Owner Of New Halifax Construction Firm Says Unlimited Vacations Increase Productivity
HALIFAX – Terry Hussey is proud to be from Newfoundland. He set up his construction agency, Vigilant, in the town of Paradise eight years ago. While operating on the island, he saw his business grow at a rapid pace, particularly between 2016-2019. But, when he was looking to the future growth of his company, he knew he had to expand outside his home province. After all, the island economy is struggling mightily right now.
“The Newfoundland and Labrador economy, we are so far out on the ice pans it’s not even funny,” said Hussey.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my province. I’m proud to be from Newfoundland and Labrador. It gives us a certain resilience and a certain ability to laugh off difficult times and suffering.”
Suffering is a good way to describe the fiscal situation. The province has a debt crisis (even before Covid-19) due to the failed Muskrat Falls project. It’s also heavily tied to oil and gas prices, and those have been much lower in recent years than projected. The provincial government will need help from Ottawa to climb its way out of the hole.
So, Hussey and the team and Vigilant looked to the Maritime provinces and, just last week, the construction agency opened its new office in Halifax. Vigilant anticipates assisting in construction projects in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI.
The company did an economic analysis of the Maritime provinces and noticed a steady growth in the last five to 10 years. Hussey also noticed a positive attitude towards immigration and an overall welcoming environment towards new businesses. This convinced him it was a good time to expand, despite the pandemic.
Hussey, who was named a top 50 CEO in Canada by Atlantic Business Magazine three years running, describes his work team as “construction nerds,” who just love to get involved in a big project. If you are a fellow nerd, you may find your dream job with Vigilant, since they expect to be doing a lot of hiring over the next year.
“We may not be able to hire them right away, but in the next 12 months, we anticipate hiring many, many people in the region,” said Hussey. “We are going to all three provinces in the Maritimes. I expect my revenue in the Maritimes to exceed my revenues in Newfoundland…in a year.”
But what exactly does a “construction agency” do? Hussey, himself, takes credit for inventing the term. Basically, Vigilant has different specialties to serve the various needs of a construction project. One of the most important they offer is cost estimates and cost monitoring. Given the number of large projects that go over budget, this is a vital service. Vigilant also offers full project delivery and advisory services.
Most importantly, Vigilant believes in bringing a positive culture to any construction project. Hussey is critical of how cutthroat and combative the construction industry has become. He wants Vigilant to promote the idea that the construction industry can work with each other, rather than against.
“I believe that the culture of construction in Atlantic Canada is a problem,” said Hussey. “I believe it’s very combative; it’s conflict-driven. It’s based on legal contracts and the concept of, I’m going to get mine no matter what’ We want to create a construction industry without lawsuits.”
“If you go back 20-25 years, the idea of suing somebody over a construction project was foreign to people. It would be year-long news in St. John’s if an owner sued a contractor, or an owner sued a contractor in 1995… now it’s almost expected.”
Hussey is not only focused on changing the industry culture, but the workplace culture as well. In 2016, Vigilant introduced “unlimited vacation” for his employees. This means workers have 100 percent flexibility in their work schedules. As long as the work gets done, Hussey doesn’t care which hours someone chooses to complete the job.
“If we can’t trust people to be adults and manage their time effectively, then we’ve created a system where we’re basically trying to monitor and control behavior by treating people like children,” said Hussey.
“My role is to build a sandbox and set a course for people and let them go. And if a problem arises, I deal with the problem. I’ll get obstacles out of their way.”
Many may scoff at this notion. But Hussey believes the vacation policy has increased productivity and a big reason for Vigilant’s success over the past few years.
“With some people, it just really unlocks this limitless potential, because they are being treated like an entrepreneur,” he explains.
“For almost everybody, it’s an absolute homerun…we’ve had some employees who it doesn’t work for, some people thrive with constant management. There’s nothing wrong with that, everyone’s got different strengths.”
Michelle Samson, a business development manager for Vigilant, says Hussey is right that “unlimited vacation” has increased productivity. It is especially useful during Covid when so many people are working from home.
“It was definitely a bit of a shock,” says Samson about hearing about the policy for the first time. “It’s not something I had ever encountered before.”
“If you have something to do during the day, go do that thing. Because, at the end of that day, it doesn’t matter how long you’re at your seat doing work. The output is what matters. If that means you work better from eight until 10 at night, get your work done in those hours.”
Samson went on to describe Vigilant as being “a lot like a small family.”
Hussey and Vigilant may be new to Halifax, but in Newfoundland and Labrador, the entrepreneur is a well-known figure in the business scene. By his own admission, Hussey may even be considered “notorious” by some. That’s because he commonly speaks out on what he thinks is wrong in the business community. He even writes columns on these subjects for CBC. Most recently, he wrote that corporations in his province don’t pay enough tax, especially the wealthiest ones.
His most insightful article dealt with the taboo subject of money in politics. Newfoundland and Labrador don’t cap the amount of money people can donate to a political party, includes corporations and unions. Hussey once exposed the hidden truth about the role corporate money plays in providing government access.
“In Newfoundland and Labrador, they have a pervasive and corrupting effect on governing in our province; in the way the government spends its money, in the way legislation is written. And it really has a negative impact on society and the quality of life,” says Hussey.
“That one has gotten me in a bit of hot water, let’s say, because the access that I’m trying to cut off for a lot of large corporations is a real source of revenue for them.”
Hussey himself attended two political party fundraisers, which cost him $1,000 each time. He went because he was given advice on how the system works, and how government contracts are awarded. He walked out of those events with a bad feeling, and $2,000 down the drain.
“I paid $1,000 when $1,000 was a lot of money for our business. All it got me was a 30-second (introduction),” Hussey recalls of his first expensive fundraiser. “It just felt cheap; it felt wrong, and that feeling never left me.”
“And that was just my first impression of it. As I came to learn more and more, and as I bid on more government work and saw certain names and certain things happening on procurements; certain laws getting changed to empower certain lobby groups and the difficulties it made for a business like mine trying to grow organically and honestly. It was just enraging time and time again.”
Hussey knows he may lose potential business clients because of his outspoken nature. But he feels strongly that businesspeople are looked up to for leadership, and it’s his responsibility to speak out on the problems.
“Generally, in Newfoundland and Labrador…there is a cultural fear here amongst connected people in business and politics; not only do you not say anything or do anything that might be seen as offensive…you should never have an opinion on anything, even if they don’t have power today. Because maybe someday they will have power, and they’ll do something that can hurt you.”
“I think it’s such a waste, because society looks to leaders in all industries, just not business to be the voice for people who don’t have voices…I really think that business leaders have an obligation to speak up for the things that matter to them. And it has to be about more than just profit.”