Dempsey Construction Improves Communication and Cohesion with Engagement Surveys 

The Company                 

Founded in 2010, Dempsey Construction is a full-service general contractor with extensive experience in the commercial property market. 

In line with their principle that “We are Builders of People and Places,” San Diego-based Dempsey Construction goes above and beyond to ensure the needs of their customers are heard and met. Over the years, they have perfected the art of providing clients with the expertise and experience of a large company and the personal approach of a boutique team. 

The company prides itself on constructing buildings that stand the test of time and have over 26 million square feet of commercial improvements under their belt. Their approach to their business is to leverage the latest technology to create a fun building process, employ the highest-quality contractors, and support a timeless spirit of curiosity about new ideas.  

The Challenges

When welcoming employees back to the office in 2021, Dempsey Construction faced many challenges, including: 

• Getting their workforce back on track after a year of disruption and remote work 
• Ensuring employees values aligned with company values 
• Helping employees stay energized 

Dempsey Construction employees returned to a completely different work landscape as projects that had been put on hold had to be immediately restarted and accelerated. Further complicating matters, the supply chain crisis had made materials scarce and expensive. These shifts in the industry gave rise to several challenges, which Dempsey Construction’s employees were ready to tackle head on.  

First, the sudden increase in the pace of work was jarring for employees who were used to managing projects from home. As the industry restarted and projects began to pick up again, the company could not afford a disengaged or burnt-out workforce.  

Second, as both the spearhead and the intermediaries for all aspects of a build, communication is critical in ensuring the success of every project. However, the limited timeframe and availability of goods on top of an accelerated project environment inevitably led to breakdowns in communication.  

The disruptions highlighted the need for greater cohesion and synchrony around teamwork within and among Dempsey Construction’s various business units.  

The company knew they needed to anchor their workforce to a solid foundation, which would help navigate potential misunderstandings and foster strong working relationships among their employees. 

The Solution

To achieve a coherent and highly aligned workforce, Dempsey Construction came up with the Dempsey Norms and Attributes (DNA) and Principles of Service, a set of cultural values and principles they wanted their employees to integrate into their work.  

They developed a full roll-out to promote this cultural agenda and organized interactive work activities, workshops, and 1-on-1 sessions for their employees. 

To measure the efficacy of this initiative, Dempsey Construction turned to Quantum Workplace’s Engagement Survey and utilized the platform’s tools to customize their survey to ask similar questions in multiple ways, enhancing reliability and more precise feedback. 

After analyzing the data gathered from the survey, the company shared their findings with each department, which led to more meaningful conversations on how employees can further contribute to organizational success.  

Quantum Workplace’s Engagement Survey enabled the company to collect highly detailed employee feedback and helped them gauge whether the roll-out was gaining traction among their workforces. In doing so, Dempsey Construction managed to kill two birds with one stone: gain insights on how the company could better run its cultural roll-out and utilize the metrics to drive employee engagement and company cohesion.  

Dempsey Construction didn’t just use Quantum Workplace’s solutions to gather employee feedback, they also leveraged the Pulse tool to solicit customer feedback and comments upon completion of construction builds. The company received overwhelmingly positive results, a testament to the success of their cultural initiative.  

Dempsey Construction measured their success in a comprehensive and multi-modal way using Quantum Workplace’s tools: 

• Engagement metrics 
• 1-on-1 follow-up 
• Cohort round tables 
• Department discussions 
• Customer satisfaction questionnaires 

“We have seen a positive impact in many aspects of our company, both organizationally and functionally. Improved cohesion and collaboration within and across teams, quicker communication responses and service-mindedness, better overall coverage, and teamwork, and raised client satisfaction.” 

The results that Dempsey Construction achieved came from a combination of a thorough roll-out, leadership alignment, and having a reliable way to measure employee commitment and feedback. One of the key takeaways for the company was realizing the value and balance of using hard metrics like those that Quantum Workplace’s Engagement Survey provides with frequent feedback as checkpoints for success. 

Quantum Workplace’s solutions empowered Dempsey Construction to: 

• Gather valuable employee insights on the effectiveness of their cultural initiatives via surveys 
• Leverage the metrics gained from the surveys to foster deeper discussions within and between business units 
• Solicit customer feedback via Pulse surveys to gauge the impact of the cultural roll-out on business outcomes 
  

“We look forward to expanding our usage of the Quantum Workplace suite of tools for a “one stop shop” to manage many of our people needs.” 

- Kendrick Wong, Organizational Development Manager