The Respect Challenge
With more than 8,000 employees worldwide, from 50 countries, speaking countless languages, BL Harbert International is uniquely positioned to impact the lives of an almost countless number of people around the world.
The Respect Challenge Tour originated in early 2018 at the International Group’s Project Managers’ Meeting. Managers from 15 countries flew to the Headquarters. The overarching theme of the meeting was Respect. We challenged all employees in the Birmingham office, as well as those individuals managing projects abroad, to take this theme back to the project sites and act on this message.
On Tuesday, October 16, we continued the BLHI Respect Challenge Tour with our teams in Niamey, Niger. Our leaders were honored to speak to almost 700 employees and share the message of respect and humanity, a message which is sometimes lost in today’s society.
The tour began by visiting a local orphanage supported by BLHI. On this visit, children were given backpacks filled with school supplies, donated by the support staff in Birmingham. Following a jobsite tour, our team hosted dinner for more than 100 third-country nationals, some of whom have been with the company for 10-15 years. The event concluded with Respect Day, where all employees received a Respect Challenge Coin and signed a banner, vowing to be respectful on the job and within their communities.
In November, the Respect Challenge Tour hit the road again to visit our jobsite in Matamoros, Mexico. A similar model was followed, as our team donated school supplies to a local primary school and introduced the Respect message to supervisors in the field at a dinner. Respect Day was hosted on November 15, and 650 employees proudly accepted Respect Challenge Coins and signed a banner, pledging to respect others on and off the job.
Respect is something that resonates, and it is not forgotten. The goal of the Respect Challenge Tour is that every single BL Harbert employee receives a Respect Challenge Coin, and maybe, one is changed for the better. We want to make a global impact. This initiative is one that will continue to have a lasting impact on the lives of our employees, as well as their families.