“Temp” was Michelle LaFleur’s first title at Shawmut Design and Construction. Twenty-five years later, she's part of the Boston company's C-suite.
Over her long career at the national employee-owned company with $2.5 billion in revenue, LaFleur has turned that temp position into permanent roles as she's moved up the contractor's corporate ladder. At Shawmut, she has served as its director of administration and head of talent management and compensation. Today, she is the company's chief people officer.
In that role, she strategizes with the executive team and leads efforts to improve culture and experience for Shawmut's 1,300 employees across 15 offices. Reflecting on her career trajectory during Women in Construction Week that runs through Saturday, LaFleur said she sees her ability to climb the ranks internally as a strong tool to recruit and retain more female workers.
Women make up 11.2% of the construction industry workforce, for a total of 1.34 million women, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the National Association of Home Builders. That represents a nearly 54% growth in female workers since 2014.
An inclusive, diverse workforce, LaFleur said, is one way for Shawmut to improve its overall performance.
“I personally think that the more we have different kinds of talent, different ways of thinking, the more we can tap into everyone’s superpower on that individual level, the better we’re going to do as an organization,” LaFleur said. “These complex projects require creative thinking.”
Clearly providing and outlining career paths can provide a strong motivator for employees to remain with the company and in an industry plagued by an ongoing labor shortage, said LaFleur. Shawmut itself feels the strain from a lack of skilled labor in construction, La Fleur told CoStar News. The U.S. is facing a construction labor shortage of about 349,000 workers, according to a 2026 estimate from trade group Associated Builders and Contractors.
To reach largely untapped employee pools such as women, Shawmut incorporates inclusive recruitment tactics and early exposure to create a workforce pipeline.
“It’s really highly competitive. We’re facing high, high demand and workforce shortages,” said LaFleur. “We can’t afford to overlook half of our talent pool that’s out there. We can’t afford to only focus on people who already know about our industry.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What recruitment techniques does Shawmut use that other firms could mimic to attract more workers and women to construction?
There is a critical need to make sure we’re continuing to attract and retain for all the building we want to see happen. To do that, it’s really important that we’re accessing talent from all the sectors and segments that we can, and women, as half of our population, are an important piece of that.
One way people become interested in industries is through exposure. When you can see it, you can be it, and you need to help people see that they can be a part of this industry.
We start exposure early on. Very early, when we’re working on schools and university projects, our project teams are able to invite those students to our projects and learn hands-on.
We also have a robust internship and co-op programs and construction skills management training for early-in-career or right out of school hires.
We also partner with organizations like the ACE Mentor Program that focus on introducing younger students and college students to our industry. Internally and with our processes, we showcase women in leadership roles and the different ways you can be part of the construction industry.
Helping people to better understand the complexity and innovation of the industry is a critical way to help them imagine themselves being here.
We have an upcoming opportunity through our local chapter of Associated General Contractors of America where we have folks in all disciplines going and reading to the schoolchildren a book about our industry called "Celeste Tunnels Underground" by Civil Engineer Courtney Kelly.
What works well at Shawmut for retention?
We have five generations, so we have lots of employees with unique needs. The key things we do are to attract all segments.
First and foremost, safety is an absolute priority. We’re in a tough, dangerous industry, so safety is No. 1, on site and in the office.
We then want to help people see a path forward. It’s important to be clear around performance expectations, opportunities for mentorship, growth, our leadership development and manager training programs. Then, people feel they are supported and cared for. Even before the pandemic, we had introduced the idea of flexible work. Flexibility is important to women and important, really, to so many of our employees.
The more we allow our entire workforce to handle personal and professional responsibilities, the more we make for a high-functioning team. And when you create a place with psychological safety, both through training, the ways our managers work, and knowing you’re going to care for each other, you can take advantage of those benefits.
What advice would you give to another construction firm working to increase the number of women on their teams?
Recognizing the importance of strong talent and really opening up our searches and pipelines, and being open to new skills and different kinds of competent, capable people, is critical to addressing the talent shortage we’re facing. Starting young, starting early, and helping people see that this is a very inclusive, challenging, rewarding and fulfilling industry is critical.
We can’t overlook half of the talent pool available out there. We can’t afford to focus on people who already know about our industry. We need to think about different avenues to introduce our industry to people who may not otherwise be interested.
We have found that creating a welcoming, inclusive environment with true ownership and opportunity has paid off for us. There’s some really great talent out there, and we need that talent to hit our needs and keep growing as an industry, as an organization.
Does being an employee-owned company impact workforce inclusivity at Shawmut?
As an ESOP [employee stock ownership plan], all our employees are owners, so we need them to bring their best selves every day. My job and our job in leadership is to make sure we’re creating an inclusive environment where people know and feel like they matter because they’re owners.
Our construction projects are not easy. We have lots of challenges we face and we deal with a lot of complexity. That requires forming together as a team. Because we are owners, we appreciate the inclusivity, and we operate that way, too.
There’s a lot of transparency, a high degree of communication, and it brings out the best in our teams.