Car wash employees have to be detail oriented, precise and able to work diligently through a structured set of steps and processes. On top of that, they have to be engaged in their work and a friendly, welcoming face for customers and among the community.

Those characteristics also describe many individuals on the autism spectrum. And yet, according to Rising Tide Car Wash’s website, up to 80% of people with autism are unemployed. Rising Tide, a car wash in Parkland, Florida, is flipping the script—it was founded specifically to hire people with autism.

Thomas D’Eri and his father John founded Rising Tide Car Wash over ten years ago so Thomas’ brother Andrew, who is on the autism spectrum, would have somewhere to work. “At that time, there were not a lot of employment opportunities for Andrew or people with neurodivergengies in general,” said Thomas D’Eri. So the father-son duo bought a struggling car wash, and over the past decade have expanded into a three-location business that now employs just under 100 people with autism—accounting for around 80% of the company’s workforce.

“We looked at a lot of different businesses, and we really liked the car wash because it’s very structured and process-oriented work. Plus it’s community driven, similarly to convenience stores,” said D’Eri. “We thought [a car wash would be] a really nice way to communicate how capable people with autism are.”

Individuals with autism tend to follow processes and rules better than the average person, described D’Eri. “My brother and many of his peers are able to do a great job in the interior cleaning department, for example, because that’s structure-oriented work,” he said. “But one thing I’ve learned from running this business is that you can structure a role effectively for anyone. When you make tasks and responsibilities clear and simple, and use tools that make the role consistent, then people with autism and neurodivergence can excel at any role.”

Rising Tide makes sure its employees succeed by providing them with clear, specific instructions and checklists to follow so they don’t miss a step and can replicate processes consistently. And that starts during the hiring process, which doesn’t have a traditional interview.

“It’s more of a job audition, where we show prospective employees how to work on the cars and evaluate them with a scorecard of sorts. We show them how to do basic tasks like cleaning a window, drying down the car exterior and tires, vacuuming interiors and using the pneumatic air tool. By going through that process where they learn and then show that they can do it, we get a much more accurate idea of whether or not this person can be successful,” explained D’Eri.

Employees then complete a “pre-hire training” for entry level roles that teaches them to wash the cars in a consistent and timely fashion, and then move on to the onboarding process which includes another series of trainings that helps them get acclimated to the job—all before their first day. “We want them to feel comfortable before arriving on-site for the job,” said D’Eri.

And by structuring the role in a way that speaks to the needs of this employee group, “We now have people with autism in every role across the whole organization, from location managers through maintenance technicians and sales associates,” he said. “Whenever someone struggles, we frame failure as a learning opportunity—which is critical for this group—and look at it as an opportunity to redesign and improve the system that the person is interacting with. And that has allowed us to build a really replicable and resilient operating model, which is better for business. When you want your employees to succeed and train them to do so, your operating model is better.”

Rising Tide’s turnover rate is about 20%—a stark difference from other car washes in the market and the convenience industry at large, which are both over 100%, said D’Eri.

He attests that for these types of retail roles, especially entry level ones, individuals with autism can often be “more engaged” than other candidates. “This is a job of choice for our team members. They really want to be here, enjoy coming to work and really take pride in what they’re doing. They have so much enthusiasm, sometimes more than a typical employee might have in this type of role.”

Before the D’Eri’s purchased Rising Tide, the former car wash was processing about 35,000 cars per year. “We turned that business around into one that now washes over 170,000 cars a year,” he said. Beyond the businesses successful operating model, he said one of the reasons for its success can be attributed to community response.

“When there is not a lot of differentiation in the quality of service among car washes in your area, supporting a business that employs people with autism or disabilities is definitely a differentiator for customers in our community,” said D’Eri.