Making construction a great place to work

APHRODITE PSARA - CEO Psaras Construction Co. Ltd

Construction is considered one of the toughest fields to work in. Making the environment appealing by creating a great place to work is the real challenge. Focusing on people and more importantly their wellbeing is the only way to attract and retain more women and young people who are just beginning their career within the sector.

How can this be achieved?

This can be accomplished by strategically prioritising welfare of employees within the company and by instilling wellbeing as a company’s core value. Our certification for two consecutive years as a Great Place To Work company and the first contracting company in Cyprus to be distinguished in this field, proves our long term commitment.

What practices does N. Psaras Construction Co. Ltd adopt?

We are continuing our father’s legacy by maintaining his values and practices, by simply evolving them and adapting them to today’s culture and habits. The main values of our company are as follows:

HEALTH & SAFETY – Health and Safety in a high-risk sector like construction will always remain as a main priority. We strive through continuous training to all employees regarding safety issues, to cultivate and maintain a safe working culture. By raising awareness with regards to health hazards and safety issues, this brings us one step close to achieving our goal, which is none other than ZERO ACCIDENTS.

RESPECT- Respect is the foundation of a positive and productive work environment. Every employee is entitled to be treated with respect and every employee has a moral obligation to reciprocate similarly. . The best way to foster respect is to lead by example. Our workforce deserves a comfortable and hostile-free working environment, and we do our best to provide this on our behalf. This can only be achieved through mutual respect, and it is our responsibility for leadership to provide a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.

TEAMWORK – People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. We systematically promote team spirit with activities that enhance camaraderie and strengthen the relationships of colleagues, such as informal barbecues in the office, organising outings with colleagues, educational and non-educational trips abroad. By doing so, communication is improved, motivation is increased, strong relationships with colleagues are formed and as result they work more effectively together and enjoy working hours.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT - Employees are without a doubt our most valuable asset. Training and development is an effective way to invest in our people. We encourage all our employees to participate in various career development and skill development programs. This improves employee performance and boosts job satisfaction.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER – The most effective training is through the company's internal training centre, PSARAS ACADEMY, where knowledge transfer is achieved through the experiences of other colleagues, with actual examples of our company's projects.

FAMILY ATMOSPHERE – Continuing our father's values, we treat all our employees as members of an extended family. In this way a strong foundation of unity and trust is created, it also establishes a sense of loyalty to the company. This is achieved through celebrating milestones and special events, organising events including employee’s family members, company blood donations, recognising and publicly celebrating employee’s accomplishments through social media and in return to their contribution we express our gratuity by offering performance-based bonuses multiple times a year, boosting their incentives.

WORKSPACE – Part of wellbeing is going every day to a clean, friendly, and even homely office space. We have tried to create a workplace to encourage companionship and creative interactions. We give employees the flexibility to work in comfort and the freedom to customise their own set up. By also maintaining clean and tidy construction sites, besides promoting safety it also enhances positivity and has an incredible impact on productivity.

EVANGELIA PSARA – Operations & Quality Manager

As a representative of the third generation in the company, how do you ensure the above?

To ensure the values of the previous generations we started recording and developing these practices in written form by integrating them into the company's ESG policy.

What is ESG?

ESG focuses on various issues related to environmental, social and governance practices. An ESG program documents a company’s impact on the environment as well as its approach to governance. Documenting and setting goals related to the environment such as recycling, energy efficiency and water consumption, waste management and the company's carbon footprint.

The social aspect of ESG deals with the Health and Safety of employees, their wellbeing, fair pay, equality and inclusion, discrimination, harassment, and general respect of human rights as well as social corporate responsibility. All the above practices mentioned from our CEO, can be part of an ESG policy to form a code of conduct not only for employees but also for leadership.

The third part of ESG is related to a company’s governance practices such as ethical business practices, rules on corruption, bribery, and risk management.

By recording all practices and setting goals on the abovementioned issues, the ESG policy can become a systematic road map of a company’s operations and orientation for all the new generations to come. Self-evidently, to actually create an ESG culture and to not just enforce regulations and theoretical goals, we as management and leadership must embrace and promote it methodically.