Posillico Inc. construction firm focuses on employee development

For Farmingdale-based   heavy construction firm Posillico Inc., a focus on employee development and a little outside help have enabled the company to grow over the last 14 years.

The family business, formally J.D. Posillico Inc., was started in 1946 as a small trucking contractor. Soon after its founding, the firm moved into light construction work, began landing larger projects and eventually opened its own asphalt plant in the late '60s.

The company, which now has 175 salaried employees and around $300 million in annual revenue, works on some of the tristate area’s largest and most complex infrastructure contracts, repairing roads, bridges and tunnels, and doing environmental remediation.

A survey of Posillico’s employees, conducted for Newsday by Energage, an Exton, Pennsylvania, research firm, ranked the company at the No. 2 spot among midsize employers in Long Island's Top Workplaces.

Joseph K. Posillico, chief executive and president of Posillico,  and a member of the third generation of the family to run the company , said when he joined the firm after six years at Exxon, it was doing well but had a very hands-on management style.

“It was just a family business with basically one person running almost everything and somewhat micromanaging, but effective,” Posillico said.

After the death of his uncle, Joseph D. Posillico, Jr., Posillico became president of the firm in 2004 and brought in outside consultants to plan the firm's future and add more structure to the business. The company delegated many of the chief executive's responsibilities.

The company found that managers and supervisors felt more empowered to take responsibility and be more involved in the company’s future, Posillico said. Ultimately, it’s been good for business.

“Myself and my partners are open about the fact that the more we can focus on the big-picture items, the better,” he said.

Thomas Farina, a project manager who splits his time between the office and the field, said that taking ownership of decisions is freeing.

“There’s definitely the freedom to make your own judgement calls,” said Farina, who has been with the company for 11 years. “At the end of the day, I’m the one responsible for what happens.”

The private company holds a companywide meeting twice a year to discuss financials, upcoming initiatives, goals and hurdles.

“I think all the employees appreciate that,” Farina said. "It’s important to morale.”

Posillico has instituted an array of employee development programs, such as education reimbursement and a nine-month mentor program, which seeks to identify promising employees, expose them to all facets of the business and foster relationships between them and upper management.

One past participant is Michael LaRose, a project superintendent.

“Having that support of everybody here guides you to the direction that you see fit for yourself,” said LaRose, who started working at Posillico as an intern in 2011 and landed a full-time position the following year. “There’s more than enough room for improvement and room for growth in the company,”

Other initiatives include its annual project of the year award, company picnics, a charitable-giving employee-match program, and a “buddy” program, which pairs new hires with more tenured employees to help with transitioning to life at the firm.  

Despite the company’s growth — the company has doubled in size from about 85 employees in 2010 — many on the workplace survey wrote that the company retains a caring, family business atmosphere that values and relies on employee contribution.

“They value your ideas and they value their employees,” said Janine D’Eredita, an accounts receivable administrator who started at the company  two-and-a-half years ago. “No matter what you do, they listen to what you say.”

For D’Eredita, who worked for a smaller aerospace company for 15 years prior to her time at Posillico, the decision to apply was the right choice.

“I wish 20 years ago I would have started working here,” she said.

- Victor Ocasio