Towels whip back and forth methodically over the body of the car, resulting in a sparkling finish. With unbridled enthusiasm the employee grabs a squirt bottle and begins work on the rims. Within six minutes, the employee has completed a well-rehearsed, 39-step process that leaves the car spotless and the customer completely satisfied.
This isn’t an unusual occurrence at this successful car wash, servicing 500 cars a day with 100 percent customer satisfaction. What is unusual is the diversity of the staff that makes this service possible: 80 percent of the employees are on the autism spectrum and 15 percent are Opportunity Youth, young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor working. This is the makeup of Rising Tide Car Wash, a South Florida car wash with the primary mission to employ adults with autism.
The strategies and methods Rising Tide Car Wash utilizes are reflective of the best practices demonstrated in any organization that wishes to harness the power of a diverse workforce. “Everyone works through the same goals. When you design a system that works well for people with autism, it works better for everyone. We are trying to build the best possible work system to empower all of our employees, and it happens to work well with people with autism as well,” said Thomas D’Eri, Chief Operating Officer of Rising Tide Car Wash.
Diversity in the workplace is often described in terms of differences that you can see, particularly ethnicity and gender. But as Rising Tide Car Wash demonstrates, diversity can transcend these one-dimensional definitions. Ethnicity and gender are one side of diversity, but so are other factors that impact a person’s world view. Age, religion, socioeconomics, education, employee personality, and work style add to the richness of a diverse and inclusive workplace.
“There are many layers of diversity that exist. You want to have a diverse workforce that comes from different backgrounds because it forces you to think about things in unique ways. It creates differences of opinion that, when handled well, improves your business,” said Brad Federman, Chief Operation Officer of F&H Solutions Group.
Numerous studies show that harnessing workplace diversity gives organizations a competitive advantage in areas such as innovation, problem solving, and talent retention. Respecting diversity in the workplace fosters innovation, expands a team’s abilities, and provides more varied talents, experiences and perspectives. Embracing a diverse workforce also has external strategic implications. “You want a diverse workforce because your customer base is diverse,” Federman said. “Customers will notice and be more apt to do business with you when you have different types of people in your organization. It sends the message: We want to represent our customers, we want to represent our communities.”
“Diversity is inviting people to the party … do you have the right mix of people that work here?” Federman said. Organizations seeking diverse candidates should think outside of the box in terms of recruitment. Reaching out to ethnic clubs and college campuses is one option. Businesses can also focus on diversity-related community outreach and develop a presence at events that have a diverse audience. Putting together a diverse recruiting team showcases your company values and helps attract diverse candidates.
Efforts to increase diversity should not be a distraction from what matters most, a company’s culture. “If you focus on your culture and people consistently feel valued, respected, and safe in your work environment, the numbers will happen by themselves,” Federman said. “You won’t have to recruit unique people, they’ll seek you out. And you’ll have your choice because you’ll become an employer of choice.”
“If diversity is inviting people to the party, inclusion is asking them to dance,” Federman said. Inclusion is an area where many businesses struggle. “We ask people from different perspectives and backgrounds to come work for us, and then we don’t value their unique perspectives,” Federman said.
One of the biggest impediments to inclusion is human nature.
“If you sit down and look at who a person interacts with on a regular basis by choice, who their best friends are, nine times out of 10, they look and sound exactly like that person,” Federman said. “That means that I’ve got blind spots. There are things that I don’t see, I don’t hear, I don’t understand, I don’t explore.”
Managers need to reflect on possible blind spots and become more aware of their own and their organization’s biases. Areas of bias can be as diverse as your employees and is not limited to ethnicity and gender. For example, extroverted leadership styles can have biases against introverted work styles, promoting only those individuals who also display a gregarious communication style.
Eileen Scully, author and founder of The Rising Tides consulting group focusing on women’s issues in the workplace, said that minority groups in the workplace are at special risk of being subject to bias and exclusion. “In any industry where women are a small minority,” such is often the case in the car wash industry, “management often does not step back to proactively listen to their concerns or provide a platform equal to that of the men. Their voices are not heard at the same levels, either because they are discouraged from participating at all, or they are not represented at the tables where the decisions are made,” she said.
Sexism and harassment are the most obvious problems when women’s voices are squelched, but women also can experience lack of promotions, unequal treatment by supervisors, bullying, or other small daily behaviors that reinforce that they are not considered equal. “Management has a responsibility to not only provide a clear, safe, private, way for women to discuss and report these behaviors, but a process by which they document and act on them also,” Scully said.
Rising Tide Car Wash makes open communication and honest feedback a cornerstone of the company culture. Using Officevibe, an anonymous feedback software, Rising Tide Car Wash employees are able to voice opinions anonymously that may not be comfortable saying in person. “It also gives us great data and target points to work on to make the organization better,”D’Eri said.
Rising Tide Car Wash embraces the diversity of its workforce and leverages these differences to create a superior car wash experience. “We are trying to empower people through these really good work systems, and by doing that we are able to unlock the potential of people with autism as well as many other groups,” D’Eri said.
Managers need to understand the aspirations and values of their employees to keep them motivated. Rising Tide Car Wash partnered with researchers in the field of autism to develop a linear training process which is broken into 60 goals.
Clear requirements and bite-sized learning modules keep employees on track to progress from “passenger side associate” to “driver’s side associate” with the goals of “manager in training” and “location manager” in clear sight. Data from Officevibe provides evidence of the method’s success: when compared to individuals across the country in all manner of industries, employees at Rising Tide Car Wash scored in the 97th percentile in the area of pride for their work.
Clear, concise goals and succinctly communicated requirements for promotion opportunities are useful no matter what the makeup of a diverse workforce.
Millennials, individuals born between 1982 and 2004, respond especially positively to quantified milestones and feedback. “72 percent of Millennials say they are more engaged when you quantify their goals,” said Jeff Butler, author and Millennial expert and consultant. “The day a Millennial leaves you is the day they feel they are no longer receiving anything from your organization. The Harvard Business Review says that for Millennials, the number one thing they look for is growth. If you make them feel that they are on the path to being what they want to be, then you now have on your hands a very highly retained, engaged employee.”
Have you ever been to a wedding where there are only two couples on the dance floor and everyone else is sitting? Compare this to a party where the food is barely touched because even Grandma is on the dance floor joining the fun. As a guest, you want to get up and be part of the party yourself. A manager paying attention to diversity and inclusion in the workplace is akin to the ultimate wedding DJ: energy is shared, individuals are moving together as a team, and the overall outcome is better.
As an organization continues to grow, care should be taken that not only the technical aspects of a role are communicated, but that the company culture is taught as well. “A company culture of inclusion starts way before you bring people in. Communicate when you are recruiting, selecting, and hiring people. Make it part of an on-boarding experience,” Federman said. Rising Tide Car Wash begins its training process with social stories and event scenarios to make the expectations of the work environment clear and communicate the company values.
A mentorship system can also be helpful when imparting the company values. “Put a buddy system in place so the new employee is not just learning the ropes of how the car wash works, but how to treat fellow employees and customers,” Federman said.Butler suggests implementing “reverse mentoring” popularized by former GE Chairman Jack Welsh. Reverse mentoring embraces and leverages staff diversity. An older staff member is paired with a younger Millennial employee, helping to close the knowledge gap between generations. For example, older employees can help impart the company culture and younger employees can help explain new technologies and social media.
No matter what makes up the diversity of a business, the company culture needs to be built upon inclusion and respect. “As an organization, top down, you need to have a clear stance on inclusion and what you want to reflect and share with your company in a meaningful way,” Federman said. “Don’t leave it to chance.” Get everyone dancing.