Burlington Employers Share Best Practices in Hiring New Americans
While the BDCC has been supporting the launch of the office for the Ethiopian Community Development Council here in Brattleboro, we’ve also been working on supporting local and regional employers on preparing for a 21st century workforce that is inclusive and equitable to all folks.
Most recently, Welcoming Communities manager Alex Beck traveled to Chittenden County to interview the largest employers of refugees in our state to learn about how they’ve supported a thriving immigrant and refugee workforce.
Twincraft Skincare
At Twincraft Skincare, a skincare products manufacturer based in Winooski, we learned about several best practices that any employer could implement. Multi-lingual signage throughout the workplace emphasized not only the culture of inclusivity, but also reinforced the company’s commitment to producing high-quality goods all employees can feel ownership of.
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Another easy and inclusive change that was made was implementing floating, rather than fixed, holidays. It provides every employee an equal opportunity to decide which holidays and cultural traditions most important to them and provides them the time to celebrate.
Twincraft also helps bring English language learning resources directly into the workplace. This ensures that nobody needs to choose between investing in their jobs and their language learning.
Rhino Foods
The other employer that Alex visited is Rhino Foods, who manufactures cookie dough and brownie chunks for ice cream companies, most notably Ben & Jerry’s. In the mid-90’s, owner and CEO Ted Castle set a goal for Rhino Foods to be the employer of choice for immigrants and refugees in the state and have largely realized that goal.
When Ted learned that employees who needed to pray during the day were doing so in the locker rooms, he worked to create a clean and comfortable space dedicated to meet those needs. They also reorganized their training processes to leverage the existing diversity of their workforce; new employees are paired with a mentor, often someone who speaks a shared second language, who they shadow and learn from on the job.
Rhino Foods also helped create an Income Advance Program, which creates partnerships between employers and lending institutions to help employees start bank accounts, build credit, and access safe and reliable emergency lending. Loans are repaid through a payroll deduction that, after getting folks out of debt, quickly becomes a tool for building savings.
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Both organizations highlighted the importance of strong leadership and intentional actions that make the workplace more accessible and inclusive to all potential employees. Both are weathering the immense workforce shortage better than most, but also acknowledge that being inclusive and supportive is a continual practice, not a finite set of policies to change.
Welcoming Workplaces
The BDCC shared many of these best practices at the most recent Regional Workforce Development Network meeting and will continue to work with employers on preparing to successfully support an immigrant and refugee workforce.
We’re also excited to share the impending launch of our Welcoming Workplaces initiative, an introductory training to workplace equity and inclusivity, funded by the Vermont Community Foundation and implemented in partnership with the Diverse Workforce Development Committee of Brattleboro. Welcoming Workplaces is an initiative of BDCC’s Welcoming Communities Program.
More information about Welcoming Workplaces will be made available at the start of the new year. We look forward to creating a more welcoming and inclusive Windham County with all of our community and employer partners.
About Welcoming Communities
Welcoming Communities is a series of initiatives and collaborative partnerships that seeks to make the region more welcoming for foreign-born workers, and non-citizen residents. It will improve how existing BDCC programs serve diverse stakeholders and launch new targeted activities through partnerships with employers and community-based organizations to help make the region more equitable and inclusive for current and future BIPOC community members. The long-term goal of Welcoming Communities is to build a community and economy that supports immigration and in-migration to southern Vermont to increase the vitality of our communities and strength of our workforce. For more information please visit www.brattleborodevelopment.com
