Types of Roof Rakes
There are different Roof Rake for use on different surfaces used on the roof including metal and solar panels. One can get special features from different rakes such as rollers or wheels that form a buffer between the blade and the roof. Though metal roofs might not be easily damaged, the seams holding the pieces together can be cut by the blades. That is why it makes sense to get a plastic roof rake or even one made of rubber. When looking for a roof rake, it pays to consider the average number of times that you need to use it in a given duration of time. Then you can choose the right one for the job considering there is light, medium and heavy duty material available. It would also be important to ask about the versatile snow roof rakes that can be used with many objects around the house.
Tags: Clear snow, Roof Rake, Roof Rakes, Snow shovels, Winter snow
May 20th, 2012 at 10:42 pm
The top dozen executives from Adolph Coors and Molson breweries wanted to accelerate their team development to kick off the postmerger integration of the two companies. But rather than doing the usual team building in the woods or at a friendly game of golf, the Molson Coors leaders spent a full day helping to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. “We quickly got past the idea of a ropes course or golf outing, “recalls Samuel D. Walker, Molson Coors’ chief legal officer. “We really wanted something where we would give back to one of the communities where we do business.” According to Walker, the volunteering experience exceeded everyone’s expectations. “We had to unload this truck full of cement roof tiles. We actually had to figure out how to have kind of a bucket line, handing these very heavy tiles from one person to the next. That’s the ultimate team-building exercise.”
Molson Coors and other companies are discovering that volunteering is just a successful as a team-building event as it is as a form of corporate social responsibility. Credit Suisse held a team-building session in New Orleans that included a day working on a home damaged by Hurricane Katrina. “I think people learned a lot about each other,” says Glenn W. Welling, a Credit Suisse managing director who participated in the event. “It was not uncommon seeing a managing director trying to tear down some mold-damaged wall and to watch a 25-year-old analyst come over to help him.”
Kimberly Senter, director for category management at Unilever U.S., believes that volunteering events help her to know her colleagues better without the pressure of formal networking. “You’re connecting on a very personal level,” she suggests. “There’s not a lot of talking shop. It’s more, ‘Pass me the hammer.’”
Timberland is a pioneer in donating employee time to community events. Since 1992, the New Hampshire-based outdoor clothing and accessories company has granted employees 40hours of paid leave each year to work on community projects. This paid volunteering time includes Earth Day, when Timberland shuts its entire operation so that employees can participate in community projects. It doesn’t take long for employees to realize that Timberland is doing more than giving back to the community; it is also developing team skills and cohesion within the company.
“It is a team-building event,” says Lisa Rakaseder, a Timberland employee who particated in an Earth Day project at a YMCA camp where she and co-workers built canoe racks and raked leaves. “It gets you to interact with other people at the company.” Fabienne Verschoor, who organized the YMCA project, explains further: “You have senior staff, the loading dock crew, customer service, all working together. And you won’t know the difference when you see a team working. They are all putting heart and soul into it.”
UPS, the package delivery company, is another organization that endorses volunteering as an activity to improve team dynamics as well as employee leadership skills. Along with supporting voluntary work throughout the year, UPS funds an annual Global Volunteer Week, which takes place in 200 countries and most recently involved 23,000 UPS employees. UPS staff in each country coordinate local projects that address issues relevant to their communities. UPS Hong Kong, for example, has worked with the Hong Kong Red Cross, the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, and the Hong Kong Blind Union.
“Giving back to the community is one of the core values of UPS,” says David Cheung Yu-hok, human resources manager of UPS Hong Kong. “This builds teamwork across departments because in the workplace, staff might not find the time to get along. Through these projects, they get a chance to know each other better, and sometimes they even get to meet each other’s families.”
Discussion Questions:
1. What type of team building best describes these volunteering activities?
2. Explain how the corporate social responsibility element of volunteering contributes to team building.
3. Along with team building, in what other ways do these volunteering activities improves organizations?