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true to the ethos my parents instilled into the company , while staying in tune with those areas that can go wrong when running a family business ,” he expresses .
Flexible attitudes
According to Tony , the business is a firm believer in family first , and company second . “ For example , I love to coach , so I sometimes take Fridays off and go support my kids in their sports games . I believe that time outside of work is important . We always reinforce the idea that our team is free to maximize time with their families , as long as they get their job done . They don ’ t have to be in the office every day , so if they want to go coach , they absolutely can , if they login in a little bit later and make sure their work is where it should be . That ’ s how we were raised by our parents , so that ’ s the way we run the company .”
The family approach has strengthened A & E ’ s overall culture , which has subsequently made overcoming industry challenges far easier . “ Currently , our supply chain is probably still the biggest hurdle we ’ re trying to navigate , and the rising interest rates is also something that we ’ re starting to see take a toll on projects . I ’ m sure it ’ s no surprise that the industry is expected to experience a hit from what has happened over the last few years .
Transparent approach
“ Our best approach is to just be honest with customers . I believe the more specialist equipment will take a year , or even two years to get to us . So , it ’ s up to us to be honest when it comes to expectations . Customers are intuitive about these sorts of things , so they already know what ’ s happening , which means there ’ s no point in trying to mitigate the expectations .” 72