Timed to coincide with our annual Employee Appreciation week, the event provided a unique opportunity to recognize and thank our people. Their contributions are what has helped Gilbane reach the amazing milestone of 150 years in the business.
150th Anniversary Virtual Celebration
For this very special event, we partnered with Leadership Rhode Island, a community leadership organization, to provide a seamless and interactive user experience. To help our people stay informed about activities and available resources for this special event, an internal portal was developed providing timely updates as the main event neared. The portal helped generate excitement through a countdown clock and provided important event information such as a virtual tour of the platform, an instructional tutorial video, registration details, and more.
We utilized the online platform, Remo, to engage our entire company in this live program. Employees from six time zones and numerous states and countries joined together in virtual buildings and event floors and were seated at tables with three other individuals to socialize in an environment designed to replicate a function room. The event program included messages from Gilbane, Inc. Chairman Tom Gilbane, Gilbane Building Company President and CEO Mike McKelvy, and Gilbane Development Company President and CEO Ed Broderick. Personal stories from people across Gilbane touched on our company core values, growth opportunities, and career highlights. The event was hosted by our Vice President and Senior Human Resources Director, Courtney Cannata, and Senior Vice President and New England division leader, Steve Duvel, who streamed live from Gilbane’s headquarters in Providence, RI.
Attendees were given the option to visit a virtual photobooth to capture moments throughout the event, offering special keepsakes for our employees. At the end of the scheduled program, an ‘after party’ provided additional time for networking and catching up with colleagues through the virtual platform.
Digital Memory Book
To make the event even more special, we asked employees to share their favorite Gilbane photos leading up to the main event. Hundreds of submissions came in from employees from across the globe. The images depicted our passionate team members, Gilbane’s diverse and high profile projects, company outings, family and community events, and more. The photos were shared as a 150th anniversary digital memory book during the main event and employees were able to vote for their favorite photo through a digital poll that was easily accessed via a QR code. The People’s Choice Winner was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – which is just one of the iconic projects Gilbane has built during its 150-year history.
The Future
Early survey results show that people really enjoyed this first-ever virtual companywide celebration and the opportunity to connect with one another. Given the challenges of large in-person events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual event was a welcome and unique opportunity for colleagues to reconnect and make new connections across the company. Our goal was to have each attendee leave with a sense of connectivity, pride, and appreciation. The caring and dedication they show to each other and to our clients is at the heart of Gilbane’s 150 years of success.
