Starbucks and IBM

[Guest guest]

Here’s an article about Starbucks and IBM hiring people with disabilities.

I think I’ve already shared an earlier article about Starbucks. For the

young adults out there looking for jobs, maybe these are 2 companies to

consider.

Michele W

Aubrie’s mom

Wall Street Journal (New York, New York) April 12, 2006

By: MICHAEL CORKERY

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

If Starbucks has its way, its future work force will look more like

Penman. Thirty-six-year-old Ms. Penman, who has cerebral palsy, spends three

hours getting ready for work every morning. Because she has trouble speaking

and has limited mobility, customers must write down their orders and place

them on her wheelchair. She returns with their coffee and food on a tray or

in a backpack affixed to her motorized wheelchair.

The Seattle-based coffee giant has already turned Ms. Penman into something

of a company icon. The Starbucks CEO mentions her in his speeches as an

example of the devotion of the company's work force, and says he keeps her

picture in his office. Now Starbucks Corp. wants to make Ms. Penman a

literal model employee. As the company expands its outlets, it is trying to

tap into the growing pool of job seekers with disabilities. The goal: to

make its stores more inviting to customers with disabilities, as well as

their caretakers, family members and friends.

" This is a group that most businesses have not addressed, " says May Snowden,

Starbucks' vice president, global diversity. " As I look at changes in

demographics, it is one of the groups that are very important. " Indeed,

people with disabilities have discretionary spending power of $220 billion

annually, according to the American Association of People With Disabilities.

Of the 70 million families in the U.S., more than 20 million have at least

one member with a disability, according to the association.

For Starbucks, the equation is simple. " Customers tend to patronize a

business that is like them, " says Jim , president and chief executive

officer.

A Wake-Up Call - The Starbucks effort, which is still in its early stages,

is proceeding on a couple of fronts. The company recently hired Marthalee

Galeota, who worked with Seattle-area nonprofits on disability matters, as

senior diversity specialist in charge of disability issues. The job goes

beyond making sure Starbucks complies with the Americans With Disabilities

Act, the law that mandates equal access to jobs and services for the

disabled. Ms. Galeota focuses on establishing a companywide etiquette for a

range of issues. For instance, she has changed the labels on tables

designated for wheelchair users to read, " For a customer with a disability, "

instead of " Disabled customers. " The company also has designed its counters

at a height that is easily reached by customers in wheelchairs, and the

majority of its roughly 10,000 stores around the world have at least one

handicapped-accessible entrance. In addition, Ms. Galeota is working to

incorporate disability etiquette into employee training. For example,

employees should ask a customer with a disability if he or she would like

help, rather than automatically lending a hand; they should also refrain

from petting a working service dog for the blind.

Then there are day-to-day matters. Ms. Galeota fields calls from employees

with disabilities as well as store managers to give advice about potentially

tricky situations -- for instance, what a manager should do if an employee

goes deaf. In terms of recruiting, the company has joined the National

Business Disability Council, which provides a national database of résumés

of people with disabilities. " We have to make sure we are sourcing at every

source that is available, " Ms. Snowden says. On average, the company hires

200 to 300 people overall every day. Exactly how much progress Starbucks is

making in hiring people with disabilities is difficult to measure. The

company doesn't keep statistics on how many employees with disabilities it

hires because employees are not required to record that information on an

application.

Beyond the Coffee Line - The Starbucks effort comes as a number of other

large employers are reaching out to disabled workers. International Business

Machines Corp. offers internships for students with disabilities and runs

sessions for managers to meet potential hires with disabilities. It also has

put together a video for hiring managers that addresses questions they might

be afraid to ask, such as how much it will cost to accommodate these

employees and how they can ensure that these employees will be able to do

their jobs properly. " It's sending a message that we are a company that

wants the best talent and we are inclusive of everyone, " says Millie

DesBiens, an IBM program manager who focuses on disability issues. Verizon

Corp., meanwhile, sends employees to conferences and conventions hosted by

nonprofit groups working with the disability community. It also informs

disability advocates about certain job openings, says Jeff Kramer, Verizon's

director of public policy and strategic alliances.

But Starbucks faces a higher hurdle than most companies when it comes to

recruiting people with disabilities. Its workers are constantly interacting

with the public in its fast-paced, high-volume stores. Some Starbucks

employees with disabilities acknowledge the challenges -- but also the

rewards. Since she started at Starbucks in 1998, , 50, has lost

much of her vision. She uses special tactile pads on the cash register and

takes her guide dog along to work. She can no longer do much work behind the

fast-paced espresso bar, so she focuses on the pastry case and register.

Sometimes, she means to take a credit card and instead grabs the customer's

hand. She once called out to say she could help the next person in line only

to be told by a colleague that there was no line.

At times, " customers are not the nicest they could be, " Ms. says.

" Customers will say, 'Isn't that nice that Starbucks will let people like

you work there.' " One man, commenting on her antiglare glasses, said, "

'Cool, I'll put on my sunglasses so we can communicate,' " she recalls.

But she says her co-workers at the Mesa, Ariz., outlet have been extremely

supportive. " I am sure they get frustrated, " she says. " I try to use humor,

and if I didn't laugh I would cry. " And she says many customers are tactful

and kind. She's gotten to know the regulars by the sound of their voices and

knows exactly what they are going to order. On her days off, she runs a

Braille reading group at the store for local children and their parents.

Corey Lindberg, a deaf 46-year-old senior business systems analyst working

at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, says he's less prone to distraction

around the office. If he needs to concentrate, he can just close his eyes.

In some ways, he says, his hearing impairment -- which he developed later in

life -- makes him work harder. He relies on instant-messaging software and

writing notes on paper to communicate, and the company supplies a

sign-language interpreter when he attends meetings. When he speaks on the

phone, he uses a device that captions the conversation on a computer screen

or a videoconferencing service with an interpreter.

Before Penman joined Starbucks, she worked at a restaurant where

the owner insisted that she sit out of sight of customers, according to her

mother, . " He made her sit back behind the kitchen where she would not

be in anyone's way, " Penman wrote in an email. " Sometimes she sat

there for four hours without anyone even speaking to her. I talked with the

owner several times about finding another place for her to sit while she

waited for an order to come in, and he would not budge. " At Starbucks, the

younger Ms. Penman sits in the front of the store, and " there are times when

customers have to go around her to get in the coffee line, " her mother says.

But the manager has never suggested that Ms. Penman move out of the way,

according to her mother. When Ms. Penman is out sick, customers ask where

she is. Mr. , the CEO, attended her 10th anniversary party at the

store. has been the subject of a local newspaper story and

television news spot, her mother says. " People talk about Starbucks in such

a positive way, they say, 'That's where works,' " Penman

says. She says she knows her daughter is giving the company a wealth of

positive press, but she doesn't mind. " If they want to be selfish and do it

for them, that is OK. The person with the disability is winning, too. "