Take a stroll down memory lane as we review news, successes, milestones, and celebrations at Nickle Electrical over the past 12 months.
Safety
Earlier this year, Paul Woodland was promoted to Safety Manager and is now successfully working alongside Nickle Safety Specialist Greg Hudson. Both ABC Chesapeake Shores and ABC Delaware awarded Nickle a STEP (Safety Training and Evaluation Process) award for outstanding efforts in relation to safety throughout the year. Nickle received the top award at the Diamond level from both chapters. Chesapeake Shores also recognized Nickle with a chapter safety award. The Delaware Contractors Association recognized Nickle for the 8th year in a row for its safety efforts with the Governors Safety Award. The honor is co-sponsored by DCA and the Delaware Department of Labor. Nickle has continued to utilize the EHS Insight software that was implemented last year. It is a cloud-based safety system that allows the company to go paperless and keep track of records electronically, including Toolbox Talks, job site safety inspections, incident reports, and more. The software program also contains an online training module where employees can take classes and renew expired training requirements. Paul, Greg, and the Nickle Safety Committees designed a program for 2019 that would recognize all employees who stay 100% up-to-date on all safety training in the EHS system called the Green Donut Club. This is a reference to the green circle that employees’ training status shows in the system. Those who attain and maintain 100% over each quarter is welcomed into the club and their name is put into a drawing for a prize.
Additional Training
One of Nickle’s top priorities is to focus on furthering the education of its employees. In addition to all the safety training required of every employee, there were classes focused on pipe bending, blueprint reading, fire alarm, business writing, team building, and much more.
Top Workplace
For the third year in a row, Nickle was awarded a Top Workplaces honor by The News Journal. The list is based on results from an anonymous employee feedback survey revolving around alignment, execution, and connection within the organization. In addition to attaining the No. 1 spot in the mid-sized company category, the newspaper published an article about the achievement.
ENR Top Specialty Contractor
Engineering News-Record Magazine named Nickle Electrical Companies to its annual national Top 600 Specialty Contractors List at #497, up 17 spots from last year.
Volunteerism
A goal set forth by the Nickle team was to participate in at least three volunteer events within the community during 2019. This year’s events included making and serving dinner for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House, rebuilding the putt-putt course at Easter Seals Delaware, and separating food for those in need at the Food Bank of Delaware. Click here to check out the awesome time-lapse video of the Easter Seals project.
Community Outreach
In addition to employees’ hands-on volunteerism within the community, Nickle is happy to support organizations in the area through sponsorships and monetary donations. Some groups Nickle assisted this year include NAWIC, Milton Chamber of Commerce, Milton Fire Department, Gladys Wilkins Seeding the Future Scholarship Fund, ACE Mentor Program, Delaware Hospice, Delaware Technical Community College, Boardwalk Buddy Walk Fund, The Music School of Delaware, Children’s Beach House, Little Sisters of the Poor, and more. For the fourth year in a row, Nickle and its employees raised money for the Friends of Delaware Veterans Trust Fund. The fund assists veterans with financial emergencies. Nickle matched dollar for dollar what employees contributed, this year totaling $5,760.
Employee News
Nickle takes pride in celebrating the personal achievements of its employees. Some of the milestones in 2019 included the birth of 5 babies/grand babies, one engagement, and 10 employees graduating from either the state apprenticeship program or another higher level of education. Executive Assistant Carol Cole also celebrated a milestone in 2019 – on August 8, she reached 25 years of service with the company. Nickle also recognized three employees as the “Top Dog” at 2019’s breakfast meetings – Accounting Administrator Kelly Cale, Service Management Assistant Jenny Yoder, and Project Management Assistant Lisa Houston were the recipients. In May, Benjamin Jezyk was recognized by ABC Delaware for outstanding academic achievement at St. George’s Technical High School and successful completion of a co-op program. He has since graduated and is now enrolled in the state apprenticeship program. In July, Mechanic Shane Palmer passed the Master Electrician Exam.
Pre-Fabrication
This year there was great growth in the Nickle pre-fab shop. Road Supervisor Lee Devine, with the help of Steve Zlock and plenty of field electricians, has dedicated a lot of time to improving efficiencies and streamlining processes to ensure delivery of a high-quality project that is on schedule and under budget. Some of the jobs that utilized pre-fab this year include Lodge at Truitt Homestead, Aloft Hotel, Delaware Air National Guard, Adesis, and more.
Elite Gala
In November, Nickle hosted its biennial Elite Gala where the organization recognized employees for years of service. Those who have been with the company for five or more years are part of the coveted Nickle Elite. We had a great time celebrating at Dover Downs with food, drinks, networking, photographs, live entertainment, and more. Check out our Facebook page for more pictures from the event.
Excellence in Construction Awards
Nickle was the recipient of four ABC Excellence in Construction awards this year. Aloft Hotel and GTI Grows received Excellence awards from the Chesapeake Shores chapter. Aloft was construction of a new five-story, 120-room hotel by Marriott in Ocean City, MD. The GTI Grows project was a 29,000-square-foot fit-out of an existing warehouse for Green Thumb Industries. Comcast Call Center won an Excellence award and Keen Gas won a Merit award from the Delaware chapter. Comcast was the renovation of a 150,000-square-foot building that now houses more than 800 employees for the communications company. Keen Gas was a design-build project including work on a new warehouse, fill platform, and an office renovation.
Notable Projects
While four Nickle projects were recognized by ABC, there were many other successful projects completed by employees in 2019. Beebe Medical Center EP Lab is a new cardiac catheterization lab within Beebe Hospital; the Food Bank of Delaware opened it new 80,000-square-foot location in Newark; Apparel & Advanced Textiles was a complete office fit-out for the apparel-focused fiber and brand business; Residence of Chadds Ford Senior Living was construction of a new four-story, 92,000-square-foot senior living facility; and many more.
Thank you to all employees, families, friends, customers, and vendors who made 2019 a success for Nickle Electrical Companies. If you’d like to keep up-to-date with Nickle news throughout the year, visit our homepage and sign up for our monthly e-mail updates. You can also send Laura Massimini a message at lmassimini@nickle.email to be added to our paper newsletter mailing list, which is sent out on a quarterly basis.
We’re looking forward to an equally successful 2020!
