Roofing Road Trip with Heidi- Mardee Billingsley - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an interview with Mardee Billingsley from Tremco. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast here.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. This is Heidi Ellsworth, partner with Roofers Coffee Shop, and I'm just so happy you're here for this podcast today, that you're listening to us, because I have a very dear friend who is also a leading force in the roofing industry with us today to talk about a recent article that she has written. I am just so proud to have Mardee Billingsley, Executive Vice President of Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance and WTI, with us today. Mardee and I have worked together with National Women in Roofing. We worked together with Tremco and WTI, and we just have found kindred souls, I think, having worked together and becoming friends. So, Marty, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today.

Mardee Billingsley: Thank you, Heidi. I'm so happy to be here.

Heidi Ellsworth: We always have fun with some of these topics and talking about the different things, and I'm pretty impressed with this article that you wrote.

Mardee Billingsley: Thank you. So, yes, I've gotten a lot from your leadership and a lot of your mentoring, and I enjoyed it.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. Well, I tell you what, you and your team are really leading the way in the roofing industry when it comes to recruitment and retainment, retention. Really taking care of and growing your employees. I've watched it. I've been so lucky to be a part of it, to work with your team. So, this article that you wrote for Construction Business Owner, that is also an ebook on Roofers Coffee Shop that people can download. When I read it I was just like, "Okay, we got to talk about it. This is great." It's called How Trade Partnerships and Talent Development Will Change Your Employment Forecast, with a nice title of Making It Rain in the 2020 Labor Drought. What was your inspiration for this, Marty? What got you... I know you live and breathe this, but what made you think about writing this article?

Mardee Billingsley: I've been in this industry almost 25 years, and the most difficult part since I started as always been about labor. It used to be, for me, it was for us just a lack of skilled labor, that we'd hire people to have a body, but they didn't necessarily have the skills that we wanted. And now, it's just a lack of people in general. I'm not usually one to work off the fly by the night decisions. Right? I try to plan things out. I'm kind of methodical. And I was trying to figure out a way to bring new people to our organization, and none of those solutions ever seemed to work. Right? So, we had people that had tried numerous things in the past. We've been through several different training programs. And I wanted to exploit the foundation of what we really had an organization, like you said, which was taking care of our people, but accelerate the training and education portion. And our entire recruiting development now is centered around these principles. We needed to significantly increase the skills of our laborers that we had and offer young people, in particular, some kind of vision for accomplishment, advancement, and helping us change the way roofing, in particular, is done. We wanted to exploit options for robots, drones, leak detection systems, and we don't believe that our foundations or principles should only be ours. Right? I wanted to share that we think everyone and more organizations should provide opportunities and educations to employees that help better the industry and our communities, and that's really what drove the starting the article.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love that. I love the fact that you're so open to sharing the culture of this article even and some of the things that you've done to really find success and to really inspire your employees. One of the things, you and I've kind of lived this, but you talk about in the article is the importance of helping your employees join technical organizations and thrive on continuing education. You kind of touched on that, but can you go a little bit deeper? How do you get them involved, and how do you help them with that continuing education component?

Mardee Billingsley: I, unfortunately, learned this lesson far too late in my career. I'm not an overly social butterfly, and I think that joining organizations sometimes is intimidating, right? You don't know quite how to get started, and you have to learn that you get out of it... We've had this conversation before, right? You get out of it what you put into it, and that industry type organizations require that you put some effort into it and not just pay a fee. I think individuals from all levels, including our labors to our CEOs, everybody should be connected to some kind of industry, and not maybe just even roofing for us, but we joined other construction industry organizations because what they do in another organization influenced us and it sparked interest in it. It drove ideas for all of us. It kind of helps break up the daily grind and provides me with some kind of inspiration, and I think it's done the same for everyone else. And like I said, I learned a little bit too late, but it's something that I wanted to promote to all of our people, and especially to my direct reports, that I wanted them to get involved. As you all know, a couple of the ladies here at Tremco have taken hold of that, who I would say are the social butterflies and have really-

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Mardee Billingsley: ... started their own chapter for women in roofing and have exploited that and gotten with the local contractor organizations in the states. And I think that they've grown a lot from that, and they're doing it on their own. Right? They don't need anybody else to do it. Being able to have the freedom to be able to do that, grow personally and professionally, I think has been outstanding for them and us.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. And the thing is, is that like you said, they bring things back to the organization. You and I've talked about that. That's what I've found is, when I get to be with all of these really smart people and all these different people who look at things different, who interact different, it gives me lots of ideas to bring back to my own company.

Mardee Billingsley: Yeah. We just had our Women in Roofing, Day in Roofing at the [inaudible 00:06:11] IRE. Just the presentations by the other companies and listing to the things that they're doing, we took a lot of notes and have talked about some of the things that they've implemented and they do. And one of the other things that we did a couple of years ago was, manufacturers go to the IRE, and Tremco has this large booth and we do all this. But we only took the product people, right? And so, a few years ago we started taking a couple of service people and just allowing the people who drive our services or build our services to go walk the booths, and the things that we come back with, the technology and things we should be doing better and faster, I don't think you'd get that by just sitting in your office and by yourselves and trying to organically grow everything. It's too much. Right? And people have so much different vision for technology than maybe we have inside our own organization that we like to exploit it. Right? We want to get as much information as possible and do the best job we can.

Heidi Ellsworth: I agree 100%. I mean, I'm learning every single day. But one of the things that I think that I've seen with what you... I love how you said, give them the freedom to explore those things, to find those things, taking different people to the shows. And I know when you and I did a webinar, this has been a couple months ago now, together, you talked a lot about the success you've seen with retention and career growth in the Tremco, WTI employee base. Can you share some of that with us? What are you seeing from career growth that comes from all this?

Mardee Billingsley: I think that because we're working on a new platform of education and training, we've seen a lot of increases in our recruitment. I think it took a couple years to get the programs going and then see the payback on it, but I would say since June in particular for recruiting, we have doubled the amount of hires than we have had over the past few years. That is groundbreaking for us. Right? So, we always struggled to find new individuals, and the fact that we've been able to double our hires has been great for us. But I think even more than that, I think there's a couple scenarios that I could use to describe what really the program is doing for their career growth. In one of our programs, we provide a construction management degree at no cost to the employees, and it's brought to light some real superstars. I think sometimes individuals need a home and a place that doesn't mean they have, especially young kids, that doesn't mean they need to get a 4.5 GPA, and they don't have to have a law degree. I think of a young man who's grades didn't make him eligible even to start our program right away out of high school. But we provided him a way to go to a local community college and get his basic courses started, and he is working so hard. It's inspiring to all of us on how hard he's working to get that done so he can get where he really wants to be. And I continually get compliments on his work ethic and his passion. And honestly, that's not something that you can train or build, that just comes in people, and those are the people that we're looking for. And when you give them opportunities that they wouldn't normally have, those things come to light. And he's going to go far with us. It's just easy to see that he'll already go places.

Heidi Ellsworth: I just want to say, you saw the natural talent, that raw talent, and then you give it a place to grow. It just makes me smile. It's so common sense, but not everybody does it and I see you guys doing it all the time. So, tell the next example. I want to hear it.

Mardee Billingsley: Thank you. Yeah. So, our apprenticeship program, combined with our correctional institution program we've been working on for the last few months, we have a woman, Cynthia, who I personally interviewed about a year ago, that wanted to do so much better and wanted to be so much better and didn't want to repeat her past. And she has become a superstar for us. She came to us with little to no roofing experience, and in less than a year, she has been a crew member that really is sought out by other people. I got a photo a few weeks ago of her winning a repair competition at a regional meeting, and that's really how we measure success, right? It's by the individuals and what they're accomplishing, not by, really, what we are getting out of it.

Heidi Ellsworth: How often do we hear out there that... And I don't mean to go too far into it, but that women can't work on the roof. I mean, I love that she won a competition [crosstalk 00:10:57]

Mardee Billingsley: [crosstalk 00:10:57]. So excited for her.

Heidi Ellsworth: I know. That is so awesome. I love that. And I think it also, and I'm going to just go a little bit to the side here because I was just talking to some folks about this, but it just goes to also the Tremco philosophy of restoration, service, and repair, maintenance on the roofs. Even the systems that you bring to market, I think really promote... It just kind of throws away the old perceptions, and anyone can be working on the roof who wants to.

Mardee Billingsley: Yeah. We don't necessarily do large production jobs, and we don't do tear off and replacement of built up roofs, really, for our own crews. And I think that that is allowed us to broaden our range of our hire and make sure that we can actually bring in pretty much anyone who wants to work hard and wants to grow and achieve things. We can train them. So, I think that there are skills that we can train them to do and they learn quickly, and they are really rising to the top. We're so excited to give people that opportunity, and it's something that, like we talked about, just giving them the opportunity. Those people who want to succeed, they may never have known they even could be in the roofing industry. Right? And this is something they would never even have guessed, and we're giving them an opportunity and they're just taking a hold of it.

Heidi Ellsworth: It's true. And it's what we need for this next generation. I mean, earlier, you talked about robotics and technology, and then we just talked about the type of roofing and the culture you have on the roof. It's attracting that next generation. What we always talked about, like how do we get them to want to be in roofing? And you're doing it.

Mardee Billingsley: Thanks. Yeah. I feel like we're getting there.

Heidi Ellsworth: And it's cool. Well, on that level, then, on that same kind of topic, let's talk a little bit... Can you go a little bit deeper into your apprenticeship program? How does that work? Young kids are going to be graduating here very soon, and it doesn't matter. I know age doesn't matter. Anybody who wants to make a career in roofing, you offer that apprenticeship. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Mardee Billingsley: You think of apprentices only that came from unions, right? It's funny, you only know what you know. Right? And that's all I knew, is that apprentices came out of union shops. And we weren't a union shop, right? But when we sat down and talked about what we wanted to do in training, we wanted to model a training program after that specialized skills training, because they do such a good job of it, and get the result that we wanted for our own people. One of my coworkers, Rick [inaudible 00:13:41] had worked for us for 15 years, and he supports our bid and proposal department, but his background was in organizational development. Right? And I asked him if he'd help build out a training program that would meet the needs of our organization in a very methodical way, because we have 500 plus people spread out across the country, all basically working out of their home as a base, and it's hard to bring that group together and be able to provide them training that they can complete and make it consistent for them. So, he accepted that challenge, and after a couple of months, he came back to me and let me know that he'd worked with one of his college professors, who happened to be at the University of Akron, that does our Construction Management Degree Program, and they build an apprenticeship program that the state board would approve. We would have the ability to submit it for federal approval. And we did, right? It took us about two years to build it, to set it all up, build it out, get all the approvals, and now it's federally sanctioned. We can use it in any state, and our employees can come in and they spend the hours they need, just like any other apprentice program. They go through training, and they are able to get a journeyman's card when they complete their three to 4,000 hours of training. And we don't make them stay. It's not just a Tremco or a WTI apprenticeship. They get a journeyman's card that they can take with them wherever they want. We just want to be able to make them better. And I think that one of the things we found in the program was that we needed, since they're so spread out, we finally decided that we needed sponsors. We needed to connect them with individuals in the organization and not the guy that they were working on the roof with. Right? We needed someone who would help make sure that they completed the coursework, that they stayed on track with their hours, that they got help they needed from our corporation. Sometimes it's hard for the field guys to call into a big company and try to get help, and we want to make sure that you know they had some place to go because if they're not successful then neither are we. And so, we want to give them every opportunity we can to make them successful.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is excellent. You really write about it in this article, too. You really lay it out, and of course we have it on Roofers Coffee Shop with how it works, how to get involved. But the success rate of really being able to go to work right away, make a living, and get these certificates, and then from the apprenticeship, too, if you decide you want to keep going after that, you also, like you mentioned earlier, we have all the construction management potential with the company, too.

Mardee Billingsley: Yeah. When they are in the apprenticeship program, part of it is to take some online courses that are offered through the university, and those transfer right into the Construction Management Program. Sometimes they're doing both at the same time, right? They're doing their fieldwork while they're also going to the University of Akron to get their construction management, either their Associate or their Bachelor's degree, so we have some pretty aggressive young people that are trying to get through these programs. And we're super excited that they want to get a degree and continue working for us and better themselves.

Heidi Ellsworth: You and I, right before we started this podcast, we were talking about our kids, because our kids are close to the same age, and I don't think parents always understand how incredible this program is that you have. Because, for me, if Megan had wanted to go into construction, which we know she went into music instead, but if she wanted to go into construction, this is the best deal for parents ever. I mean, to have this kind of program. And so many parents don't think about that as in what a great career this is for their children.

Mardee Billingsley: Agreed. And I think that there are a lot of people who can't afford to go to college who might want to go. The program is set up so that they can do it all entirely remotely. They can work while they're going to school, they can go to school full-time. It's very flexible. It allows them to work with us in the summer or part-time work all year. So, we tried to do it so that it would accommodate as many people as possible. I actually went to school to become a teacher, and it's important to me. I feel like I wasn't that 4.5 student, great GPA student, and I personally think that sometimes there are these diamonds in the rough that get overlooked because they don't get opportunities. And that's really what we want to provide everybody that opportunity.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, I love that. It's what we need going forward. And along that same line, I really want to talk, kind of finish up our podcast here talking about diversity. There is a lot of people out there right now, Mardee, talking diversity inclusion, and there's a lot of them that are just talking about it. And you and I see that, and I'm not throwing any stones, but what I see when I go to the Tremco, I'm lucky enough to go there once a year if not more, and visit and really... You guys just make me feel so at home meeting so many people at corporate, that I see true diversity. I mean, every age, every gender... Well, there's only two, but every ethnicity. All the time, different types. Introverts, extroverts. It's just really impressive. I know you this just didn't happen, you and the leadership team put a plan together for really embracing diversity. Can you talk about that?

Mardee Billingsley: I think that I go back to the Henry Ford statement of, "If you do what you always done, you get what you've always got." We had always done things the same way. I've been in this company for almost 25 years, like I said, and it's no secret that my own experience is no different than most when it comes to diversity. I was probably one of very few field people in this entire organization 20 years ago. Right? But I was lucky enough to have several managers who saw the work I did and not what gender it was. I think you and I've talked about that, for me, my philosophy around diversity is you hire the best people that you can. I'm trying to promote diversity, but for me, it's changing your thinking, right? Everyone deserves an opportunity, and the more we open ourselves up to diversity, honestly, the more blessed we are as individuals in the organization. And I learn new things all the time, and I think that if we're not willing to learn those things, especially about diversity, we don't move forward. I don't necessarily always think that diversity is about race and gender. I think it's about anybody who's different. It's about giving individuals, like we said in our correctional institutions program, a second chance, right? Finding the right job for a woman or a man and providing employees a way to advance in the manner that works for them. Right? Providing them all different avenues to get where they want to go. And for me, I want to provide everybody the best opportunity they have to succeed, and the more we provide that and the more we break down barriers to, "It doesn't always have to be this way," then the better our company has become.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. And I mean, with your correctional program, with your apprenticeship, with your huge commitment to National Women in Roofing, that from the very beginning, Tremco was the top sponsors. So many people have talked about doing a second chance citizens program, but you've done it and you're making it work. Just a little bit more on that so that everybody... Because I know you mentioned that in the article also.

Mardee Billingsley: Part of our training and education, one of our platforms is around social programs, trying to work with women and better domestic violence situations, children who've aged out of foster care. And one of our employees brought us a opportunity to do a job fair at a women's correctional institution, and we took it. It was interesting. The first time we had been there, we hadn't really talked about it. And during that, I went with a couple of them to do the interviews, and it was so moving to listen to their stories and what they wanted to do and that they wanted this opportunity, that we gave everyone we interviewed, I think there were six or eight of them at the first go round, we gave every single one of them on offer. Now, only two or three of them, when they left the institution, came to work for us, but it's been a joy for them and us. And I mentioned Cynthia earlier. I think that we offer them a foundation, and we are providing them, when they come out of the institution, if they need transportation or clothing or things, something to get them started, because they're starting with nothing, and we recognize that. Right? And we want to help them as citizens, not just as employees. We are then expanding that now into all the correctional institutions in the state of Ohio, and we've ventured in this three or four other states and we're going to build a apprenticeship program inside the institutions that they can be learning and get through the first two phases of the apprenticeship program before they're released. And then, they have an opportunity to come to work for us.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is the first I've heard of that. That is so cool. I love it.

Mardee Billingsley: Yeah. At Ohio and the state of Missouri in particular, we are uploading our online programs right now to their educational systems, and the inmates will be going through the online versions of education. And then, we'll be doing training inside the facilities that will allow them to gain their apprenticeship hours. They'll do on the job training on their own facilities, and it'll allow them to come out with half their hours already completed.

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow. I kind of have chills, Marty. That is super inspirational. Thank you. Thank you. And I know Malia and your team, I'm just saying Malia because I know, but you just have an amazing team that are just as passionate about this, too. Because when they talk about it, you can just feel the passion for this program, and so it's exciting to hear that next step, that's just great. So, thank you.

Mardee Billingsley: I think it definitely touches us as much as it does them.

Heidi Ellsworth: I just want to encourage everyone listening to go online, download this article, Making It Rain in the 2020 Labor Drought by Marty. It's great. There is a lot more information both on Roofers Coffee Shop and, of course, on the Tremco and WTI site. But we gather everything because we love having every bit of this collateral and this content on the site of what you're doing, Marty. And I just encourage everybody to follow what Tremco's doing and take some of the same steps because, obviously, from this article you're sharing a lot of how to do it and how to get involved and how to really take recruitment and retainment to the next step. So, thank you so much for being here today.

Mardee Billingsley: Thank you, Heidi, and we appreciate everything you and Vicki do for us. And thank you for having me.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, it's a great partnership. Thank you everybody who's listening to this podcast today. We truly appreciate you. And be sure to listen to all the podcasts. You can find them under Read, Listen, Watch on Rooferscoffeeshop.com. Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. We also have the Heidi and Vicki Show, which will give you a smile anytime you listen to that. And a lot of our partner and RLW podcasts, so please enjoy. We appreciate you being here, and have a great day.