For three years, New York-based Hoffman Car Wash has offered scholarships of $1,000 to qualifying employees. The awards can be used for attendance at two-year or four-year colleges or at a trade school. The first year of the program, Hoffman offered 10 scholarships. However, the response was so strong that the company expanded to 15 scholarships in each of the following two years.

After Hoffman selects the scholarship recipients each year — whittling them down from a pool of about 45-50 applicants — the company holds a ceremony for the students. The recipients’ families attend the event, where they meet some of Hoffman’s top managers and administrators.

“We make it a big deal,” said Ron Slone, President of Hoffman Development Corp., which owns and operates the car washes. “We put their names up on a projector and the school they’re going to, and we talk a little bit about them. We have a lot of fun with it. It’s one of my favorite afternoons of the year.”

Hoffman is among a group of car wash operations that choose to offer college scholarships to their employees. The scope and qualifications of the scholarship programs vary, but each program strives to reward hardworking employees while building a reputation as an employer supportive of both workers and the community.

2019 recipients with Tom Hoffman Sr., co-founder of Hoffman Development Corp. (from left to right): Aiden Strain, Binh Ho, Cassie Hindes, Kassie Buffman, Ryan Bruzdzunski, Shaun May, Tyler Fitzgerald, Aaron Hinman, Tom Hoffman Sr., Mikayla Luskin, Nicholas Basco, Emily Davenport, Conor Luibrand, Andrew Davenport, Thomas Webster and Jordan Leandro.

Slone said Hoffman decided to add a scholarship program because it recognized a void in its worker benefits offerings.

“We have a 401(k), we have medical, we have a hardship loan program. We have lots of things that we’ve put in place over the years to help our employees navigate their day-to-day lives, but this was an area we felt like we hadn’t addressed,” he Slone. “And obviously you have to have your head in a bucket not to know that the cost of education is rising year after year.”

Nicole Speranza, Director of Training and Communications for Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems, said the cost of higher education plays a role in her company’s scholarship offering. The Delta Sonic Scholarship Program, started in 2006, has awarded more than $600,000 to more than 500 students. This year, the company, which has locations in New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, expanded the program to 150 awards to accommodate a record number of applications. Prize amounts are determined by years of service.

“We recognize that as college degrees become more expensive and time-consuming, it is our responsibility as an employer to assist our team members to navigate the shifting educational landscape,” Speranza said.

POSSIBLE DEPARTURES

Slone said Hoffman provides scholarships knowing most of the recipients will not return to work for the company over the long term, though he said a healthy percentage tend to come back to work during holiday breaks while they are still in college.

“We don’t worry about that,” Slone said. “We feel like it’s all part of being an employer of choice — of being a good corporate citizen.”

Similarly, Katie Sens, Human Resources Manager for North Carolina-based Autobell Car Wash, said crew members who have received a scholarship from the company have become lawyers, doctors, accountants, software engineers and developers, teachers, nurses, sales managers and marketing professionals, among many other professions. The Autobell Car Wash Scholarship program is open to all crew members who have been employed for one year as of March 31 each year. This past year, Autobell awarded scholarships totaling $169,250 to 136 crew members, and it has given $1.6 million in scholarships since starting the program in 2001.

Though most of Autobell’s scholarship recipients never return to the company, others become longtime employees who eventually rise to key positions as managers or employees in the home office. Autobell’s managers are not required to have a college degree, but Sens said for some of them, “that was just one of their goals in life. They wanted to have that college degree. And, of course, it will be really helpful for them if they do leave us to get another job.”



Autobell scholarship winners.

“It helps to instill a sense of loyalty to the company, but it also helps people to pursue their dreams,” she said. “And that’s important too.”

Speranza said the Delta Sonic Scholarship Program is part of the work her company does to ensure that “we are doing everything we can to develop [our employees] and help them grow during their employment here.”

“While we recognize that most of our scholarship winners won’t stay at Delta Sonic long term, we hope that by investing in our employees’ education early in their employment life cycle, we are also investing in our long-term success as an organization,” she said.

RECRUTING AND RETENTION

Anna Zappia, Director of Human Resources for Mister Car Wash, said her company’s scholarship and tuition-reimbursement programs are pieces of a larger offering of programs tied to recruitment and retention. Mister Car Wash’s scholarship program is available to both employees and their dependents. The company launched the scholarship program in 2016 and will have awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships by the end of this year.

Mister Car Wash, based in Arizona, also launched a tuition-reimbursement program in 2019 to assist employees with college tuition, GED, trade certifications and English-as-a-second-language courses.

“There is no single solution to the tight job market we are currently experiencing,” Zappia said.


2018 winners of Mister Car Wash scholarships: Danielle Pomeroy, Eduardo Ballesteros and Erika Garcia of Tucson, Ariz., with their regional managers and general managers.

Speranza said Delta Sonic’s scholarship program has supported recruiting while also serving as part of an overall benefits package that can help limit turnover.

“At Delta Sonic, we aren’t focused solely on creating good employees,” she said. “We want to help our team members grow as people as well. Our scholarship program is a natural outgrowth of this genuine commitment and has been a huge draw for potential applicants.”

Hoffman does not treat the benefit as a recruiting tool, though Slone said he sees long-term reputational benefits with potential employees.

“We think that these young men and women will have good experiences here and that they’ll take that back and talk to other people about it,” he said. “I think all businesses will tell you that the best place to get new employees is from referrals.”


2018 winner of Mister Car Wash scholarship: Jakob Kopf of Reading, Pa.

According to Sens, Autobell’s scholarship program has been a major boost to recruiting for teen crew members — “it’s a differentiator from other teen employers in our markets” — not just for the attention it gets from young workers themselves but for its appeal to those workers’ parents. Sens said parents have played an increasingly strong role in steering high-school students to jobs.

“We do more in-store advertising aimed at parents now to try and grab their attention,” she said. “Some of them will think, ‘Oh, my kid has got a couple more years of high school. Maybe they could get a college scholarship by working at Autobell.’ ”

BUILDING CULTURE AND GOODWILL

Speranza said hosting a college scholarship program helps foster a culture of excellence within the Delta Sonic workforce and shows the company will reward employees who go above and beyond, both at work and in life.

“Our scholarship program is one of the most effective means for us as a company to demonstrate our desired cultural standards,” Speranza said.

Zappia points to a similar strategy at Mister Car Wash. The scholarship program ties into the company’s “culture of never settling and always finding ways to be better.”


2018 winners of Mister Car Wash scholarships: Brook Burnopp, Bridget Rabaglia and Harmony Sartwell of Annapolis, Md.

“Offering programs to help our employees continue their education and better themselves reinforces that culture of continuous improvement and creates a workforce that is aligned with our values and aspirations,” Zappia said.

Zappia said one of Mister Car Wash’s core beliefs is creating opportunities for its people through continuous learning and development. Education, Zappia said, can be a key component of ongoing development.

“Our primary goal with offering scholarships and tuition reimbursement is to support the goals and growth of our people and their families,” Zappia said. “We hope that through these programs, our employees feel that being part of the Mister Car Wash family is more than just a job. It’s an opportunity to learn, grow and truly shine.”

Sens pointed out that employees are not just current workers, they also are future customers and potential advocates.

“A lot of our customers used to work for us,” Sens said. “From my perspective, it’s a community goodwill effort. If they’ve had a positive experience at Autobell — if Autobell has treated them right — then that’s something that they’re going to remember.”

ICA SCHOLARSHIP

Each year, to encourage the pursuit of a college education, International Carwash Association presents a $1,000 Larry Harrell Scholarship to a deserving recipient. Recipients are selected on the basis of high school standing, leadership roles, community involvement, honors and response to the 500-word essay. For details, visit http://bit.ly/ICAscholarship