At a Glance |
Progressive Document Destruction Principal: Craig Yoder Location: Cocoa, Fla., headquarters and secure shredding plant Number of Employees: 15 Truck Fleet: Three mobile shredding trucks; several collection trucks Shredding Equipment: AmeriShred in-plant shredder Baling Equipment: Harris HRB baler Services Provided: NAID AAA-certified for mobile shredding services; plant-based document destruction; electronic media and product destruction; sister company Progressive Recycling offers recycling of many different grades of paper, as well as metals and curbside commodities |
Craig Yoder recognizes that good interpersonal communication skills can make the difference between motivating and alienating employees. He admits he has at times had to learn from his own mistakes in this regard, but Yoder does not take employee relations lightly.
The co-founder of Progressive Recovery Inc. says he manages with a focus on getting to know and caring about employees, including the drivers who he calls the key to success for the Progressive Document Destruction subsidiary of his Cocoa, Fla.-based company.
"We’re a very driver-driven company," Yoder says, acknowledging his own pun. Employees have full medical and dental benefits and are urged to provide honest feedback if routes become too dense for the job to be done properly.
While a calculator may show evidence that such policies will hurt a corporate bottom line, Craig says his company’s bottom line is paid back through employee loyalty.
BRANCHING OUT
Like many document destruction company owners, Craig entered the business after first operating a recycling company.
A native of the Cleveland area, Craig moved to Florida when he and his two partners purchased an Anheuser-Busch recycling center in Cocoa, Fla., situated in Brevard County on Florida’s central eastern coast, about 45 miles southeast of Orlando.
![]() Tiffany Johnston and Craig Yoder |
Unlike many recyclers his age, Craig is not a second or third-generation recycler. "When I was in college, I worked for an electrical contractor in Cleveland who maintained equipment, including equipment located at scrap yards," Craig recalls. "The first time I stepped into a scrap yard, I knew I wanted to get into that business. I liked the heavy equipment and everything that went along with it."
The company he bought into, though, was not moving mountainous piles of metal. "When we bought it, it was taking in the material from Brevard County’s curbside program, plus buying a little bit of scrap metal—such as aluminum beverage cans—from other dealers and across the scale," Craig recalls.
The business, now named Progressive Recycling, expanded its operations on the paper recycling side to include office paper recycling programs and commercial recycling, such as collecting cardboard from retailers and industrial customers.
Following opportunities on the paper recycling side of the business, Craig attended his first NAID (National Association for Information Destruction Inc.) conference in the late 1990s in nearby St. Petersburg, Fla. Soon after, "We got into the mobile shredding business and then we started offsite shredding in 2000," he says.
Progressive Recycling and Progressive Document Destruction are now two separate subsidiaries of parent company Progressive Recovery Inc.
The growth of the two Progressive companies continued into this decade. The smooth growth occurred even as Craig’s business partners opted out of the business, making Craig the sole original partner in early 2002.
What could have been a disastrous turn of events occurred in early 2002, when Craig was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. "Just about a week after I bought my partners out, I took the motorcycle out and shattered my knee and was on my back for three months," he says.
Craig tried to operate the business as best he could from the hospital and his home, but learned to rely on key staff members, including Director of Operations and Business Development Tiffany Johnston, who had been hired just weeks before the accident.
Craig quickly learned that no company is the result of one person’s efforts or ideas. "It’s synergy between management and staff in the office and on the routes," he says. "Our service is unparalleled because of the synergy of our staff."
EMPLOYEES FIRST
Many companies print customer service pledges in their brochures and hang reminders on their office walls: Customers come first.
Progressive Recovery, however, sees a backdoor route to achieving that goal. "The company philosophy needs to be that employees are number one and customers are number two, because your employees will take care of your customers," says Tiffany.
Craig acknowledges that this is not a philosophy that was natural to him and that it was not the attitude he brought to the company when he became co-owner in the late 1990s. "I tried to be the heavy-handed boss when I came in, trying to run the business with my mouth, but I learned," he says. "One of my former partners showed me that you don’t have to do that and that it can pay off to have faith and trust in your employees. I used to be a screamer, but he cured that."
But style is as important as substance. "We have a great employee retention rate, and I think that comes from our recognition that there is not a separation between personal lives and job performance and job satisfaction," says Craig.
He says his most important job duty in the morning is "to catch up and see how everyone is doing. Is everyone smiling? I need to take as much care of them as they do of me."
The payoff of the employee treatment policy is tangible, Craig and Tiffany say. "Our drivers know they are the face of our company when we serve customers," says Tiffany. "They’ll make sure to say ‘hello’ or to see if there is a request the customer has for a change in service."
Craig adds, "Our drivers know they have to get a lot done on their routes, but they also maintain a rapport with customers. It is interesting the calls I get complimenting the staff: Compliments about the young lady they talked to on the phone or the driver who helped them solve a problem. We just don’t lose customers," he continues. "It is clear to me I wouldn’t still be in business if it was not for my employees."
The loyalty runs both ways. Craig says that while he and Tiffany were on the road attending the 2005 NAID Annual Conference, several employees made arrangements to repair a failed piece of equipment and then arrived at work at 3:30 the next morning to catch up on destruction work. "You can’t buy that kind of loyalty; I think it has to be genuine," says Craig.
For the philosophy to work, the right employees have to be in place. The company takes part in a State of Florida drug-free workplace-monitoring program and also adheres to NAID AAA-certification standards for background checks for employees handling confidential documents.
In fact, Progressive goes a step beyond that and insists that its Progressive Document Destruction drivers maintain licenses as (unarmed) security guards. "The licensing practice provides continuing education and reminds them that they are in the security business," says Tiffany. "They have to take classes and must have their background checks updated. It gives us peace of mind employing them."
One of the Classics |
Publishers and librarians worried that reading is a dying leisure time pursuit will be glad to know that Craig Yoder, owner of Progressive Recovery Inc., Cocoa, Fla., is an avid reader of management books and biographies. "I used to read a lot of management books when I first became a business owner, and now I try to read a biography every quarter to see how people got to where they are," Craig comments. He says one of the most influential books was one of the first ones that he read: Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill in 1937. The book offers a combination of motivational messages and suggested steps for business owners and managers to achieve success and has been hailed as an influence for decades by successful leaders. Craig credits Think and Grow Reach and subsequent books for helping him develop the management style that has made Progressive Recovery Inc. a distinctive and successful company. The book has sold more than 7 million copies and is touted as being the result of Napoleon Hill’s interviews of "504 of the most successful people on the planet." |
Craig says, "We wanted to do this even though it goes above and beyond the certification. We strive to be the best operators in our region."
LOCAL PROMINENCE
A motivational speaker at the 2005 NAID Convention urged attendees to "make themselves famous" by seeking favorable media coverage, joining civic organizations and rallying to help in civic and charitable efforts. Progressive Recovery could quite possibly teach a seminar on the topic.
Craig, Tiffany, other staff members or the company itself are members of multiple chambers of commerce in central Florida, as well as cultural boards, hospital foundations, the regional economic development commission and numerous other not-for-profit institutions. "The company philosophy is to give back to the community with time and donations—not just Craig and me, but all of our employees," says Tiffany.
Craig again credits the hard work and management abilities of his employees for allowing him to be able to devote time to such causes. "With such capable employees on board, I don’t spend that much time on operations any more," he says. "My time is spent paying attention to customers’ needs and looking at new customer prospects. And then, I do a lot in the community, sitting on several boards and being active in several not-for-profit organizations."
The company’s presence in the wider community has undoubtedly helped it raise its profile with corporate leaders who are prospective customers on both the recycling and document destruction sides of its business.
"You do get returns from it," says Craig of such involvement, "but it comes down to karma: If you do bad, you’re going to get bad in return; if you do good, you’re going to get good."
On a national scale, Craig has been quick to seek the input of the NAID office as well as fellow NAID members he has met at the group’s annual conferences. "NAID does a terrific job of keeping us, their constituents, informed," Craig says.
"I love the fact that the NAID staff and fellow NAID members are just a phone call away," he says. "NAID is a great information clearinghouse."
BIG BUSINESS
Progressive Recovery has remained competitive in the document destruction and recycling industries at a time when competition has heated up and also taken the form of competitors with much deeper pockets.
"When we started shredding, we probably had four competitors, and that was across all of central Florida," says Craig. "Now we probably have eight or nine."
Such competition has changed the pricing structure, as it has in many other regions. While a few years ago there was some concern that the industry could consolidate into the hands of a few national (or multi-national) companies, Craig does not necessarily see that occurring.
"It’s possible the industry is going to go the direction of having a few major players, but it could be like the solid waste industry," says Craig. "You’ll have the giants, but there will also be those with a truck or two and a work ethic. There will always be room for the hard-working independent operator."
The demand for information destruction services will continue to grow, Craig says. "There is definitely more legislation to come," he predicts.
As of early 2005, Craig notes that about 65 percent of Progressive Recovery’s revenue comes from the recycling side and 35 percent comes from the document destruction side, but the growth is on the document destruction side. "In two years, those percentages could be flipped," he says.
"There is still a long way to go in terms of customer education," Craig says of information destruction obligations and liability. "FACTA will bring a lot of awareness, but as of right now there are still attorneys who are not even familiar with the new FACTA rules. But in due time, especially if the government spanks someone, they’ll hear of it."
The central Florida market may benefit from more high-tech companies locating there. "It’s going to mean improved business for all of us, because high-tech companies are very aware of protecting confidential information."
No matter what changes affect the industry in the next few years, Craig says Progressive Recovery will meet its challenges in its own unique style.
"We’re way different, there’s no doubt about it," he says. "We may not grow as fast, but we grow happy. The relationship with employees is what makes us unique. This business is set up to be mutually beneficial for customers, managers and employees, or else it doesn’t work." n
The author is editor of Secure Destruction Business magazine and can be reached at btaylor@gie.net.
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