(Photo credit: Rising Tide Car Wash)
In an effort to train recent college graduates to be inclusive leaders, Rising Tide Car Wash, a groundbreaking social enterprise with a primary mission to employ adults with autism, is launching its Operations Management & Leadership Development Program for high-caliber recent college graduates.
As the company prepares to open its third location, in Coral Springs, in late 2021 or early 2022, the program is a critical element of its expansion plans. It already has locations in Parkland and Margate. The program is also a large lever for impact, as it will develop leaders who challenge the status quo and inspire their communities to build a better future. The program is a two-year commitment, after which these leaders may move on to other opportunities in their careers and spread the inclusive business practices they learned with Rising Tide Car Wash.
Rising Tide Car Wash developed the program to teach trainees the skills that they need to lead, with them or anywhere. It is designed to help them grow from raw potential through management and leadership skill development, to mastery of many operational and managerial disciplines. Trainees will learn and practice Rising Tide Car Wash’s cornerstones for inclusive leadership, which are Drive Organizational Clarity, Deliberately Develop Employees, Design for our Users, Build Psychological Safety, Create Accountability, and Cultivate Purpose.
“We’re looking for talented people to help us build a world-class service organization that employs individuals with autism for the majority of our staff,” said John D’Eri, co-founder and CEO of Rising Tide Car Wash. “We believe that achieving this goal is the most effective way to close the opportunity gap for individuals with autism. We want people who want to work hard to be the best version of themselves and who want to help others do the same.”
Rising Tide Car Wash’s founders and senior management will train participants to be a manager at one of the company’s locations, where they will be responsible for leading a team to achieve four core objectives: to provide exceptional service, offer clean and well-maintained facilities, develop employees, and grow location profitability.
Participants will work through eight phases of growth, through which they will complete a robust training program with more than 60 video learning modules, and receive on-the-job training and coaching. Over the course of the program, participants will receive consistent feedback and coaching.
Those leading the program will teach business and operational cornerstones that differentiate Rising Tide Car Wash from most organizations. Trainees will gain hands-on experience working alongside more than 70 individuals with autism, and directly influencing their lives. They will get to know them, help them grow as people and as professionals, and help pave the way for many more to have the same opportunities as the rest of society.
Currently, unemployment among people with autism is approximately 85 percent, and at least 500,000 more individuals with autism will enter the workforce in the next decade. Rising Tide Car Wash brings an increased awareness to the community at large about the importance of employing individuals on the autism spectrum, and their capability to participate in and contribute to the community.
Rising Tide Car Wash, a high-quality car wash, is one of the largest employers of people with autism in the U.S. Rising Tide Car Wash and its consultants created an innovative model that breaks the car washing process into 46 distinct steps. Employees work in a mirror image of each other and are able to thrive off the repetitive structure to produce extraordinary results.
John D’Eri and his son Thomas D’Eri, COO of Rising Tide Car Wash, co-founded the company in 2013 to develop a scalable solution to employing individuals with autism. They were inspired to do this by watching John’s son and Thomas’ brother, Andrew, a vibrant young man with autism, struggle to find his place in the world. Rising Tide Car Wash is one of the largest employers of people with autism in the U.S.
Rising Tide Car Wash has been honored with the U.S. Senate Small Business of the Week designation, The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD), Blind Services, and Vocational Rehabilitation’s Florida Exceptional Employers designation; Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award, Community Service Leadership Award from the International Carwash Association® (ICA), Employer of the Year by the Autism Society, Small Business of the Year by South Florida Business Connection, the Autism Society’s Adam Heavner Memorial Award for Employer of the Year, TEDxCoconutGrove’s Hope Prize, and more.
For more information about Rising Tide Car Wash’s Operations Management & Leadership Development Program, visit www.risingtidecarwash.com/omld-program.
About Rising Tide Car Wash
Rising Tide Car Wash is a scalable social enterprise with the primary mission to employ adults with autism. By delivering a first-rate car wash experience to the consumer, Rising Tide strives to inspire communities to change their perception of the capabilities of people with autism. Through intensive training, team building and caring for the community, Rising Tide sets its employees up for success. With this model, Rising Tide has a goal to provide people with autism with an opportunity to build a career and achieve an independent lifestyle. Rising Tide Car Wash has two locations: 7201 N. State Rd 7, Parkland, FL 33067; and 2970 N. State Rd 7, Margate, FL 33063. It is open seven days a week from 8 a.m.–7 p.m. For more information, visit www.risingtidecarwash.com, call (954) 344-1855 or email info@risingtidecarwash.com.
