Equal Employment Opportunity and Managing Diversity
MARUSE1
3.1_case_study.docxIn 2008, Walgreens, one of the nation’s largest drugstore retailers,
opened a state-of-the-art distribution center in Windsor,
Connecticut. It is the company’s second facility designed specifically
to employ people with disabilities and patterned after a
similar one that opened in 2007 in South Carolina. Managers at
both facilities share a goal of having people with disabilities fill
at least one-third of the available jobs.
Walgreens has developed a reputation as a company that offers
meaningful jobs to people with diverse backgrounds with equal
opportunities for advancement and job mobility. Company leaders
intend to open more distribution centers that employ disabled workers
and plan to use the experience in the facilities in Connecticut
and South Carolina to provide managers in other units with information
that will result in the hiring of more people with disabilities.
The South Carolina distribution center has a workforce of 400,
with 40 percent having a disclosed physical or cognitive disability.
Yet the facility’s efficiency increased by 20 percent since its opening,
after technology and process changes originally intended to accommodate
workers with disabilities improved everyone’s jobs. The
experience of creating a disability-friendly environment in its distribution
centers has been a transforming event for the company, according
to one of Walgreen’s corporate executives of human resources.
Many employers do not share or practice Walgreens’ level of
long-term commitment and investment in hiring people with disabilities,
but demographic trends suggest that more companies should,
and will ultimately have to, as growth of the traditional labor pool
slows, the workforce ages, and disability rates increase. As more
business executives recognize and support the hiring and development
of workers with disabilities, a chronically underemployed
group, the business benefits of tapping this talent pool becomes clear.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What are the tangible and intangible benefits that Walgreens
receives by being a leader in hiring employees with disabilities?
2. Only about half of the disabled people who want to work are
employed. What barriers do people with disabilities face in
obtaining employment that are not concerns of other groups
protected by the EEOC, such as minorities, women, or the
aged?
In 2008, Wal
greens, one of the nation
’
s largest drugstore retailers,
opened a state
-
of
-
the
-
art distribution center in Windsor,
Connecticut. It is the company
’
s second facility designed specifically
to employ people with disabilities and patterned after a
similar one t
hat opened in 2007 in South Carolina. Managers at
both facilities share a goal of having people with disabilities fill
at least one
-
third of the available jobs.
Walgreens has developed a reputation as a company that offers
meaningful jobs to people with di
verse backgrounds with equal
opportunities for advancement and job mobility. Company leaders
intend to open more distribution centers that employ disabled workers
and plan to use the experience in the facilities in Connecticut
and South Carolina to provide
managers in other units with information
that will result in the hiring of more people with disabilities.
The South Carolina distribution center has a workforce of 400,
with 40 percent having a disclosed physical or cognitive disability.
Yet the facility
’
s efficiency increased by 20 percent since its opening,
after technology and process changes originally intended to accommodate
workers with disabilities improved everyone
’
s jobs. The
experience of creating a disability
-
friendly environment in its distribu
tion
centers has been a transforming event for the company, according
to one of Walgreen
’
s corporate executives of human resources.
Many employers do not share or practice Walgreens
’
level of
long
-
term c
ommitment and investment in hiring people with disabilities,
but demographic trends suggest that more companies should,
and will ultimately have to, as growth of the traditional labor pool
slows, the workforce ages, and disability rates increase. As more
b
usiness executives recognize and support the hiring and development
of workers with disabilities, a chronically underemployed
group, the business benefits of tapping this talent pool becomes clear.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What are the tangible and i
ntangible benefits that Walgreens
receives by being a leader in hiring employees with disabilities?
2. Only about half of the disabled people who want to work are
employed. What barriers do people with disabilities face in
obtaining employment that are not
concerns of other groups
protected by the EEOC, such as minorities, women, or the
aged?
In 2008, Walgreens, one of the nation’s largest drugstore retailers,
opened a state-of-the-art distribution center in Windsor,
Connecticut. It is the company’s second facility designed specifically
to employ people with disabilities and patterned after a
similar one that opened in 2007 in South Carolina. Managers at
both facilities share a goal of having people with disabilities fill
at least one-third of the available jobs.
Walgreens has developed a reputation as a company that offers
meaningful jobs to people with diverse backgrounds with equal
opportunities for advancement and job mobility. Company leaders
intend to open more distribution centers that employ disabled workers
and plan to use the experience in the facilities in Connecticut
and South Carolina to provide managers in other units with information
that will result in the hiring of more people with disabilities.
The South Carolina distribution center has a workforce of 400,
with 40 percent having a disclosed physical or cognitive disability.
Yet the facility’s efficiency increased by 20 percent since its opening,
after technology and process changes originally intended to accommodate
workers with disabilities improved everyone’s jobs. The
experience of creating a disability-friendly environment in its distribution
centers has been a transforming event for the company, according
to one of Walgreen’s corporate executives of human resources.
Many employers do not share or practice Walgreens’ level of
long-term commitment and investment in hiring people with disabilities,
but demographic trends suggest that more companies should,
and will ultimately have to, as growth of the traditional labor pool
slows, the workforce ages, and disability rates increase. As more
business executives recognize and support the hiring and development
of workers with disabilities, a chronically underemployed
group, the business benefits of tapping this talent pool becomes clear.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What are the tangible and intangible benefits that Walgreens
receives by being a leader in hiring employees with disabilities?
2. Only about half of the disabled people who want to work are
employed. What barriers do people with disabilities face in
obtaining employment that are not concerns of other groups
protected by the EEOC, such as minorities, women, or the
aged?
