HEBRON – When his workday begins at State Industrial Products, MacArthur "Mac" Croom goes around the warehouse, greeting each one of his coworkers by name.
He frequently visits the office candy bowl — hunting for Skittles and SweeTarts ropes — and is ready with the perfect one-liner if a coworker’s prank goes too far.
These are all pretty common occurrences at most workplaces, but for those who’ve known Croom for many years, they are amazing indicators of success.
Croom, 24, is on the autism spectrum and sometimes struggles with communication, especially with people outside of his circle of friends and family.
When John Tomassilli, distribution manager at State Industrial, met Croom two years ago, his first impression was that they wouldn’t be talking very much. But that didn’t last long.
"He’s a totally different person from when he started," Tomassilli said. "Now, when he’s gone, it’s not the same. Honestly, Mondays and Fridays (his days off) are not as fun without him."
Jeannette Bush has been a job developer at LICCO, a division of the Fuse Network, for many years and has helped countless people with disabilities find work. Finding a job opportunity that’s a good match can sometimes be a challenge, she said.
But Croom’s story is a perfect example of how the right job and the right team can come together to be life-changing.
"The team here is why he is doing so well," she said. "It’s made a huge impact on his life."
Croom was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. For his parents, George and Michelle Croom, those early years were challenging as they tried to understand their son’s unique needs and find the right tools to help him.
As he continued through school, his parents were committed to giving him skills to be independent and employed — assigning him a variety of household chores, including splitting wood.
After attending Heath High School, Croom was accepted into Project SEARCH, a yearlong internship program at Licking Memorial Health Systems. With a long list of skills on his resume, he began working part time at Dayton Freight in Gahanna.
Although he was doing well there, his family was interested in him working closer to home, and they reached out to LICCO so that Croom could start a job search.
Right after she was assigned Croom’s case, Bush got a call from Keith Clouston, vice president of operations at State Industrial in Hebron.
Clouston had an experience early in his career, working with a coworker with a disability who had a positive impact in his life.
"When you get in the position in your career to be a hiring manager, you want to pay that forward," he said.
State Industrial Product had worked with several people with barriers to employment who were not a good fit, but Clouston didn’t want to give up.
"The key is you’ve got to keep trying, and if it doesn’t work, don’t view it as a failure; the situation wasn’t right," he said.
It’s not often that local companies contact LICCO about job openings, so Bush and her colleague Gary Wimer, one of LICCO’s job coaches, were excited about the opportunity.
Wimer is a family friend of the Crooms and knew Croom would be an ideal candidate. They invited George, Michelle and Mac to come tour State Industrial.
Right away, Michelle Croom understood the team at State Industrial was open to supporting her son.
With Croom’s communication style, he struggles with traditional interviews. But Tomassilli and his team let Croom go out on the floor and try things out, instead.
He jumped right in and didn’t want to leave — Tomassilli had a job offer for him that day.
Wimer spent several weeks coaching Croom, helping him adjust to his new role, and was amazed at the quality of training and encouragement that Warehouse Associate Tammy Heflin and her team provided.
"I work all over Licking County," Wimer said, "And this group right here, the support they have here is unbelievable."
As a warehouse associate, Croom’s responsibilities include packing and taping boxes, using systems, applications and products inventory management software to look up and label the shipments and picking items off the shelves.
Heflin and Croom worked together to develop a numbered system for the boxes and tape. It worked so well, Heflin has implemented it for all new employees.
By working in the warehouse, Croom has had an impact on everyone, she said.
"He has great attention to detail, he’s always aware of what’s going on around him and always the first to jump in to help," Heflin said. "We’ve expanded his role because he wants to stay busy."
Croom works 10-hour shifts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and has been called in on Fridays if they need additional help.
His coworkers make sure to go all out celebrating Christmas and his birthday — Croom’s two favorite holidays. When he had to miss several months of work for health reasons, the whole company was asking how Croom was doing and when he was coming back.
"It’s very good for Mac to be here, both socially and professionally, but it’s probably better for State," Clouston said. "We’ve got a shining star here!"
For Michelle Croom, seeing Mac as an important member of the State Industrial team feels full circle.
"When we learned he had autism, I didn’t know anything about it. I’d never worked with anyone with it. And that’s where the impact is — that Mac is here and you don’t know who you are reaching. Maybe someone has a family member who was diagnosed — they can learn from Mac what’s possible," she said.
Croom is always excited to tell people about his workplace and proudly wears his State Industrial shirts, George Croom said.
"He wants to come to work and this is where he knows he is supposed to be," he said.
Anna Jeffries works for Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
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