B A R R I C A D E S A N D S I G N S – T I T L E S P O N S O R
Sieg has been at Barricades and Signs for two years but
has more than 25 years total experience in the industry. In
his position as VP of sales, he works with more than 20 salespeople
and estimators spanning the four western provinces.
“I love my job,” said Sieg. “Our business is to protect
people and infrastructure, and that’s very satisfying. Plus I’m
a natural born salesperson; I talk to people all the time. This
industry is unique, and not very well understood for the most
part. When people look at road safety, stop signs, line paint or
safety barriers, they think it’s all government provided, but
anyone can walk in here and buy a sign if they want one.
They aren’t proprietary. We represent a lot of manufacturers
of traffic products in North America and elsewhere, bringing
them into Western Canada. A big aspect of our business is
working with government transportation departments and
consultants, and selling to maintenance contractors, pavers,
construction companies, cities, counties, towns, villages – all
who need our product offerings.”
Sieg adds that, as in any business, there must be structure,
applications and processes in place in order to succeed, but
management at Barricades and Signs makes a huge effort to
push back against the corporate feel.
“It’s 100 per cent a family culture. It’s unique in that anyone
can speak openly about any and all matters. We value
opinions from all employees and try to make decisions based
on what others think, as well,” he said. “For me, the word
that defines the company’s culture at its most basic level is
‘inclusion.’ Every single person is respected and appreciated;
“I genuinely enjoy
going to the
office every day;
I enjoy the people
I work with.”
– Ashley Smith, Inside Sales Representative
their opinions are valued. We support our employees, whatever
it takes to get them through. We’re a team, and no one
will be left behind.
“We’re doing well during this pandemic, as a company
and as a team. We’re Google-based so administration can
work from anywhere. Our biggest challenge lately has been
hiring so many people as business is crazy right now. All
our core people know that what we do outside work affects
everyone. We reinforce this idea weekly with our new
employees – to be responsible about what they might bring
back to the office – as you would in your family.”
And just as in a family, a certain amount of friendly rivalry
helps to keep things interesting. Sieg tells the story of when
he first came to Barricades and Signs in Edmonton from
Calgary, the traditional rival city in many things, but especially
when it comes to hockey teams.
“I was born and raised in Calgary, so when I came here,
I didn’t necessarily mention this. At first, I was sharing an
office, and there was lots of banter about the Edmonton
Oilers and Calgary Flames, really hammering on Calgary. I let
it lie, but once I got into my own office, I hung up pictures
of some Calgary greats, a few banners. This caused quite the
stir. So when I had a personalized licence plate holder made
down in the shop featuring the Flames hockey team, they
all had some fun making a few adjustments to the design
involving the Calvin cartoon figure in an Oilers jersey and
what he’s doing to the Flames logo to put out the fire. Oh,
there were lots of big laughs that day!”
Branden Leduc, production manager at Barricades and Signs
24 www.albertaheavy.ca