Maybe you’ve heard of Greyston Bakery, brownie baker for Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods, and some fancy NYC hotels. I’ve been a long-time fan of Greyston’s open hiring model for years, and have written about them several times, including a brief profile in my 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World.At Greyston, you put your name and contact info on a list, and when you’re next on the list (typically about six months), you’re hired as an apprentice. It doesn’t matter what your past looks like. You could be an ex-addict, ex-mental patient, ex-felon, ex-welfare parent, ex-unhoused person…as long as you’re willing to get trained, show up when you’re supposed to, and do the work.
When I’ve written about the company, I’ve focused on the good they do in the community by hiring people widely considered unemployable. But recently, I listened to Greyston CEO Joseph Kenner discuss the bottom-line business advantages of open hiring.
Kenner pointed out that open hiring lowers costs and time while massively boosting employee loyalty. But Greyston maintains high standards for the work output, and terminate employees who don’t work out—and they have a social worker on premises to help these often-first-time employees adjust to the environment (and cope with whatever problems they’re facing outside the workplace). They partnered with a North Carolina distribution center for The Body Shop that saw open hiring slash turnover by 60 percent and boost productivity 13 percent. When they rolled it out to the whole company, they reduced turnover 63 percent in the US/17 percent in Canada and saw a massive increase in employees switching from seasonal to permanent (24 percent in the US and 50 percent in Canada).
These numbers are huge, and will eventually percolate up into much larger corporations, because not to do so is leaving a big chunk of money on the table. And Kenner says that if just 40,000 open-hiring jobs are created in the US, we will see a $3 bn positive impact without any government involvement. Think of the impact if 1,000,000 ex-addicts, ex-mental patients, ex-felons, ex-welfare parents, ex-unhoused entered the workforce, received the training they need to succeed, and went from depending on the state and social service agencies to productive, employed, heads of households that can stay together!
Then he brought on two co-panelists from companies that have partnered with Greyston to implement the model. Addressing a room of CEOs, one asked who would interview someone who had vastly increased revenue at software and media companies—and who would interview a pimp/drug dealer who read at a 5th-grade level. The show of hands was what you’d expect. Then he said, “They’re the same person. I am both of those.” He pointed out that Bernie Madoff and the Enron guys had terrific resumes.
The other panelist talked about where it makes sense to use the model and where it doesn’t. He looks at resumes when hiring senior managers and C-suite execs, but is happy to do open hiring for line employees. Right now, about ¼ of his ~200 employees came on through open hiring.
This is really validating for the view I’ve been promoting that doing the right thing is GREAT for business—that they can build social change and environmental healing not just into philanthropy but into core products, services, missions, policies, etc. I’ve been singing this particular song for almost 20 years now.
Another “Hiring Unemployables” Success Story – greenandprofitable.com said,
Wrote on January 29, 2022 @ 12:19 am
[…] or steady work history. In fact, my most recent newsletter (published less than two weeks ago) highlights a company that pioneered this and now consults with other companies on how to implement o…. That article focuses on the positive bottom-line benefits their clients experience as they hire […]