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The Joy of Making an Impact
How Pentair's Eva Marcial finds delight through a dedication to inclusivity, sustainability, and customer service
There are two things that stand out about Eva Marcial. She takes her job very seriously, and she genuinely enjoys the work she does.
This passion and work ethic has sustained Marcial, who came to the pool industry as Pentair's director of customer service in 2021, throughout her twenty-year career as a woman in manufacturing. Today, it's clear that much of the joy Marcial finds in her job comes from working for a company with values to match her own.
"It's rewarding to come to work and know that I'm working for a company that makes a positive impact to not just our customers, but to the world," Marcial says.
The value of inclusivity
Entering male-dominated industries is easier today than it was at the start of Marcial's career. Before the pool industry, she worked in the construction, plumbing, electrical, pipe-fitting, and automotive industries.
"The pool industry has been extremely welcoming," she says. "When I was in construction early in my career, I might have been one of three women in a group of 100, and now I'm entering with about 25 women out of 100."
"It's really cool to be a part of a company that understands how various perspectives can affect the overall goal."
- Eva Marcial
According to Marcial, many companies are not only becoming more diverse in their staffing, but they are striving for a diversity of offerings and perspectives. This approach to inclusivity is one reason she came to Pentair.
Appreciation for diversity is one of Pentair's core values, one that Marcial says stems from Pentair CEO John Stauch "all the way down." The value of diverse perspectives has been taught in company trainings as an "all-in" team approach, where everyone — regardless of position or function — has an equal seat and valid opinion to share.
"Pentair values different perspectives because they know it leads to new ideas and new innovation," says Marcial. "It's really cool to be a part of a company that understands how various perspectives can affect the overall goal."
The impact of sustainability
Throughout her career, Marcial has been intentional about working for companies with a strong focus on sustainability. This passion for sustainability was another factor that drew her to Pentair.
Pentair is "driven to create a better world through smart, sustainable water solutions," according to its website. Marcial said this is much more than a slogan, however. Pentair, which has been named an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year each year since 2013, has a long history of leveraging innovation for sustainability.
Since 2005, Pentair's ENERGY STAR pool pumps have been responsible for a cumulative 38.9 billion kWh of energy savings, a reduction of 15.9 million tons of CO2 emissions, and $5.3 billion in operative cost savings for U.S. consumers. In 2022, the company developed a Product Sustainability Scorecard to analyze the impacts of all new products — on water use, energy use, GHG emissions, resource use efficiency, and material health — throughout the product life cycle.
"It's fun to be a part of. And I say 'fun' because it really is," says Marcial. "It's enjoyable to come into work to work for a company that is helping people more sustainably enjoy water and is also impacting the world."
The benefits of listening
Though each day at Pentair is always different for Marcial, her primary goal for the customer service department remains the same: to bring a seamless and stellar customer experience to consumers, distributors, dealers, and employees. This includes dealing with escalated issues during pool season and coming up with solutions for recurring challenges.
"I take my job very seriously, looking at technologies and researching ways we can be the best — not just in the pool industry, but in customer service," she says.
Marcial came on board as Pentair's director of customer service during the pandemic, when more families were building and using pools and needed products impacted by supply chain issues.
Her team approached this challenging time by remembering that their job was to represent Pentair professionally and serve the customer well. They achieve this by providing the voice of the customer with the organization. By sharing customer feedback, such as requests for shorter lead times or demand for specific products, the company can prioritize changes to improve the customer experience in real time.
"That is definitely the fun part of the job, when we help each other," Marcial says. "Again, it's that whole all-in mentality — having and providing a voice at the table that all ties together."
