Last month, our SoCal project accountants and project coordinators (PAs and PCs) used their annual volunteer hours to support GrowGood.
Last month, our SoCal project accountants and project coordinators (PAs and PCs) used their annual volunteer hours to support GrowGood, an LA-based nonprofit that provides food, transitional employment, job training, and mindfulness-based ecotherapy to those experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
Located next to the Salvation Army’s Bell Shelter in Southeast LA, GrowGood operates a 1.5-acre urban regenerative farm featuring vegetable crops, orchard fruit trees, an herb and healing garden, a commercial greenhouse, and community gathering spaces for those in need.
“This was a great opportunity to step outside our regular work routine and give back while representing Webcor’s core values,” says Field Administration Manager Judy Gomez Movsessian. “I also appreciated the chance to strengthen bonds with my fellow SoCal PAs/PCs through community service.”
During their shift, participating SoCal PA/PCs joined GrowGood’s staff and community members in pulling weeds and feeding chickens.
“Getting our hands in the soil was extremely fulfilling,” says Sr. Project Coordinator Julia Gray, who organized the event. “It was wonderful to play a role in nurturing the growth and development of the farm’s fruit trees. My personal highlight was the tour of the greenhouse, where we marveled at the advanced engineering.”
Volunteers learned about the gardening process directly from GrowGood’s rehabilitated staff members, who then shared personal stories about the nonprofit’s transformative impact on their lives.
“Gaining hands-on knowledge from individuals who are not only rebuilding their lives but contributing meaningfully to their community was inspiring,” Judy says. “Their stories added a deeper level of connection and purpose to the experience.”
After three years, Safety Dept. Support Manager Emily Schmitt’s become one of those Webcorians who seems to know just about everyone.
As our resident Smartsheet subject matter expert (SME), Emily’s in the unique position of advising nearly every Webcor department—IT, Sustainability, Quality, active projects, her own Safety teammates, etc.— on the smartest ways to use Smartsheet to meet their project goals.
“I love working with my teammates and our various projects and departments to see where I can automate work, identify trends, and make the safety aspect of project leaders’ jobs a little easier,” she says. “I hate wasted time, so I’m always looking at ways to streamline tasks and take some items off everyone’s plates.”
Prior to Webcor, Emily never imagined she’d be working her “dream job” in the construction industry. Before joining Webcor’s Safety team, she designed Smartsheet systems for a 500-person mental health practice with the goal of improving client outcomes, reducing worker injuries, and improving process efficiency through data collection and analysis—all of which she explained to Safety Director Mario Rodriguez during her interview for Webcor’s safety coordinator role.
It was music to his ears. Immediately, he asked how she’d feel about taking on Webcor SAFE, a homegrown safety app based in Smartsheet that’s designed to provide Webcorians and trade partners instant access to safety-related data without any of the administrative barriers inherent in third-party apps.
To Emily, the opportunity seemed too good to be true. “I’d previously told my husband, Superintendent Justin Schmitt (who, along with former Webcorian Kristin Paulazzo, had referred Emily to Webcor) that making a career out of working in Smartsheet would be my dream job. Now, I’ve seen that dream come true!”
Soon after the interview, Mario offered Emily the role of safety department manager responsible for the continued development of Webcor SAFE. She accepted in February 2022—and the rest is history.
“Since joining the team, Emily’s made a major impact on the Safety department,” says Regional Safety Director Brandon Hagerman. “She’s dramatically improved Webcor SAFE and is currently working on a 2.0 version with even more improvements. She’s also worked diligently with HR on transitioning and saving safety trainings in Workday’s platform. Everyone in Safety understands that we’re lucky to have her.”
Although transitioning from the mental health world to construction came with some changes, the central goal of Emily’s role remained the same: to determine the root cause of problems (particularly safety-related ones) and strategize solutions through Smartsheet.
“It took some time to adjust to the different safety hazards at work, but once I understood everything we were doing at Webcor, I was able to dive in and look at places where I could shine some light on our industry trends,” she says.
Still, adapting to a new industry inevitably came with its challenges. The learning curve quickly forced Emily to abandon her comfort zone and ask questions that she was convinced were obvious to everyone but her. Although she’d grasped some of the basics from Justin, she still had plenty to learn—the work being performed, all the regulatory aspects, and general industry knowledge.
Fortunately, her teammates welcomed her questions with patience and enthusiasm, knowing the more she learned about the field, the more impactful her work would be.
“Emily’s continued to be a reliable source of support for our Safety team,” says Safety Manager Clara de Lara. “Whenever we have a ‘hot’ item that needs attention, she does everything she can to take care of it. Her positive attitude continues to foster morale not just within the Safety department, but all the other departments she supports.”
Currently, Emily’s pouring her energy into Webcor SAFE 2.0—a new version of Webcor’s safety app that she’s building from the ground-up. Her days are spent analyzing lessons learned from the original Webcor SAFE and strategizing how to maximize Smartsheet’s capabilities, which have significantly improved and expanded since the project launched several years ago.
Her Safety teammates have been dedicated partners throughout the process, taking the time to test the app, provide thoughtful feedback, and share innovative ideas to ensure Webcor SAFE 2.0 is as efficient and effective as it can be.
“It’s a huge undertaking with a lot of unchartered territory for me, but it’s also been the most rewarding experience of my career,” Emily says. “Webcor SAFE is truly making a difference in our culture. Offering a system that Webcorians, our subcontractors, and our JV partners can easily access engages every aspect of our projects in our mission of safety. I feel like the work I’m doing every day is important and hopefully, improving the lives of our teams in the field.”
To Emily, the fact that Mario has championed her ownership of such a groundbreaking initiative since the very beginning speaks volumes about Webcor’s commitment to innovation (as well as our core value of Trust). And although she may still be considered new to the industry, she’s been immersed in the day-to-day long enough to know that innovation is essential to the continued success of any construction company. Through Webcor SAFE, she hopes to inspire more Webcorians to think creatively and go beyond what our competitors are doing.
“It’s easy to grab an off-the-shelf item, but if we want to have the best safety culture, we need to do what no one else is doing,” she says. “That’s what I love most about Webcor SAFE. Unlike the general contractors using third-party safety apps, we’re not confined to the limitations of a vendor. We can see a problem and implement a solution within days without having to wait for someone else to help us.”
“Emily’s always focused on improving the processes we have in place and looking for better practices,” Brandon says. “She’s very dedicated. Everyone in the Safety department appreciates her contributions sand truly enjoys working with her.”
When Webcor’s internal Smartsheet Committee caught wind of Emily’s work on Webcor SAFE, it didn’t take long for them to recruit her and eventually name her the committee’s co-lead alongside Project Director Ted Williams. Today, she’s Webcor’s official Smartsheet SME.
Once she was named an SME, the requests for her expertise started coming in—fast. Tackling the onslaught of requests from Quality, Sustainability, active projects, and more opened her eyes to the breadth of opportunities she had to grow within her new “dream job.”
“There’s never a dull moment,” she says. “I can honestly say I never get the ‘Sunday scaries’ because I know the week is going to bring a new and exciting challenge.”
So far, she’s worked with HR on safety trainings, Technology on Smartsheet, Sustainability on its waste-tracking system, and Quality on its quality management system—her second-most ambitious Smartsheet project to date, after Webcor SAFE. She was connected to the opportunity by former Webcorian Solomon Tsegay, an assistant quality manager she met through the Smartsheet Committee.
Since Solomon’s departure, Emily’s partnered closely with Assistant Quality Manger Erika Chavez on reinvigorating our quality management system (now called Webcor QUALITY) by bringing it up to par with Webcor SAFE. Once complete, Webcor QUALITY will streamline and standardize the way Webcorians view and manage quality on every project.
“My promotion to Department Support Manager for Safety and Quality has allowed me to really run with the plans I had in my head for improving Webcor SAFE and QUALITY—our two largest Smartsheet systems,” Emily says. “It’s been an interesting project for me because I started working on the system before I knew anything about quality. It feels like I’m riding a bike backwards, but everything comes into focus a little more every day!”
Every year, Safety Week coincides with the first week of Mental Health Awareness Month—a topic particularly relevant in construction, where suicide is rampant.
The severity of our industry’s mental health crisis stunned Emily, who’s long advocated for normalizing the conversation around mental health and wellness. For the last two years, she’s been a member of Webcor’s internal Mental Wellness Committee, where she works closely with Total Rewards and Employee Experience on strategizing practical ways to support our field teams’ mental health and foster psychological safety on job sites.
“Having a husband in the industry has really helped me understand the level of stress our teams are under and why the mental health crisis is so prevalent,” she says. “This is a demanding industry with surprises at every turn that have huge physical and financial ramifications if not handled properly.
“Not only does our craft workforce face these struggles every day, but our field supervisors also carry a huge weight in this. The pressure to be tough and not let emotions ‘get in the way’ of the job comes with both our craft and supervisory roles.”
That pressure has cost thousands of lives. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), 6,000 construction workers died by suicide in 2022, compared to 1,000 who died from a construction-related work injury.
“When someone physically injures themselves, it’s easy to see and treat it appropriately,” Emily says. “But it’s not always obvious to see the mental or emotional pain someone might have.”
Above all else, mental health is the safety issue she wishes the construction industry as a whole would take more seriously. But she doesn’t just wish it—she’s doing everything in her power to make it happen.
In addition to her work with the Mental Wellness Committee, Emily’s spearheaded our companywide suicide prevention trainings in partnership with the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention, and this year she coordinated Webcor’s first-time sponsorship of Construction Suicide Prevention Week. Every day, she seeks proactive ways to help alleviate the mental health struggles that, like so many construction professionals, a portion of our people likely endure in silence. When it comes to mental health, proactive—not reactive—solutions are absolutely essential.
“Creating a safe space for everyone at Webcor and our subcontractors to voice their struggles and ask for help is a big mission of mine,” Emily says. “I’m so proud that we’re sponsoring Construction Suicide Prevention Week and keeping the conversation going year-round through our Operations Meetings, Toolbox Talks, Manager Talking Points, etc. We cannot stress this topic enough, so it’s important that we keep psychological safety in the conversation just as often as physical safety.”
When Emily isn’t revolutionizing Webcor SAFE/QUALITY, advising her colleagues on their Smartsheet strategy, or researching mental health resources for our field teams, she’s drafting Webcor’s nomination for our next safety award.
After three years of submitting our people and teams for safety awards, the thrill of winning is still as strong as ever. The submission she’s most proud of, however, is for an award Webcor technically lost.
Last year, the Associated General Contractors of California (AGC) invited Emily, Mario, and Safety Manager Dora Orozco to interview for the next phase of the Construction Safety Excellence award process, a direct result of the nomination materials Emily had written, collected, and submitted weeks earlier.
“This prestigious award was a huge opportunity to get Webcor’s name out there,” she said. “Although we didn’t win, placing in the top three was a major victory that proved we go above and beyond typical industry standards to keep our workforce safe. Shout-out to everyone who contributed to the submission, especially Clara and Rochelle!”
2024 was also a big award year for Emily herself. At the company holiday party, CEO/President Matt Rossie announced that she’d won Webcor’s Sustainability award in recognition of her outstanding work on the department’s waste-tracking system—another Webcor project fueled by Emily’s Smartsheet expertise and further proof of Webcor’s dedication to innovation.
“Webcor’s constantly growing and adapting,” Emily says. “I love our willingness to innovate and evolve. I’ve seen so much change in our safety culture in just the three short years I’ve been here—we ensure everyone from our top leaders to our newest Webcorians are deeply invested in safety, which I think is really special and not super common in this industry.
“Without that deeply embedded safety culture, meaningful change wouldn’t be possible. It takes everyone’s engagement for our safety program to work. I really love that Webcor prioritizes safety and schedule working hand-in-hand so we can complete work quickly and send our employees home safely every day—the best of both worlds.”
As Emily reflects on all she’s accomplished over the last three years and envisions all that lies ahead, her potential seems limitless. Integrating her passions for safety and innovation into a career she loves has been a dream come true—and she’s just getting started.
“I don’t think my work here will ever end,” she says. “My passion and curiosity for safety is constantly growing, so I’m excited to see what innovative ideas we come up with next. Thank you to my mentor, Mario, who’s always looking to improve our safety culture! I have no doubt my future here is full of exciting, impactful projects.”
Sr. Safety Manager Michael Hernandez is currently the senior safety manager responsible for upholding Webcor’s industry-leading safety standards at the UCI Mesa Court Housing Expansion in Orange County.
For the last decade, Sr. Safety Manager Michael Hernandez has made a point of stepping back and listening—really listening—to every single worker on his project sites, regardless of the nature of the discussion. It’s always been the first step to earning their hard-won trust.
“People are what drive me,” Michael says. “Knowing I’ve done my best to create a secure environment where our team can work with confidence keeps me motivated each day. It all comes down to psychological safety; it’s crucial to creating an environment where people feel comfortable speaking up, sharing ideas, and raising concerns without fear of judgment or retaliation.”
Last year, Michael joined the UCI Mesa Court Housing Expansion project in Orange County, where he’s currently the senior safety manager responsible for upholding Webcor’s industry-leading safety standards.
“Team members often say the same thing about Mike: he listens,” says Sr. Superintendent Justin Moore. “And because he listens, people trust him.”
Without trust, psychological safety is impossible to cultivate. Without psychological safety, there’s no chance of building the type of safe and supportive work environment that accelerates productivity and innovation.
“Mike’s commitment to psychological safety is one of his greatest contributions,” Justin says. “He encourages open dialogue, making it clear that speaking up—whether to report a hazard, share a concern, or suggest a better way—is not just allowed, but expected and respected.
“He’s made a lasting impact on every job site he’s touched—not just through technical know-how, but through the way he brings teams together and creates an environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and asking questions. That’s psychological safety in action, and it’s a big part of what makes his crews so strong.”
More importantly, however, psychological safety saves lives. Workers will only seek help from their safety leaders, who are professionally trained and equipped to support those battling mental health challenges before they evolve into a crisis, if they trust them enough to do so.
It’s an enormous responsibility that Michael’s never taken for granted. It’s driven him to establish meaningful relationships with all team members, no matter their role on the project, since the day he stepped foot on his first Webcor job site in 2015. For Michael, there’s simply no other way to do his job.
“Mike truly works for the people,” adds Safety Manager Billy Barajas. “He’s created a family-oriented job site culture here at UCI Mesa where everyone feels valued and connected. He leads by example, proving that trust, transparency, and consideration for people are key to building strong teams.”
Michael’s passion for safety and tireless dedication to the well-being of his team are what inspired Billy to transition to construction safety in the first place: Before joining Webcor in 2018, Billy worked as a third-party medic for several Southern California construction projects. On one of those projects, Michael was leading safety efforts for Webcor Concrete.
Billy was immediately struck by Michael’s unshakable enthusiasm and dedication. “He always went above and beyond—we even did regular safety walks around the site as a preventative measure,” Billy recalls. “Even then, it was clear that he genuinely cared about the crews and set the tone for a strong safety culture. It definitely made a strong impression early on! He’s been a mentor I look up to ever since.”
Beyond Safety Week’s trainings and knowledge-sharing sessions, Michael sees Safety Week as a prime opportunity to draw widespread attention to psychological safety and remind field staff that working safely goes far beyond fall protection and PPE.
“We want everyone on-site to feel like part of the Webcor family,” he says. “We want them to know we care for and appreciate every single person on our projects.”
It’s also a time to recognize safety leaders like Michael who embody integrity, respect, and attentiveness, and their tremendous impact on their team’s well-being.
“Mike is one of those leaders who not only follows safety protocols but shapes the culture that keeps us all protected,” Justin says. “He has an innate ability to bring people together, build trust, and foster mutual respect. Whether he’s onboarding a new crew or checking in with a longtime colleague, his calm, approachable demeanor sets a foundation for transparency and collaboration.
“Because of this, teams under Mike’s safety leadership tend to communicate more effectively, look out for one another, and take pride in creating a safe work environment for everyone. Thanks, Mike, for leading with integrity and heart.”
Looking forward, Michael hopes to see a substantial shift in the industry’s attitude toward safety—one that embraces collective care instead of dismissing safety as a burdensome obligation. “It’s essential that safety be viewed as a way of life,” he says. “It needs to be something we prioritize because we truly care about those around us, rather than because we’re simply told to do it.”
It’s a vision that perfectly aligns with Webcor’s emphasis on Speaking Up for Safety—the foundation of our ever-growing safety culture—and community-oriented teams. He plans to continue growing with Webcor, forging impactful relationships with site workers, advancing Webcor’s safety culture, and building productive teams fueled by trust and psychological safety for many, many years to come.
“Webcor’s been an incredible place to work,” Michael says. “I’m excited to continue contributing to projects that shape California. I truly appreciate the opportunities I’ve had to grow here, both professionally and personally.”
