Diversity Champion Spotlight - Safeway Storcare

Welcome to the launch of a new monthly feature where we recognize forward-thinking business leaders who embrace diversity and inclusion. We are delighted to introduce Safeway Storcare as our first Diversity Champion.

Safeway Storcare exemplifies a local business focused on creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace. The company is committed to hiring and retaining qualified employees with disabilities, but its vision wasn’t being met so Safeway Storcare reached out to Champions for help. For the past year, Champions has been auditing the company’s hiring and training practices to ensure successful employee placement.

The management team at Safeway Storcare has embraced the audit process and our recommendations. We worked on a retention plan with a candidate where we assessed the individual’s job tasks and work environment and made assistive technology recommendations which have been successfully implemented. Being inclusive means understanding the needs of all employees and Safeway Storcare goes the extra mile. Management and team leads have taken part in a Disability and Workplace Inclusion Session and the Human Resources Manager participated in our Diversity Champion Mentorship Initiative to understand recruiting and retaining employees with a disability.

Human Resources is immersed in the information gathering and sharing process and we are working together to create a successful candidate profile. Safeway Storcare is a warehouse where most job opportunities involve physical and sensory work.  Most new employees who are persons with disabilities are leaving the job before the three month probation ends. To learn more about why this is the case, we are developing an exit interview questionnaire specifically for individuals who are hired through various disability agencies and do not work out during the probation period, regardless if the decision to terminate employment is made by the employee themselves or by Storcare. In some cases Champions will also work as a third-party interviewer so the individual being interviewed will feel more at ease and able to talk more openly. The information gathered from these exit interviews will be used to improve hiring, training and communicating with persons with disabilities. It is hoped what is learned through this process can be shared across the Safeway chain to create more opportunities for persons with disabilities in other locations.

Champions Career Centre is currently assisting with job postings for Safeway Storcare to help the company succeed in its hiring goals. We applaud Safeway Storcare on its commitment to diversity and for helping Champions realize our vision of changing lives by creating inclusive workplaces.

We also want to acknowledge and congratulate Safeway Ltd. as a finalist for the 2013 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction in the category of Employer of Persons with Disabilities. The awards will be announced March 8th in Edmonton.