On a Tuesday afternoon in the kitchen at the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall, a cook filled racks with sheets of bacon in preparation for the next morning’s breakfast while others scooped muffin dough onto paper liners and emptied couscous into plastic containers.
Sodexo, the global company that provides food to Liberty’s campus, hires special needs workers at many dining locations on campus.
Russell Irby, human resources manager for Sodexo at Liberty, recruits potential employees. Irby works with the Virginia Employment Commission, Miriam’s House, Goodwill and others to reach out to minorities and veterans.
“We’re calling to talk to each other on a regular basis,” Irby said. “ … Making sure they know that we are staying in contact with them that we’re still looking and that their people are important to us.”
From his office in Green Hall, Irby listed the ways Sodexo works to recruit and accommodate minorities. He emphasized that the flexible options on campus allow Sodexo to create new solutions for workers in unique circumstances, from a hearing-impaired barista to employees in wheelchairs.
“There hasn’t been an accommodation yet that I haven’t been able to work with,” Irby said.
Ryan Wheeler, unit marketing specialist for Sodexo, mentioned a blind employee in the dish return at Reber-Thomas. The dishwasher uses walkers to help him navigate the slippery dish room, and a team is assigned to help him exit safely during a fire drill. Wheeler said he has one of the highest quality control checks.
“His dishes are never dirty when he passes them down,” Wheeler said.
Amanda Clark, retail manager with Sodexo, oversees the food locations on East Campus. Some of her employees call her “Emoji face” for her wide
cheery smile.
Clark estimated 10 percent of her 40 employees have special needs. If Clark notices that employees are unsure how to relate to a co-worker with a special need, she said she will pair them on a task or bring up shared interests to help break the ice.
One employee with hearing impairment can read lips and communicate smoothly, but other employees wondered if they needed to use sign language or write things down until Clark clarified.
Clark said she helps employees with special needs like she would any other, welcoming job coaches when needed and working with unusual scheduling.
Some workers with special needs rely on family members to provide transportation. Clark said the worst part of her job is when any employee quits because of limited or unreliable transportation.
“That is the only issue: outside things keeping people from accepting positions or continuing to work in positions,” Clark said.
The kitchen, with its occasionally wet and greasy floor, requires nonslip shoes and does not allow for a cane or walker, but Clark said employees could navigate front-of-house jobs if they felt comfortable during
busy stretches.
One young dish washer has a laugh that Clark said makes her happy, and she told him so.
“Now he’ll just laugh randomly and tell me that he wanted to laugh because he knows it makes me happy,” Clark said. “He has just such a great soul.”
He loves Liberty’s hockey team, so last year a supervisor contacted the team, who visited him on a break, bringing a hockey stick as a gift.
“He still to this day talks about it,” Clark said. “Now he wants me to get the girls’ basketball team over here.”
In Sodexo kitchens, flexibility and teamwork helps employees with different needs accomplish their roles independently. Clark wants to create a relaxed, hardworking atmosphere.
“Have fun and get it done,” Clark said.