HARMONY IN DIVERSITY: MEET ERNEST MAIER, MASONRY SUPPLY
HARMONY IN DIVERSITY: ERNEST MAIER, MASONRY SUPPLY
A truly wonderful place to work for all walks of life.
Brendan Quinn, the humble and aspiring President of Ernest Maier, masonry supply in Bladensburg, Maryland, has a true “open door” policy at his office. Brendan literally has no door at his office and anyone can walk in and address Brendan at any time, for any reason. Brendan’s laid-back business acumen is a benefit to all 250-plus employees that work under the Ernest Maier banner of construction material supplies, throughout the mid-Atlantic States.
The construction industry, whether you are a building contractor or a construction supplier is a challenging, dusty/dirty, weather dependent, pressure-packed service industry that does not receive much fan-fare. Pictured above, 4th from the left, Brendan has assembled a team of managers and rank/ file team members from a diverse spectrum of backgrounds, ethnicity and age groups. The construction industry is a very transient business. Ernest Maier, EMCO, established in 1928, has employees that have worked for EMCO for 50 years. EMCO employees 40 truck drivers, 10 concrete truck drivers, 20 forklift operators, and inside and outside sales force, warehouse managers, schedulers, credit/collection, administration, marketing and safety personnel. The varying nature of the employment duties is even diverse.
If you walked through the 5-acre, Bladensburg supply yard that houses the only working industrial machinery within 50 miles, you would see employees of diverse ethnicity from all over the world: Mexico, El Salvador, Ireland, Nigeria, England, Honduras, Ethiopia, just to name a few. Ask anyone who works at Ernest Maier and they will tell you how much they appreciate to work for Ernest Maier and specially to have a boss like Brendan.
There are those great human-interest stories that go unnoticed until you take the time to find out how dedicated one of the employees is to EMCO and why. One gentleman conveyed the fact that EMCO was assisting him with his college courses to further his education, contingent upon achieving a certain grade point average. Another employee needed to have a personal loan fronted to make ends meet. A homeless, unemployed gentlemen is paid for half a day’s wages to sweep the warehouses and assemble wheel barrows. These gracious deeds are typical services afforded the EMCO team. EMCO holds employee appreciation days and confers special awards on a monthly basis for safety and going the extra mile. These acts of kindness are not typical in today’s business climate. The respect shown by EMCO management to its employees resonates to such a degree that all employees share that respect for each other, which is not always the case in such a culturally diverse environment. Simply put, “follow the leader.”
Charity is also on the plate with EMCO ownership. Whether it be providing pavers for a walkway at Torture and Survivor Victims International or concrete building blocks to train Engineers Without Borders at the University of Maryland for a project in East Timor, Africa, or housing materials for Togo Mission Africa, or sponsoring the Potomac Valley Architecture Foundation golf tournament, raising over $50,000 in 8 years for architecture students, EMCO management is compelled to always give back.
So, if you ever need gainful employment, with caring ownership and with a truly international group of people, stop by any one of the EMCO construction supply yards and see what it really means to have witnessed, “service with a smile.” How do you bring out the best in employees? We at EMCO follow the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Photo Credit: Ernest Maier, 2010
President Obama at Ernest Maier Company with Brendan Quinn (pictured 4th from the left) and fellow employees, promotes construction industry as cornerstone of American economy, coming out of the "Great Recession."
SILVER ANNUAL PARTNER
Ted Kelly BIA CBS, CSI CDT
Masonry Products Manager
P 301-793-7122
[email protected]
Tom Mitchell
Architectural Products Representative
P 301-927-8300
[email protected]
Mike Simon
Account Sales Manager
P 301-927-8300
[email protected]
Ernest Maier, Inc.
4700 Annapolis Road
Bladensburg, MD 20710
P 301-793-7122
http://www.emcoblock.com
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