Undercover Boss Sheldon Yellen Has the Kindest of Employees

BELFOR CEO Sheldon Yellen probably has the most caring and supportive employees ever featured on 'Undercover Boss.' His company is comprised of roofers, painters, plumbers and carpenters, but what you have to remember is that BELFOR is the world's largest disaster restoration company. Their employees are dealing with people who have experienced great (often tragic) loss, on a daily basis.

They go into people's homes to erase signs of damage and sometimes death. "It's very emotional," says Yellen. "Our people are trained to deal with people who have suffered great loss. Employees spend as much time dealing with emotion as they do with construction."

Yellen has been building the company since 1984, and BELFOR now operates in 29 countries, providing post disaster relief and reconstruction services after fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters. About 6,000 employees assist both residential and commercial customers with losses from small, like leaky roofs, to major, like those caused by Hurricane Katrina. BELFOR employees are about to have their work cut out for them in Australia (as soon as the flood waters subside) -- but in the meantime, Yellen tried his hand at some smaller jobs for 'Undercover Boss.'

Into the trenches

For his first job, Yellen worked with a demolition supervisor on a house in Norfolk, Va., where there were roof leaks that damaged the walls and ceiling. Yellen got a taste of dealing with death when he had to remove a animal that fell down through the ceiling and expired after it couldn't get out of the wall. To get the job done, they started by removing the homeowner's furniture and other belongings. Yellen donned masks, goggles, protective jackets, and gloves while he worked.

sheldon yellen dust mask Yellen was surprised to learn that the supervisor has to do side jobs to make ends meet. This reminded him of his own experiences growing up poor and having to work 40 hours a week, starting at age 11, to help support his family so they could rise above the poverty line.

Restoration is hard work

Next stop was Denver, Colo., where Yellen worked with a restoration carpenter. "I was pitiful," he laughs, explaining how the fake glasses he was wearing obstructed his vision and made him unable to use the electric drill properly. Not only that, but hanging dry wall was much more difficult than he'd anticipated. His supervisor didn't feel like the two of them were connecting as a team and let Yellen go so he could finish the job by himself.

Yellen felt like a failure, but that didn't stop him from compensating his supervisor when he finally his true identity at the end of the show.

Yellen did a better job in Indianapolis, Ind., where he worked as a cleaning technician -- although his attempts to follow his mentor's jovial customer interaction fell flat. He made the mistake of asking which of the two white-haired women in the house was the mother and which was the daughter -- never a good idea with females.

Despite his faux pas, his supervisor confided in him that she used to be homeless, has been working full-time since she was 15, and never got a high school degree. He knew it was in his power to help her with that.
In a tight squeeze

Last but not least, Yellen worked with a water technician in Chesapeake, Va., to repair water damage. Part of the job required slithering through an extremely tight crawl space; not only did Yellen put his mask on upside down, but his complaining also drew an admonition from his female supervisor to "buck up!"

She told Yellen that she started as a cleaning technician and was "promoted" to a water technician nearly a year ago, but got no increase in pay because "corporate says there's a raise freeze." "I put that pay freeze in place to protect everyone -- to save their jobs and to keep from having to lay anyone off during the economic crisis," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

Yellen began his 'Undercover Boss' journey at the encouragement of his son, who watched the show for the first time with his roommates and immediately called his dad to tell him he needed to get involved. He did, and he has no regrets.

Although he was humbled, Yellen says he couldn't be prouder of the passion of his employees. "I was so impressed by their customer awareness," he said. "These are people with lives and challenges of their own, yet they go to work with an attitude of 'my problems are my problems, and I have to leave them at home and I have to give the homeowner everything I've got.'"