รายละเอียดกระทู้

Posted by Sheila Shayon http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/08/02/Walgreens-Disability-Training-Center-080213.aspx Walgreens Welcomes Workers with Disabilities at New Training Center Walgreens has partnered with Have Dreams, an advocacy group for children with autism, on a new training facility in Evanston, Ill. It’s part of a growing awareness of the value of workers diagnosed with the condition and other disabilities that for Walgreens dates back to 2007, when it created a simulated Walgreens store that allowed students to practice skills like setting up displays, working the cash registers and stocking and organizing shelves. Kris Johnsen, executive director of Have Dreams, praised the collaboration as “bringing much-needed employment opportunities for young adults with autism in our community,” according to Evanston Now, noting that “the key is to build a support system and partnerships that will guide each of our participants toward a successful job experience and the skills needed for living independently.” The largest national drugstore chain with 8,098 stores and $72 billion in sales, Walgreen’s committed in 2012 to have employees with disabilities make up 10 percent of its distribution center workforce and established a pilot program that began in Texas and is currently in place in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and New York as well as parts of Wisconsin and Connecticut. Last year, Proctor & Gamble followed Walgreens’ example and announced their intention to have at least 30 percent of employees at a new packaging facility in Maine be people with physical or developmental disabilities. That trend is gradually growing. German software company SAP is looking to hire hundreds of people with autism, recognizing their unique talent for information technology. By 2020, the company plans to have 1 percent of its global workforce of 65,000 employees be individuals with autism. A major Walgreens distribution center in South Carolina has employees with disabilities work side by side with non-disabled workers and are given the same opportunities for advancement and job mobility. 42 percent of the workers, about 275 employees, have a disclosed disability of some sort including cognitive disabilities and autism. Expectations are to employ 800 people. “In designing this facility, we believed we could employ a large number of people with disabilities while holding them to the same performance standards as all team members,” said Randy Lewis, recently retired from his job as Walgreen’s SVP supply chain and logistics. “This is a business, not a charity, and our employees with disabilities earn the same pay and benefits as other employees for the same work.” Ann Cameron Williams, chief research and innovations officer with The Arc, a national organization of and for people with intellectual and related developmental disabilities said, "It is something that we have to open our eyes to. It is something that we really have to embrace. We don't have a choice of turning away—we have to employ these people. It is hard to measure it with a dollar, but it is the right thing to do. When you have a company that is willing to hire someone with a disability, it's a positive reflection on that company." Indeed, Walgreens is elevating itself among top corporations that are investing the time and money required to build an inclusive, respectable workplace. More about: Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship, Retail, Walgreens, Autism, Disability, Cognitive Disability, Physical Disability, Procter & Gamble,