between minority business enterprises (MBEs) and majority firms that (1) allow local MBEs to adequately compete for supply-chain partnerships and contracting A/E/C opportunities, (2) facilitate training and business resources to support sustainability and scale growth for local small business and (3) administer a functionally and financially viable proactive inclusion plan, with predetermined goals.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

IDE success should not only be measured by federally regulated diversity participation percentages and company benchmarks. Success with IDE in the construction industry will be evident when we see a shift in the talent gap from executive leadership to our skilled tradespeople. Additionally, the lens through which the construction industry is viewed must also be adjusted from school age through the promotion of technical training as a viable and attractive career path. Once these changes are realized and the industry experiences a revival, these investments in the community will accelerate the advancement of IDE within the industry and ultimately be the true measurement of success.

SUBCONTRACTOR: M. Davis & Sons, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

Christina MacMillan, Vice President of Strategic Development and Supplier Diversity Manager

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

Due to the ongoing workforce shortage in skilled trades, IDE is essential to every industry, particularly construction. Creating an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace ensures better retention and fosters diversity of thoughts that could be seen as a competitive advantage in the industry. IDE isn’t just about the workers we employ; it’s also about the suppliers and subcontractors we use. Widening the pool of vendors we utilize helps guarantee the best outcomes for projects and customers.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

M. Davis & Sons started a supplier diversity program in 2014. By being more intentional about finding diverse and small businesses that could help us succeed, we have been able to tackle larger projects more efficiently. We have also found that the innovative ideas that come out of these networks can be very impactful.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

Success with IDE is when it is genuinely part of the company culture.

SUBCONTRACTOR: TDIndustries, Dallas

Tara Mosby, Communications Manager

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

At TDIndustries, we celebrate the power of individual differences. This calls us to create a culture of collaboration and inclusion, to learn from each other’s perspectives, to be grateful to our entire team for sharing their unique gifts and to recognize that we achieve more together.

Inclusion, diversity and equity are crucial to the construction industry because the buildings that we create will uplift, inspire, support and grow the communities that we serve. Representatives from the many groups that comprise these communities should feel a sense of ownership, pride and investment in these buildings by playing a vital role in their construction. Various perspectives and ideas bring value that will endure for the life of the structure.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

We are particularly proud of our minority and women-owned business corporate investment and engagement, the unconscious bias in leadership training that we provide to our employee-owners in the field and in the office, and our Construction Inclusion Week Initiative.

When making strategic business partnerships, TD is committed to using diverse businesses that share our values, offer quality work and reliability, and strive for excellence. For example, TD partnered with CinderellaCEO to co-facilitate immersive, in-person, four-hour training sessions dealing with inclusion and unconscious bias. The program was well-received and congruent with our mission of providing opportunities for career growth and the tools to excel as leaders. On a Likert scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, average post-attendee evaluations of the program ranked the training 4.6 out of 5.

As a follow-up, during Construction Inclusion Week, TDIndustries co-hosted a jobsite panel discussion where attendees listened to experts discuss healthy workplace culture.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

A significant indicator of success with regard to inclusion, diversity and equity deals with organizational culture. It is important at TD that employee-owners embrace our core value of celebrating the power of individual differences and express gratitude to their fellow employees for their unique contribution to the whole. Future progress begins with, and is dependent on, the shared belief that IDE is important.

This is evidenced at TD with leadership buy-in, including the work of our Executive Inclusion Council and the diversity present among our board of directors, in the efforts of our talent acquisition team and with the engagement of our partner (employee) resource groups (PRGs), which provide support and encouragement to the populations that they serve and provide a safe space for employees to share their experiences with others within our workforce.

SUPPLIER: United Rentals Inc., Stamford, Connecticut

Monica Rodriguez, Director of Diversity and Inclusion

Why is IDE important to the construction industry?

We want to make sure that we retain and attract members that are reflective of the communities that we serve, and especially when it comes to the construction industry, the communities that we’re serving are often very diverse communities. We’ve got a global footprint, and so, we want to make sure that our employees but also the construction industry at large can best serve them.

What is an IDE initiative at your company that you’re particularly proud of?

I think that we’ve done some good work at United Rentals with regard to our employee resource groups. We’ve recently expanded on them and restructured them, so that our employee resource groups now fall under this broader umbrella that’s called Together United. We have seven different employee resource groups within that: the African and Black Heritage United group; HOLA United, which is our Hispanic and Latin advancement group; LGBTQIA+; mental wellness; Veterans United; Women United; and Planet United. There is something that fits everyone’s interests and really makes them feel like they belong at United Rentals.

How do you define success when it comes to IDE?

We have four pillars that we build our framework on—attract, belong, promote and influence—and we’re always measuring against those four pillars. Under the attract pillar, we’re trying to increase diverse representation because we know it’s important to reflect the communities that we serve by having people from all walks of life. When it comes to belong, just making sure that, once you are at United Rentals, you feel that sense of inclusion and belonging. With regard to our promote pillar, making sure that we not only have everyone at the entry level, which I think is common within the construction industry, but that we’re also reflective of that in our leadership. And then our final pillar is influence, which is to make sure that the work that we do internally gets spread externally, too. Because we’re the leading rental-equipment company for a lot of people in the construction industry, they look to us for more than just equipment— they know that we are really putting our money where our mouth is.