The story
Imagine a world where discarded plastics not only help rebuild and strengthen the 140,000 miles of railroad tracks in the U.S., but also help rebuild and elevate lives. Tim Noonan, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and founder and CEO of Evertrak, isn’t just imagining it – he’s laying the foundation for it, one railroad tie at a time.
Millions of wood railroad ties across the country need annual replacement due to environmental deterioration. Evertrak addresses this issue by manufacturing composite railroad ties from recycled plastic, which keeps plastic out of oceans and landfills and prevents deforestation. These ties are as strong as wood, free from harmful chemicals like creosote and five times more durable, lasting up to 50 years even in high-deterioration zones. At the end of their lifecycle, they can be recycled again, eliminating disposal costs and associated carbon emissions.
Noonan founded Evertrak in 2017 with a commitment to not only help railroad professionals operate more sustainably and at a lower overall cost without sacrificing product quality, but also to build a business that reflects veteran values and sparks greatness in others.
“What makes the Marine Corps uncommon is its willingness and determination to fight and win. Marines fight and win because of the love and respect that every Marine has for their fellow Marines,” Noonan said.
As a result, the culture that Noonan has fostered at Evertrak is based on love and respect for all, not for any particular achievements but just for being a fellow human being. This involves recognizing each individual’s worth, seeing the best in each other, assuming good intentions in others and committing to believing that all of us are better than the worst moments of our lives.
It’s this attitude that guides how Noonan manages his workforce, and it’s why he decided to hire within a population that often encounters barriers to employment due to social stigmas: the formerly incarcerated and the homeless. Currently, this segment makes up approximately half of the Evertrak workforce.
As Evertrak has grown from selling a few thousand railroad ties per year to tracking toward sales of more than 120,000 ties in the coming year, the company needed to leverage additional hiring pipelines to broaden the candidate pool and recruit more workers. In partnership with the Transformative Workforce Alliance at St. Louis University, Evertrak began reviewing resumes from formerly incarcerated individuals. Simultaneously, Evertrak worked with Missouri Veterans Endeavor to hire homeless veterans.
“We didn’t start the business to focus on helping people, but it’s a beautiful consequence of realizing that business can be a force for good in the world,” Noonan said.
As Noonan explains, good people end up incarcerated or homeless due to circumstances that have nothing to do with who they are as a person. These reasons include trauma, addiction, lack of education or an unstable, disadvantaged upbringing, for example. Some employers may not even consider hiring these citizens who are seeking solid ground. But without the stability, safety and security of a job, it can be hard to break the cycle of incarceration and homelessness and get ahead in life.
For many on Noonan’s team, their employment at Evertrak marks the first time they have received a paycheck or been offered benefits. Through Evertrak’s co-employment partnership with Insperity, Evertrak employees have access to comprehensive health care coverage (and Evertrak pays 85% of health care premiums), a 401(k) retirement savings program with a match and paid time off, among other standout benefits.
For these teammates, the opportunity represented by a steady wage and benefits is nothing less than life-changing. It’s left adult men in tears of happiness, according to Noonan.
“Economic liberty is liberty. This means our team members can buy or rent a home, buy a car and build credit. I hope our teammates feel they are paid fairly and treated superbly, and I hope that we have created the conditions for them to enjoy economic liberty and live their lives to the fullest,” Noonan said.
However, hiring hasn’t been without challenges for the company. Evertrak strives to proactively address the patterns it sees among employees by reshaping habits around showing up on time consistently for shifts, training on professional behaviors and teamwork, educating on the proper use of equipment and technology, and managing a high turnover rate.
“There’s an old saying in the military that ‘no one rises to the occasion; we sink to our training,’” Noonan said. “So we try not to do three strikes and you’re out; it’s more like 20 strikes and you’re out. We meet people where they are, not where we want them to be. We engage in frequent discussions to really help them understand what they need to do better. We also try not to make assumptions.
“For example, if someone isn’t following work instructions, we ask ourselves, ‘Is it because we haven’t trained people well enough? Are the work instructions too complicated? Are we taking for granted that everyone can read? Are we assuming that everyone can follow the sequence of instructions – and have we considered that there might be too many instructions in a row?’”
Noonan and one of his shift supervisors, Diane Donaldson, describe one particular employee who they had to coach out of making poor lifestyle decisions that would impact his employment.
“He had a child at home and responsibilities. We asked him, ‘Do you really want to blow this opportunity?’ Fortunately, he was willing to make a change. Now, he’s one of the best guys we have on the floor, and we wouldn’t have seen this if we didn’t give him a second chance,” Donaldson said, proving that it’s possible for these employees to achieve success.
“We have to get better at the business of business. The game will be faster. We will expect more from our people. But there doesn’t have to be a trade-off between delivering results and being profitable and also having a caring culture. I truly believe that our people want to do a good job, be part of a team and contribute to something bigger than themselves,” Noonan said.
In addition to providing comprehensive human resources (HR) solutions as Evertrak’s PEO, Insperity’s HR professionals are instrumental in offering guidance and answering questions related to the more unusual and bespoke scenarios that Evertrak occasionally encounters with its employees.
“Our challenges are unique, and Insperity has been there to help us,” Noonan said. “Insperity is a teammate, where we have each other’s back and we fight for each other’s success. Insperity is real help, not just a help desk.”
Community impact
To give back to the organization that helped grow its workforce with valued employees, and as a nod to Noonan’s own military history, Evertrak is directing the $5,000 charitable donation it received for being named an Insperity Community Hero to Missouri Veterans Endeavor (MOVE), a nonprofit organization that serves homeless veterans in St. Louis.
Bill Wallace, the founder of MOVE, served in the U.S. Army and earned a master’s degree in social work. According to Noonan, he saw a specific problem in the local St. Louis community – a disproportionately high population of homeless veterans – and set out to solve it.
MOVE’s mission is to create individualized action plans to overcome each veteran’s obstacles, set personal goals, help them realize independent living and reintegrate them into their communities. To that end, he purchased an apartment building to temporarily house these veterans and hired clinical and social services staff to address the various challenges that these veterans face. Evertrak’s donation will support this important work.
“It’s more than a thank-you to veterans for their past service; it’s us saying we need you and want to help you,” Noonan said. “MOVE is working at the point of friction in society to alleviate suffering where it matters, and that really speaks to us. At Evertrak, we create jobs for people who really need it and help our people get access to benefits like health care. We see our organizations as aligned in positively impacting individual lives and getting them out of tough situations.”
As for the future, Noonan anticipates continued growth in product sales, with plans to break 1 million sales in the next five years, along with greater development of Evertrak’s people and their skills. This vision translates into an even more profound impact on Evertrak employees, the communities they serve and the environment as a whole.
“Our challenges are unique, and Insperity has been there to help us. Insperity is a teammate, where we have each other’s back and we fight for each other’s success. Insperity is real help, not just a help desk.”
Tim Noonan
Founder and CEO
Evertrak