Former Walgreens exec keynotes diversity conference
GEOFFREY WOEHLK/THE FORUM
Randy Lewis, a former Walgreens executive and disability advocate, was the keynote speaker at the Leveraging Talents of a Diverse Workforce conference held at the Conference Center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park Thursday. While head of the logistics division at Walgreens, Lewis increased the number of workers with disabilities employed at distribution centers to 10 percent.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Randy Lewis, a former Walgreens executive and disability advocate, was the keynote speaker at the Leveraging Talents of a Diverse Workforce conference held at the Conference Center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park Thursday.
The conference is aimed at providing employers with the tools and know-how to effectively hire and continue to employ workers with disabilities.
During his keynote address Thursday morning, Lewis detailed the model he used to hire workers with disabilities while he led Walgreens’ logistics division. The model helped Walgreens make 10 percent of its distribution center workforce consist of people with disabilities.
“Are we going to do achieve our business goals or are we going to do good?” Lewis said his superiors told him when he originally pitched the idea. Lewis said, “We can do both.”
Lewis told attendees that the key to hiring was to get rid of labels that encourage an “us and them” mentality, and to tailor hiring practices to a design that would work for those with disabilities. For example, Lewis said, a hiring model based on bringing in interested candidates and interviewing them was unlikely to attract workers with disabilities. Instead, he implemented a model that began with outside agencies identifying interested candidates, followed by a two-week trial period of hands-on learning to see what the job entailed. After that stage was a longer, nine-month paid internship, and then a full-time job if both parties were still interested.
That method, he said, helped the workers — who often are working for the first time — become accustomed to the daily routine and job expectations without a long commitment.
The daylong conference featured experts from around the state who work in organizations and companies with different perspectives on the challenges of hiring and keeping a diverse workforce. Lettuce Dream, which hosts the conference, provides work opportunities for people with disabilities in the Maryville area.
