When James pulled our group together and we started talking about, you know, all kind
of, many of us had worked together in different capacities, but when kind of pulled us together
and talked about, hey, we're all passionate about being excellent, what we do, about process,
about people, we can do this thing.
We really focused on the quality and really wanted something better for our clients.
They were paying a lot of money, not getting the quality, and then we also knew the problems
that the employees were having, which is the construction market can be a rough trade.
We decided, hey, we can do this, we can do this better, we can provide the quality, we
can provide a good place for the employees to learn and develop new skills.
Being in the electrical trade, you have four years to be in the field of on-the-job training
to become a journeyman electrician.
And with that, we support a four-year apprenticeship program.
We're always hiring people to come into our program, and we like to bring people in that
are completely green, don't know the trade, so we can train them in our process.
With that, we were starting to donate, spend time with different charities.
We realized that they had some candidates that were coming out of their program looking
for jobs, and so that's where we decided, let's test this out.
And we started this pre-apprenticeship program.
So the guys come to us from some of the varied programs.
Not only did they learn everything, they're kind of putting their lives together, too.
They learn their tools, they learn what it takes to go out of their job site.
And then when we send them out, they're ready to go, they're ready to be a part of Wayfield.
It's really been just giving these guys just an opportunity that you care for, and you
say, guys, I got you 40 hours, I got you health insurance, and they've never had that opportunity
before.
It's just rewarding.
Life has its challenges, things kind of changed, and ended up getting a felony, and it's kind
of hard getting a job as a felon.
As an addict, it's hard to get back into society and reintegrate, to get with a good company.
It's a tough road.
I bumped my head quite a few times, got some drug charges, some DUIs, and honestly, I don't
think that I'd be here with such a great future ahead of me without Wayfield.
I just bought a house, literally a month ago, just paid off my vehicle.
Things are looking very positive.
Just they're ready to make a change in their life.
You see that switch where, hey, I've made some bad decisions in the past, but this company
believes in me, and they're giving me a future, and they're investing in me, and a lot of
people didn't hire me before.
It's kind of as you see it click.
We've got 300 employees right now, and you equate that out, and there's 600 people that
we're affecting, and we're affecting families.
God gives you different giftings, and if you have that business gifting, and you can excel
within business, you can capture a big audience.
Being in that position where you can have an area of influence and affect people positively
is really powerful.
For us, it's kind of evolved over time, figuring out what is our culture going to be, who are
we going to be.
We want people to do well here.
We want them to retire well.
We want them to feel like they're a part of something bigger, and so setting that vision
and what are we doing in the next five years, what's our role or responsibility in the community,
how are we serving, how are we giving back?
We're all blessed with all these talents, how do you do something bigger than build
a building?
I view that the workplace, everybody spends time there, so many hours a week, and so how
can you make a difference by being consistent and showing people just in your actions that
you care and can be present with your time, because I think when you build relationships
then that's when people trust you, and you can talk a little bit more about your faith
and what you believe in.
With all the connections that we have, focusing on giving back and serving and connecting
with community groups and charities, it takes it to this other level, so we're affecting
families, we're affecting community groups, and it starts to build on each other, and
it's a beautiful thing.
