TCI Northeast Director John Boucher believes employee satisfaction and retention have a lot to do with the company’s rapid growth and the ever-widening management-to-staff ratio.
“It’s easy to see as an employee when you look around. We are at the point where I can’t manage 20 people at one time. Employees see that opportunity exists,” Boucher said.
He believes the prospect of being able to move up in the company is the single biggest reason employees want to stay at TCI.
He said opportunity is important, but it’s a culture that fosters professional development that makes advancement possible. In the company’s application to the PBN Best Places to Work program, TCI stated it encourages workers to “approach their work with an entrepreneurial mindset, and to position themselves for upward mobility.”
The company provides system engineering, logistics, program management, and training and communication audits for public and private industry throughout the country. The Middletown location is a contractor for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport.
TCI provides workers competitive benefits, including a dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 7 percent of earnings, paying the majority of health insurance premiums, offering telecommuting and compressed workweek options, and subsidizing 50 percent of employees’ monthly dues at local gyms. TCI also offers an incentive bonus plan to management-level employees.
Boucher said employee benefits are on par with other contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense on and around Aquidneck Island, but what makes the company special is the fact that it has been growing in a poor economy. •
