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The Business
Leadership Network Assists Quality Food Centers to
Ensure the Diversity of Their Workforce
Represented by Karen Walters,
Quality Food Centers (QFC) is one of the Oregon Business
Leadership Network’s newest Affiliate Members. Karen is
an HR Specialist/Business Analyst and has a lead role in
the company’s diversity initiatives. We recently spoke
with Karen to learn more about QFC’s diversity focus and
its interest in participating in the Business Leadership
Network.
OBLN:
Karen, can you give us a general overview of QFC’s
perspective on workforce diversity issues?
 Karen
Walters: At QFC, diversity is definitely a part of
our core values and culture to include everybody in our
hiring practices and customer base – which includes
people with disabilities. Our diversity initiatives stem
from our commitment to reflecting the diversity of each
community that we do business in.
To accomplish this, we are part
of the Puget Sound Diversity Task Force and their
recruiting opportunities to find diverse candidates. We
attend a lot of community college career fairs and
different diversity-focused fairs. We participate in
disability-focused career fairs and educational events
like those held by the Washington State Business
Leadership Network. We are developing working
relationships with the Department of Vocational
Rehabilitation and other vendors – particularly those
that are transitioning people with disabilities from
school to work.
OBLN:
Are people with disabilities already well-represented in
QFC’s workforce?
Karen Walters: Quality
Food Centers has many employees with a wide range of
disabilities. Many employees with disabilities have been
featured in our internal newsletter articles and are
well known throughout our company for their
contributions. We readily accommodate people with any
type of disability as long as they are able to perform
their job functions.
We have a particularly large
number of people with Downs Syndrome and other cognitive
disabilities within our workforce. There are employees
with visual impairments, hearing impairments and other
obvious physical disabilities. There are also a lot of
employees with hidden disabilities that one might not
know they had a disability. In our workforce,
disabilities don’t matter, as long as the person is able
to do their job. We really do focus on the employee’s
ability – not their disability. A good example of this
is one of our checkers who only has the use of one hand
yet he does a fabulous job for our customers and QFC.
OBLN:
As the current President and Board Chair, you have taken
a very active role in the Washington State Business
Leadership Network (WSBLN). Can you tell us a little
about that and your overall interest in the Business
Leadership Network?
Karen Walters: I became
involved with the WSBLN in November of 2006 and have
taken a strong interest in helping them grow. We have
monthly meetings, educational events through out the
year and partner with the Governor’s Committee on
Disability Issues and Employment (GCDE) Annual Awards
program. We have also been very active participants in
many other events in the community such as: seminars,
discussion panels, trainings, and other
networking/partnering events. The WSBLN has a couple of
upcoming events giving us the opportunity to speak with
many business leaders. The topics include recruiting and
hiring people with disabilities – not just because it
feels good to do so but also because there is a solid
return on investment for businesses.
As a business-to-business
network, the BLN’s are safe environments for employers,
particularly small employers or employers new to hiring
people with disabilities, to voice their fears and
concerns among peers. They can receive coaching on
proper terminology, interviewing techniques and other
best business practices related to employing people with
disabilities.
While we are dedicated to
preserving that business-to-business focus, we are
developing partnerships with key vendors and service
agencies. We see the BLN as a hub through which
employers can effectively connect with the organizations
that can help them to recruit and employ people with
disabilities.
Being a part of the BLN network
has opened up a lot of networking opportunities for us.
It has enabled us to share our best practices in
employing people with disabilities with other businesses
- and it has enabled us to learn from others’ best
practices to improve on our own. It has kept us informed
about the various kinds of accommodations that are
available and what new technologies are evolving as we
speak.
QFC has six stores and
approximately 400 employees in Oregon so it makes sense
to partner with the Oregon Business Leadership Network (OBLN)
in addition to the WSBLN. It is important for QFC to
make that viable network of resources available to our
district manager, individual store managers and myself.
OBLN:
As you look back on over a year of active involvement in
the Business Leadership Network, what do you think has
been its greatest benefit to you and your employer?
Karen Walters:
Personally, it has been a tremendous opportunity for me
to give back to the community – to help people with
disabilities gain access to the contacts and
opportunities that will help them to succeed in the
workforce. Professionally, the BLN’s have been a great
opportunity to learn new best practices, make new
connections to recruit employees and meet like-minded
people who have the same passion (to enable people with
disabilities to become employed and self-reliant). It
has been really valuable for QFC to ensure that we have
a diverse workforce to better serve our customers.
Learn more about Quality Food Centers'
commitment to workforce Diversity.
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"In our workforce, disabilities don’t matter,
as long as the person is able to do their job.
We really do focus on the employee’s ability –
not their disability."
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of the OBLN board and its members in its mission
to create a more positive and inclusionary
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