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Learning & Development
To support employee retention, NRMCA has five, one-page checklists to help your supervisors. They are New Employee Check in 2 Weeks, New Employee Check in 60 Days, Exit Interview, Layoff/Severance Considerations, and Stay Interview Questionnaire. Each can be downloaded here from NRMCA's website. The latest in the series is the Stay Interview entry. In an effective stay interview, managers ask standard, structured questions in a casual and conversational manner. They are conducted to help managers understand why employees stay and what might cause them to leave. They take less than 10 minutes to conduct. The checklists apply the Harvard Business School philosophy of planning what you will say before the interview, and how you say it, to solidify personal connections. Communicating sincerely, and early, helps supervisors understand what makes employees tick as well as how to appeal to their particular goals, motivations and interests. Mutual trust not only builds retentions, it also increases quality performance. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. 
Association & Industry News
It is with deep sadness that the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association announces the death of Scott Campbell, Ph.D., P.E., senior vice president, structures and codes. Mr. Campbell died on Friday, January 20, after a lengthy illness.
Mr. Campbell joined NRMCA in January 2019 and was responsible for managing national standards in the areas of structures, energy and acoustics, among other topics, and coordinating with local, state and national codes bodies. During his tenure with the Association, he distinguished himself among his NRMCA colleagues with his vast knowledge of the built environment and how the ready mixed concrete industry should navigate the many challenging contemporary issues it faced.
Buildings
NRMCA sponsored the Boston Society of Architects Design Awards Gala held last week at the Artists for Humanity’s headquarters which was transformed to honor the 2022 Design Award recipients who raised the bar for design excellence within the community and profession. Seen here are, left to right, Craig Dauphinais (MaCAPA), Joe Gallagher (Boston Sand and Gravel), Matthew McKenna (Tenax), NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk, Ryan McCormack (Aggregate Industries), Terry Stack (Sustainable Minds), and Jim Jones (Skanska). The event brought together over 450 architects and industry professionals. Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting design excellence in New England. For more information, contact Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org. The top economist in the cement, concrete and construction industries predicts a stronger U.S. economy during the first half of this year than was previously expected but believes there will likely be a slowdown in economic growth starting this summer. Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Market Intelligence Ed Sullivan made the comments earlier this month at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas.
SEO
Don’t miss out on the sponsorship opportunities for the 17th National Mixer Driver Championship being held this fall as part of ConcreteWorks. Review what’s available and lock in your spot today. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org. The Safety Contest & Benchmarking Survey has for years been a safety performance and incentive/award program aimed to foster safe practices at ready mixed concrete plants across the nation. The contest and survey is a per-plant contest open to facilities operated by NRMCA member companies in good standing in 2022. Companies with more than one division are encouraged to distribute entry blanks to individuals responsible for keeping safety records at each plant location. Entries must be e-mailed to safetycontest@nrmca.org by April 7. Click here for more information and a link to download the entry form. The staff contact is Gary Mullings. 
The RMC Research & Education Foundation is conducting a research project with the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub titled Transforming the Role of the Concrete Delivery Professional. One facet of this project is a direct survey of drivers regarding job satisfaction; this is not a duplication, but rather builds on previous surveys and information collected by the industry. The survey closes next Tuesday, January 31, and the MIT researchers need at least 250 more responses in order to have the research be as credible and valuable as possible. MIT is incentivizing driver participation by entering concrete delivery professional survey respondents in a drawing to win $500. Companies are asked to distribute the sample language below and the survey link to their drivers this week in order to obtain the 250+ responses needed before next Tuesday.
Engineering
For durability of concrete, the ACI 318, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete defines exposure classes and applicable requirements for concrete mixtures used to construct buildings. ACI 301, Specification for Concrete Construction incorporates these requirements in the ACI reference specification. NRMCA has developed some simple resources that will help designers select the appropriate durability exposure class and corresponding concrete requirements. This includes an Excel spreadsheet with details from the ACI 318 commentary and additional discussions of performance alternatives and criteria. The accompanying guide has the same information and includes some examples that will help with understanding the process. Assigning durability exposure classes is part of the design process and is the responsibility of the licensed design professional (or engineer of record, EOR). EORs are encouraged to use these resources and select concrete requirements that comply with the Code and to minimize other prescriptive requirements for concrete. Specification requirements for concrete that are prescriptive, overly conservative or generally not applicable to the type of application can adversely impact constructability, performance in service, cost, service life and sustainability of the constructed structure. Click here to download the spreadsheet tool and the accompanying guide. For more information, contact Karthik Obla at kobla@nrmca.org or Colin Lobo, clobo@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. January 31 - February 2, Orlando, FL February 6 - 10, Orlando, FL *Sold Out February 14 - 16, Dallas February 21 - 23, Nashville, TN March 10 - 13, Las Vegas, NV March 14 - 18, Las Vegas, NV March 21 - 23, Nashville, TN March 21 - 24, Columbus, OH *Sold Out March 28 - 30, Dallas April 4 - 6, Orlando, FL April 18 - 20, Nashville, TN April 18 - 20, Oklahoma City April 18 - 20, Los Angeles April 25 - 27, Manchester, NH May 9 - 11, Orlando, FL May 23 - 25, Manchester, NH June 6 - 8, Orlando, FL June 20 - 22, Manchester, NH September 29 - October 3, Nashville, TN November 7 - 9, Charlotte, NC December 12 - 15, Orlando, FL 
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