TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — Second chances are not always given, so when one comes along, it is often taken with eager appreciation.
What You Need To Know
- Tampa entrepreneur Zachary Tucker, owner of Phillips Pool Service, is receiving a $5,000 national grant from Jobber
- Jobber is an operations management software company. It recently gave out $150,000 via the Jobber Grants program
- Tucker plans to use his grant for an employee training program to create an efficient onboarding process for new hires
- Tucker provides jobs to people who generally didn’t go to college and may have minor criminal charges
On a hot, late summer day, Bruce Peck cleans a massive community pool.
It’s a big change in his life from a few years ago.
“I knew nothing about a pool at all,” said Peck, laughing. “Absolutely nothing.”
But now, cleaning one is almost second nature, and it is a job he cherishes.
“I was in trouble, probably from 16 to about 27,” said Peck. “I was constantly in trouble, and Zach was able to look past all that stuff and see something valuable in me.”
Zachary Tucker works silently alongside Peck. He owns Phillips Pool Service.
“What I care about most is who that person is now. What their work ethic is like and are they teachable? Are they trainable? Are they responsible? Are they accountable? I just need someone who is going to show up day in and day out,” said Tucker.
When Tucker bought the business from his father, who ran it for 30 years, he decided to modernize the technology and software, along with expanding the hiring process.
Tucker did this with the company called Jobber, which just awarded him an additional $5,000 to keep expanding.
“It just really revolutionized everything we have done,” said Tucker.
With the grant money, Tucker said he is going to expand his new employee training program.
“The goal is for them to be able to go in this online training program, and then be able to learn and do everything on their own time. And then I come in as more of like a check out,” said Tucker.
The program is what made Peck so happy to change his career.
“Zach has a very unique training style. He makes it very user friendly for all types of learning styles. I was able to pick up on cleaning fairly easy, by the end of our training period we were just cleaning pools together,” said Tucker.
Peck is not alone — in total, Tucker said over half of his employees have some minor criminal history. Seven of the nine did not go to college, and one never finished high school.
Tucker said his staff is extremely dedicated, and cleans more than 360 pools a week.
“I couldn’t be more grateful than what I am right now. Like I said, Zach has made a whole new quality of life for me. Not only am I grateful, but my family is also eternally grateful for what Zach has done for my family,” said Peck.
A fresh start, and a freshly cleaned pool.
“It looks perfect,” Peck said, smiling.