Vonachen Achieves Workforce Visibility to Unlock Career Growth

Vonachen Group Case Study

Executive Summary

Vonachen Group, a regional facility services company with 3,200 employees across 14 states, faced a critical challenge: identifying and developing talent within a dispersed workforce where traditional recruitment methods fall short. As detailed in this Vonachen group case study, “These people don’t have LinkedIn. They’re just out there, and they’re working,” explained Alex Crowley, Chief People Officer. “Trying to find talent externally—the good ones—is almost impossible.”

Seeking to replace fragmented tools and manual processes, Vonachen turned to TalentGuard for a comprehensive talent management solution that could transform their Excel-based “Career Advancement Program” into a strategic workforce development engine. By implementing TalentGuard’s whole platform—including talent assessment, career pathing, succession planning, certification tracking, and performance management—Vonachen achieved an 80% improvement in internal promotions and positioned itself as a proper talent-developing organization.

“You know you’re successful when you’re starting to spin off talent when you don’t have enough promotions for people.” – Board of Advisors member to Vonachen leadership.

Customer Overview

• Company: Vonachen Group
• Industry: Facility Services
• Employees: 3,200 across 14 states
• Headquarters: Peoria, IL
• Key Contacts: Alex Crowley, VP of HR; Nicole Taylor, Director of HR

The Challenge

The Reality of Facility Services Workforce Management

Vonachen’s group case study shows that the workforce consists primarily of frontline employees—cleaners, supervisors, and site managers—who don’t fit traditional professional development models. “These people don’t have professional LinkedIn profiles. They’re not necessarily on job boards per se,” Crowley noted. This created unique talent management challenges:

Fragmented Systems

• ERP module with limited HR capabilities
• Separate performance evaluation vendor (Truvelop)
• Excel-based “Career Advancement Program” (CAP)
• No integration between systems

Strategic Blind Spots

• Inability to house and align goals, succession plans, or 9-box frameworks
• No centralized performance data for talent pool identification
• Limited career pathing visibility for employees spanning 14 states
• Difficulty identifying cross-functional talent (e.g., finance skills applicable to HR roles)

Operational Inefficiencies

• Manual tracking of certifications and skills across a dispersed workforce
• Reactive rather than proactive approach to succession planning
• Time-intensive Excel-based processes that couldn’t scale

“We had essentially no real performance review platform, no succession planning, and arguably, the performance review module was flawed. It wasn’t real.” – Alex Crowley.

The Solution

Why TalentGuard?

• Comprehensive Integration: “TalentGuard is the only vendor we evaluated that could tie everything together: from performance to career growth to succession planning.” – Alex Crowley
• Facility Services Alignment: Purpose-built capability to manage blue-collar workforce development with skills-based progression from cleaner to supervisor to manager.
• Excel Migration Success: Seamless import of Vonachen’s existing CAP program structure, transforming what Crowley called their “sexy Excel spreadsheet” into a dynamic platform.
• Succession Planning Focus: TalentGuard’s robust succession planning capabilities were the critical differentiator—something competitors like Lattice simply couldn’t match.

“The tools we’re replacing didn’t talk to each other. TalentGuard gives us one system of truth for performance and potential.” – Alex Crowley, Chief People Officer

Implementation Approach

• Data Migration: Importing job-role spreadsheets and skills matrices
• Framework Alignment: Configuring development paths based on existing CAP structure
• Systems Integration: Open API connectivity with ERP and LMS platforms
• Phased Rollout: Starting with 400+ supervisory and management roles, with plans to expand

Results & Impact

In this Vonachen group case study, the quantifiable outcomes demonstrate the measurable value of TalentGuard’s platform.

Quantifiable Outcomes

• 80% improvement in internal promotions
• 25% reduction in management turnover
• Streamlined recruitment efficiency

“We saw an 80% improvement in internal promotions after using TalentGuard. Because we had a line of sight to the talent, knew what experiences they had, and knew what their interests were, we could actually identify that talent and then promote them internally.” – Alex Crowley, Chief People Officer

Strategic Transformation

• From Reactive to Proactive Talent Management: “The real reason we went with TalentGuard is because you guys are the only ones that handle succession planning. It allows us to be proactive rather than reactive regarding talent identification.” – Alex Crowley.
• Purpose Alignment: The platform directly supports Vonachen’s organizational purpose of “creating opportunities for our people” by providing clear visibility into advancement possibilities across the entire organization.
• Cross-Geographic Talent Mobility: Employees can now see opportunities across all 14 states, with skills and experience data enabling informed placement decisions regardless of location.

Real-World Impact Examples

• Enhanced Visibility: Managers can now quickly answer leadership questions about succession readiness.
• Employee Engagement: Frontline workers understand that skills and certifications greatly help progression.
• Operational Efficiency: Integrated dashboards replace manual Excel coordination.

Implementation Insights

What Made the Difference

• Realistic timeline management by launching post-fiscal year
• Customization based on the CAP program structure
• The phased approach begins with succession planning and skills alignment, an important decision highlighted throughout this Vonachen group case study.

Future Roadmap

• Broader deployment to include frontline supervisors
• Microsoft Teams integration (pending)
• Advanced analytics for leadership development strategy
• Skills-based training aligned to platform-identified gaps

Industry Lessons

For Facility Services Companies

• Manage dispersed workforces without centralized oversight.
• Develop understandable blue-collar career paths.
• Identify hidden talent across geographies and departments.
• Scale development programs efficiently

Key Success Factors

• Start with succession planning.
• Use TalentGuard’s existing Talent Frameworks.
• Plan for frontline-specific change management
• Set realistic timelines

“TalentGuard gives us visibility into our workforce that we just haven’t had before. It’s a no-brainer for the corporate team and a big unlock for career growth.” – Nicole Taylor, Director of HR

Call to Action

As this Vonachen group case study illustrates, facility services companies struggling with talent development across dispersed workforces:

• Is your organization ready to transform from reactive hiring to proactive talent development?
• Schedule a demo focused on facility services use cases.
• Contact us to learn about our implementation methodology.
• Explore how we can help you build a future-ready talent development engine.

Transform your “sexy Excel spreadsheet” into a strategic advantage by requesting a demo.

Download the Case Study to learn more.