Provalus, an IT and customer service company, is onshoring jobs in rural America while its rivals continue to hire thousands of jobs abroad.
While some companies look at medium and large cities to grow in, Provalus is doing the opposite, even if it’s more expensive to operate. The company is searching for communities of 5,000 to 15,000 people that have seen disinvestment.
Jobs in rural communities often revolve around agriculture or manufacturing. Brewton, Alabama, was once a hotbed for sawmills. Eventually the city grew quieter.
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The prospect of hundreds of technology jobs seemed so unattainable that Will Ruzic said it felt like a scam. Ruzic was leading an economic development alliance that marketed a five-county region to businesses.
When first approached by now-Optomi Professional Services CEO Charles Ruggiero, Ruzic didn’t give it the time of day.
“I just thought this sounds way too good to be true, very far-fetched,” said Ruzic, now with Provalus as its vice president of facilities.
The company offers services like help desk and cybersecurity to Fortune 1,000 companies. Clients include Chick-fil-A and Navy Federal Credit Union.
“What we sell to customers are teams of people,” said Provalus President Mike Keogh. “We’re not selling one person, or we’re selling teams of people that are running very sophisticated operations that are critical to the success of our customers.”
The benefits are huge for companies that use Provalus. They often work in the same time zone as the company they service and there isn’t a language barrier. The gains for the communities that Provalus comes to you are even greater.
“Our goal is to create middle-class jobs as quickly as possible,” said Keogh. “That means moving people past that median wage in their towns and that’s what we’ve been able to do.”
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Paychecks can be anywhere from 10% to 15% above the country’s median income. Healthcare benefits cost just $1 per paycheck for employees.
There are currently nine locations across the south and central U.S. The location of the offices within those towns is intentional.
“That is where the heart and the character of these communities lie. And here in Brewton, I drove through downtown for 25 years and never saw life, never saw a car,” said Ruzic. “It was really just a ghost town down here. And so, to be able to come in and put this number of folks and create this density and drive additional investment down here to help support that, that’s true revitalization and economic development.”
In Brewton, about 10 new businesses have popped up since the company’s arrival. Others felt Provalus gave them the means to continue to succeed in a town that was losing business.
“It was a bustling little town,” said Deborah George, the owner of Holley House Bed & Breakfast. “Streets were filled with people on the sidewalks.”
George has seen the exodus of multiple businesses, from clothing boutiques and restaurants to grocery stores, throughout her life. She says Provalus’ mission to bolster the communities it works in is clear for business owners like herself.
“They’re so proactive in supporting local people when they can,” said George. “They’re very community-minded and a lot of places are not like that. It’s not just something they put on the wall.”
For people growing up in Brewton, leaving their hometown to pursue a career in technology is no longer necessary.
The company is also giving people the opportunity to rethink their career path, whether it be someone looking for a change, a mother getting back into the workforce or a veteran transitioning to civilian life. A fifth of the company’s employees are veterans.
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Rachel Morton leads a team of 150 employees at the Brewton office.
Morton was in the workforce before becoming a stay-at-home mother. She then transitioned to being a physical education aide at a local school. She’s seen the effects of the company on the students she worked with in her previous job.
“I worked at the school for about 10 years, and I saw a lot of those children grow up, tied a lot of shoes that have since come through Provalus,” said Morton. “In small towns like this there aren’t really a lot of opportunities. A lot of these kids I see here probably would have gone to more of a labor job, and now I’m really getting to see them expand on really what they’re capable of.”
Provalus is expanding quickly. About 30 new employees enter training every week across the company.
Kimberly Lewis is leading her own team after working as a mechanic for 18 years. She says the loss of her son was the catalyst for her to try something new, and ultimately, something she felt was more fulfilling.
“He’s like, Mom, you’re so good in technology. You need to try it. And I was like, one day. So after that loss with him, and I went to work about a few months after and I was like, ‘well, you know what? He’s right because I still haven’t found my footing and I need to find my footing,’ and here I am,” said Lewis.
The company places emphasis on health and wellbeing. Each office has a community room. These spaces often include gently used clothes, baby formula and other necessities.
Rooms and showers are available if an employee is experiencing a difficult time. They encourage workers to use their treadmills or go down the indoor playground slide.
Provalus is ending the misconception that offices that are modern and eccentric can only be found in Silicon Valley or major cities. Now, there’s one in Brewton, too.
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