Drill over rum, hammer over beer
Contractor empowers workers with tools of trade
While working on various construction sites during his youthful days, Damion Wright was encouraged by senior workmen to reward himself with alcoholic beverages rather than himself and his career. He said it was commonplace, on payday, for persons to encourage their workers to have a drink with them.
However, now that he owns his own business, Wright is aiming to empower his employees through tool distribution and training.
“I vividly remember when I was going to work and stuff, and on the weekend after you’ve been paid, a friend or a person you worked with as a labourer, tradesman or the contractor, the first thing they would do is definitely offer me is a drink a rum or one Guinness. Them never open to say let help me get to a higher level,” said Wright, CEO of Action Design and Construction.
The entrepreneur, who has been in construction for 28 years, has sought to change the ‘after-work’ practice, offering workers tools instead of liquor. He told THE WEEKEND STAR he has given away more than 100 pieces of tools, valued at roughly $800,000 to the men and women on his team over the past five years.
“Rather than offering them something to drink, I decided to give them a tool so that they can advance in later days,” Wight said.
“I want to see them grow and become a better persons, to better Jamaica by growing and employing others and build a family of their own,” Wright added.
He said that in addition to giving his employees the best quality tools, he also teaches them how to use them effectively. He also decides what tools to give his employees after observing them and seeing what tool best suit them.
“If they’re doing carpentry then I would know that I need to help them advance in that sense, and then I would provide that form of tool, whether it’s a saw, a hammer or whatever they would need,” Wright said. One such worker who a has benefitted from Wright’s charitable endeavour is 28-year-old Christon Gilroy from Hagley Gap, St Thomas. He told THE WEEKEND STAR that although he was exposed to construction before working with Action Design and Construction, he considered the company his school because of the magnitude of what he has been learning during the last six years.
“A him train everybody how fi lay a block, who never know. Him train everybody fi duh steel work. Him train wi fi duh a multitude of things,” Gilroy said adding that while working for Wright he has been gifted level,
shovel and a cord line, all of which he has used to advance himself.
Currently, Gilroy is being trained to steel work by Wright, a skill he is excited about learning, he is also hoping that like Wright he will one day be and entrepreneur.
Similarly, 23-year-old Delroy Anderson is also one day hoping to become a contractor, and although he has only been working with Action Design and Construction for three weeks he told THE WEEKEND STAR that he has already learnt to properly use a tape measure, shovel, level and a cord line, all of which he was gifted by Wright.
“Mi normally guh pan site guh work and mi see them and them would a tell mi tek dem up but mi never really know how fi use them like that. But since mi come round Action him teach mi how fi use them, how to lay a block,” Anderson said.