Inside Business Top Workplaces 2023: Tidewater Staffing
Small companies, ranked No. 16
President Jay Prock shared insight into the workplace of Tidewater Staffing.
What makes your business a top employer? Our mission: We put people to work and do the right thing every day. Our employees really buy into this, and it is evident because of the impact that we have on our community. We placed over 4,000 people with opportunities in 2022, and the feeling you get from helping others achieve their goal is something that drives our staff forward every day.
How do you measure employee satisfaction? Peer reviews, biweekly leadership meetings, interacting with staff and the associates by dropping into classes or on the worksites. We also have quarterly staff events where we get a chance to get to know the staff outside of our work relationships.
What strategies do you have for retaining employees? We have competitive pay rates and a badging system that allows employees to earn bonus pay for achieving company metrics. We have an intranet where we celebrate births, sports accomplishments, career milestones, and other significant moments of our employees’ lives. We also try to recruit for an appropriate cultural fit which includes a personality test, a long working interview, and reference checks. We find that when we get the culture part right, the technical skills are easier to teach.
What do you do to develop employees and help them grow? We work to upskill each staff employee with an internal trainer and extensive resources via our intranet.The associates receive up to 20 hours of free training to prepare them for some of the industrial environments. We have an entire warehouse facility with a mock ship board environment that each employee gets to experience.
Are you hiring? Always! We are always hiring for recruiters and placements (associates). For recruiters, we look for people who love people! We also look for moderate skill sets with computing and any experience in the industries that we serve; maritime, logistics, and manufacturing is a plus. For the associates, we have entry-level through skilled positions available. A few examples would be fire preventers, painters, power tool operators, tank cleaners, forklift operators, material handlers, welders, ship fitters, pipefitters, electricians, and project managers.
About the company
Tidewater Staffing Inc. is an employment agency specializing in providing screened and qualified personnel to our clients in the ship repair, shipbuilding, warehousing, logistics and affiliated port businesses throughout the region.
Address: Corporate:1000 Poindexter St., Chesapeake; 749 Florida Ave., Portsmouth; 604 W. Washington St., Suffolk; 3800 Huntington Ave., Newport News; 5425 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach
Phone: 757-543-0100
Website: tidewaterstaffing.com
Top executives: Jay C. Prock, president; Nikki Doyle, managing partner; Terrell Moses, vice president of production; Billy Allred, chief financial officer
Employees: 4,000-plus
Benefits include: Paid holidays, paid time off, medical and family leave, personal leave, group health insurance, complimentary life insurance, jury/witness duty leave, voting time off, 401(k)-100% TSI match and profit-sharing, bereavement leave, PTO sell back, electric vehicle program, hardship loans, staff stats program, advancement pipeline, TSI exchange program, TSI mentor program, staff referral bonus, leadership training, Employee of the Month program, education reimbursement. Associates can elect for health care, dental, vision and life insurance benefits on day one.
Fun factor: The happiest days are when employees placed on a job are offered full-time employment by our customers.
Community service: The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries bring in the vessels and cargo to our port. We are actively involved in the entities that protect these local waterway resources. We are a Lynnhaven River Now Pearl Business, Elizabeth River Project Star Business and an active donor and supporter of the Vessel Disposal and Reuse Foundation, which removes derelict vessels from our local waterways.