Staff Spotlight on Andrew Giguere

For Two Small Men movers, the seasons make all the difference. Summer is always the busy season, with a packed schedule of short and long distance moves. In the winter, there are less moves but the ones that are booked are more difficult because of the conditions.

But for Director of Operations Andrew Giguere, there's really no such thing as a quiet season because it's his job to keep moves running smoothly across the country throughout the year. Although he's from Winnipeg originally, he now works remotely out of Toronto, where he's lived for more than 15 years.

“My day-to-day changes drastically from summer to winter,” he says. “Summertime is really all about supporting the operations team, being proactive, getting ahead on moves. In the winter, things slow down, and I take on more of a project management role, trying to figure out how we can improve, preparing for the next summer, and scaling operations efficiently.”

His professional priorities shift along with the seasons, but he's always looking to empower his co-workers,

“It's really rewarding to see an idea that starts within the ops team, whether from a meeting or a casual conversation, grow into something that gets rolled out company-wide,” he explains. “Some of the most impactful changes have come from our frontline staff, from dispatchers to movers. Seeing their ideas put into action has been a lot of fun for me and really shows how involved the entire team is.”

He strives for collaboration between branches.

“I think it's the ability for anyone to have an impact,” he says. “If that's Erik in Saskatoon implementing crew suggestions at branch level, or Randy and Jeff reaching out with what they're seeing on the ground and working together to make things better and improving the process.”

Long-distance moves become Andrew's bread and butter in the summer.

“In the summer, we do a major route like that every three weeks,” Andrew says. “Those trips might touch ten customers and leave no room for error. Planning is critical. I'll email the customer or leave a note for the dispatcher if I see something that could go wrong. It's all about proactive problem-solving. We once moved someone up to Haida Gwaii. You get to Prince Rupert, then take a six-hour ferry that only runs a few times a week. That was the most unique move to date.”

When everything is planned properly, one truck can handle several moves over the span of one long trip.

“We might have one customer going from Victoria to Winnipeg. On the way back, we'll pick up another going from Winnipeg to Brandon, another from Saskatoon to Regina, and so on. A crew just left Winnipeg and will hit seven customers before looping back from Nanaimo.”

No matter how difficult things get, however, Andrew says its the company culture that keeps him going.

“The company has really matured in process and procedure,” he says. “We used to be very reactive. Now we're thinking two, three weeks ahead and creating procedures to mitigate issues before they happen. We've built a robust set of processes that helps flag red-alert scenarios.

“Second to that we are investing in our staff. Rolling out a Performance Raise Plan where movers can get a raise every 6 months has allowed us to increase retention and get movers brought in for a career with Two Small Men. At the end of the day, without great movers and dispatchers who are brought in to our 'proven process,' we wouldn't be able to succeed.”

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