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Inclusion@Work

AUGUST 2006 ISSUE
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Hello. Welcome to the AUGUST 2006 edition of Inclusion@Work - the e-Magazine of the Oregon Business Leadership Network. Please share it with your friends and colleagues.     In this issue: * If We Can’t, Who Can? Walgreens Sets a New Standard for Employing People with Disabilities * Walgreens Store in Portland Experiences Employee’s Disability as a Non-issue * September 20 - OBLN co-sponsors: Disability Confidence in the Workplace * NDEAM – Is your company taking advantage of it? * Disability Mentoring Day – October 18, 2006 "I’ve come to realize how many kids with disabilities there are in all our communities. I’ve wondered what is going to happen to them when they graduate from school and who can make a difference in their futures. If we, at Walgreens can’t make a difference for them, who can?"     - Randy Lewis, Senior VP of Warehousing & Logistics, Walgreens "She has excellent customer service skills and she helps all of the customers that come her way. If she can’t help them out, she comes and finds one of us to assist her." (Speaking of an employee with a cognitive disability.)    - Melanie Berggren, Store Manager, (Portland area) Walgreens (Read full articles below.) If We Can’t, Who Can? Walgreens Sets a New Standard for Employing People with Disabilities In the last issue of Inclusion@Work, we alerted our readers to the innovative website that Walgreens has developed to recruit employees with disabilities for its new distribution center in Anderson, South Carolina. Walgreens is a publicly traded company with annual sales in excess of $42 billion. Walgreens is investing $175 million in a new 700,000 square foot distribution center in Anderson, SC. In an unprecedented move, they are planning to have people with disabilities holding at least one third of the 600 jobs to be created there. Walgreens has also announced similar project to be established in Windsor, Connecticut. Intrigued at the hiring plans for their new distribution centers, the OBLN contacted Walgreens for more information. We learned that the driving force behind these plans is Randy Lewis, Walgreens’ Senior Vice President of Distribution and Logistics. In the following interview with Mr. Lewis, we discovered how the unique combination of his personal and professional experiences led to this visionary employment initiative for people with disabilities.     OBLN: Randy, this is such an unusually proactive move for a large private-sector company. You folks at Walgreens have created quite a stir of interest amongst employers and the disability community. How did the whole concept and initiative come about? RANDY LEWIS: It is all about awareness. I have a son, Austin who has autism. He is eighteen years old now. Throughout his school years, I’ve met kids with all kinds of disabilities and become exposed to the different challenges that they have to deal with. But, primarily, I’ve come to see them all as individual people. I’ve come to realize how many kids with disabilities there are in all our communities. I’ve wondered what is going to happen to them when they graduate from school and who can make a difference in their futures. If we, at Walgreens, can’t make a difference for them, who can? Earlier in my career I worked for a consulting firm - Accenture. One day, I was set up to interview this fellow… he walked in, slapped the table, and said; “My name is Robert Bond and I want to know what it takes to work here because this is the place I want to work!” Well, we hired Robert and he was great. Six months after he started, however, he went on vacation in Florida, dove off a pier into two feet of water, snapped his neck, and was left paralyzed from the neck down. After a long period of convalescence, we brought Robert back to the office – doing client work. This was in the days before personal computers. It wasn’t easy, but we created an opportunity for him. I remember asking one of the partners; “This is a heck of an accommodation. How did we ever come to do this?” He said something that has stuck with me for twenty-five years. I remember it clear as a bell. He said: “If we can’t, who can?” Remembering that incident, looking at the employment situation for people with disabilities and at the economic power of Walgreens, it’s the same question: “If we can’t, who can?” So that is where the idea for our initiative came from.   OBLN: How many employees will you have at the Anderson distribution center? RANDY LEWIS: The center will likely open in March of 2007. We will eventually have about six hundred employees… maybe more. When we started, we spoke to a lot of experts and asked them what would be the maximum number of people with cognitive disabilities that we could effectively employ in an integrated work environment. They recommended about one for every two typically-abled employees. So, we targeted two hundred jobs for people with cognitive disabilities. As for people with physical disabilities, we hope to employ and accommodate as many as possible and we have no preconceived limits on the number we will employ.   OBLN: In developing the center in Anderson, I understand that you very intentionally built close working relationships with the local community-based organizations for people with disabilities. Can you tell us how that worked? RANDY LEWIS: Well first of all when you come into town and say you’re going to do all this, you are rightly greeted with some skepticism, but we were very fortunate to find a community that was small enough and close-knit enough to make it work. The community and government agencies all came together and got behind it one hundred percent to make it work. We opened up a training center there. One agency provided the building. We provided the equipment. One agency provides the trainers. Not only are the trainees trained on how to do the job, but also on social skills – how to interact properly with other people. Those skills are important when you are working in a building with six hundred other people. So far, we have about seventy people that we think are qualified – ready to start the day that the distribution center begins operations. The wonderful thing about this is that there are so many people and organizations involved in all aspects of this initiative. It is a movement of attraction – not coercion. People want to do it. People want to say yes. “It’s the bestest” as little Opie (from the Andy Griffith show) would say!   OBLN: How is overall recruiting going? Are people with disabilities applying in the numbers you were hoping? RANDY LEWIS: For the hourly workforce, we are happy with the way things are going. We have had a difficult job finding people with disabilities for our management positions. We had to put some advertisements out there saying that we are looking specifically for people with disabilities – that we want management to reflect the workforce. I think that there is so much skepticism out there that people didn’t apply. I have been disappointed, but we are still looking. We are always looking for talented people with disabilities.   OBLN: Obviously the new distribution centers in Anderson, SC and Windsor, CT are incredibly proactive about employing people with disabilities but does Walgreens employ people with disabilities in its existing distribution centers? RANDY LEWIS: Yes we do… although, our experience has been limited to maybe twenty people in each building and primarily in enclaves (group work stations). We are just now stepping out to make those folks full-time employees. And we’ve set up work-study programs with local high schools in each center. Although limited, our experience has been wonderful. Quite frankly, it makes us better.     OBLN: “It makes us better” is a strong statement. Can you tell us more about that? RANDY LEWIS: Well, at the end of the day, what do you have? When you look back at your career, what did you do? It’s not going to be the money you made. I’ve attended many retirement speeches and they are always the same. When people reflect on their careers, their comments are never “Boy, we sure made a lot of money.” Rather, they are always about making a difference in the lives of people – something in the service of other people. What I have observed in our distribution centers is that employing people with developmental disabilities changes us. It makes us more aware. It becomes more than a job. We realize that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. It makes the whole work experience better for everybody. Our employees without disabilities get more from their jobs. When they get to help their co-workers with disabilities, they realize that they are important in someone else’s life. Not too long ago, I spoke with one of our distribution center managers. I asked him, “How is it working out… working with people with disabilities?” “Well,” he answered, “I don’t have an absentee problem. As a matter of fact one guy called me up to say that he couldn’t get transportation to work – so he was going to walk. Here is a group of people,” he said, “…who don’t talk about who said this or that or about who looked at me the wrong way… a group of people who arrive and leave every day with a great attitude.” I was just at a national meeting with all of our distribution center managers. They all have work study programs with local-area schools. I listened to presentations from all of them about their work study programs – and it was great. It overwhelms you to hear about the kids they have working there. After they were done, I stood up front with two pieces of paper. I held one at waist level and said, “Okay, this is where we are at today working with people with disabilities in our distribution centers.” I put the other piece of paper over it and said, “I’m going to start raising this piece of paper and, when I reach the point where we CAN BE in working with people with disabilities, you tell me when to stop.” I started slowly raising the second piece of paper – fully expecting to lift it about two feet before they said “stop”. I kept moving the paper higher and higher. Before they said anything, I had already reached the point where I couldn’t go any higher.   OBLN: Wow, for them to hold that strong a belief and commitment… what a great team you must have. RANDY LEWIS: That’s true and, at the end of the presentation, I had to remind them that the difference between where we are and where we can be… is them. They are the ones who have to make it happen. This is the most rewarding work! Before we ever broke ground at the new Anderson distribution center, we had over a hundred people working on the design over a period of three years. A lot of our people had never been exposed to people with cognitive disabilities so we sent some of the project team members to TEACCH in North Carolina – a program recognized for educating kids with autism. I sent another group of people up to a program in Seattle. I’ll never forget when the first group came back and said; “You know, even if you fire us, we’re still going to work on this.” Everybody is in it for the satisfaction of meaningful work, well-done. I tell people in the project what I know to be true: “When you look back on your life, this will be on the list of the three best things you will ever have done.”   OBLN: It is exciting how, by focusing on employing people with disabilities, you are effectively melding private enterprise with an important social issue – a people issue. RANDY LEWIS: And we constantly remind everybody that we are not a charity. We are a business. As we sort through the issues, it has been exciting. A curious coincidence for us is that Anderson, South Carolina, where our new distribution center is located, is also home to James Robert “Radio” Kennedy – upon whose life the movie “Radio” was based. In the movie, the school principal comes to the Coach (played by Ed Harris) who has brought Radio, a mentally handicapped young man, into the high school and asks him; “Where is this going to go?” The coach replies; “I don’t know”. When we, at Walgreens, started down this road, we didn’t know where it was going to go. We had to sort through pay and benefits, how we were going to recruit, how we were going to train, would we use job coaches or not, etc. What has guided us, through developing this model, is the question “How do we want the world to be?” For instance, if we don’t pay for performance, then this is going to become a charity and other businesses will not adopt it. We are very interested in being a success. We want to make this a model where other businesses can say; “We can do that too.” We want to share what we learn with other businesses. If we can help others do the same thing, we are there for them.   OBLN: It is terrific that you have been building that into your model – the ability for other businesses to replicate it in a way that makes sense. RANDY LEWIS: That is also why it is important for us to go back to our traditional distribution centers and do it there too. We don’t want people to be able to dismiss the model at the Anderson center by saying “Sure you can do it there – you built it especially for them and you put in all this money, etc.” With the Anderson distribution center we want to demonstrate how you can have a fully integrated large-scale operation and do all these wonderful things. We also want to go back to our regular centers that are more traditional and more representative of what most other companies have out there – and show that you can do it there too. And then, if we can do something similar in our retail stores – that will ring a very big bell. Then we can really make a very big difference. Retail sales and customer service can be a tough world for people with cognitive disabilities, but we have people willing to start working on that.   OBLN: Randy, thanks so much for taking the time to explain all this to our readers. Do you have any final comments to share with us? One thing that my son has taught me is to look past the disability and see the person. That sounds like a trite statement but there is a huge transformation when you can really do that. The same thing is true in regards to race and other personal differences, but to truly see people with disabilities as people first – that’s what breaks the old paradigms. By the way, after all these years, I recently contacted Robert Bond and found out that he has retired after a full career with the company. I told him how his story had stuck with me all my life and how it influenced these developments – and I’ve invited him to the grand opening of the new distribution center! We all stand on the shoulders of others. Click here to learn more about the Walgreens initiative in the article “Specially-designed warehouse will have jobs for people with disabilities” originally published The Hartford Courant:   Click here to visit Walgreens Recruting Site for the Anderson distribution center & watch videos of Randy Lewis and Walgreens President & COO - Jeff Rein.   Walgreens Store in Portland Experiences Employee’s Disability as a Non-issue While Walgreens has recently been in the national spotlight for the dramatic hiring practices in its new distribution centers, many of its retail stores have been quietly employing people with disabilities for a long time. We found a good example of this when we contacted the manager of a Portland-area store. Melanie Berggren has worked with Walgreens for four years. Since March of 2006, she has been the Store Manager of a Walgreens store in Portland, Oregon. When Melanie began her new assignment and started getting to know her staff, she met Brigittia Stewart. Brigittia is one of the store’s service clerks and has been working there since November 2004. Melanie learned that Brigittia has some cognitive limitations that prevent her from dealing effectively with some concepts like calendar dates and the alphabet. Brigittia’s duties were simply designed to exclude any tasks that would require that kind of knowledge and focus on the things that she does well. “She’s great”, says Melanie. Prior to working with Brigittia, Melanie had not worked with anyone with these kinds of cognitive limitations. According to Melanie, “I met her and she was very nice. The managers filled me in on what she does and we just went from there.” Brigittia works from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays. Her primary responsibilities include keeping inventory and stocking the display racks of reader glasses and sunglasses, dusting and cleaning in the cosmetics area, and stocking the hair care section. According to Melanie; “She has excellent customer service skills and she helps all of the customers that come her way. If she can’t help them out, she comes and finds one of us to assist her.” In speaking with Melanie, it is obvious that she doesn’t see anything particularly remarkable about employing Brigittia. In fact, she perceives Brigittia’s disability as pretty much a non-issue. In Melanie’s view, Brigittia is simply a valued Walgreens employee who does a great job.     September 20 - Disability Confidence in the Workplace: Accommodation, Awareness, Technology The Oregon Business Leadership Network is pleased to be co-sponsoring this educational event with the NW EEO/Affirmative Action Association. Hear about the most recent court decisions on Reasonable Accommodation and the ADA. Learn about the fundamentals of disability etiquette. Be amazed - see demonstrations of adaptive technology for people with disabilities. Join us on September 20! See more details on Disability Confidence in the Workplace...     NDEAM – Is your company taking advantage of it? October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Many companies use NDEAM as an annual opportunity to increase the disability-friendliness of their companies through educational events, special recruiting initiatives, etc. The theme for NDEAM 2006 is "Americans with Disabilities: Ready for the Global Workforce." Read more about NDEAM and how you can participate…   Disability Mentoring Day – October 18, 2006 Disability Mentoring Day provides public and private employers with an opportunity to recruit interns, tap a pool of potential future employees, learn more about the experience of disability, develop lasting relationships with disability community leaders, and demonstrate positive leadership in their communities. Join Nike, Wal-Mart and other Oregon companies who are actively participating in Disability Mentoring Day! More information on Disability Mentoring Day...   ABLE: How one company's disabled workforce became the key to extraordinary success! Now available in our store!! This terrific little book testifies to the phenomenal success of Habitat International, a Tennessee-based carpet manufacturer that proactively seeks out employees with disabilities. Based on experience, they shatter the erroneous myths about employees with disabilities that are commonly-held by employers. In a time when companies are outsourcing abroad, Habitat International, a Tennessee-based carpet manufacturer, has managed to achieve superior levels of productivity at home, often two to three times greater than its competition. Habitat’s business has grown enormously, with much of its new business coming from work outsourced to them by competitors who could not come close to matching its productivity. At Habitat three of every four workers have a physical or mental disability. They earn normal wages and are cross-trained on every job. They work harder, with less supervision, lower turnover and an unparalleled level of loyalty. Visit the OBLN online Store...   To subscribe: click here.   Oregon Business Leadership Network 4134 N. Vancouver Ave, Ste 304 Portland, Oregon 97217