On our various visits to the USA, we’ve often used a Walgreens store. Walgreens is (to British eyes) a cross between Boots the Chemist and Woolworth. We first encountered Walgreen in San Francisco but have realised since they are not just in California but many other parts of the USA too.
The company started in the early part of the 20th century with a pharmacy in Chicago founded by Charles Walgreen. Since then the company has expanded and expanded and now has stores in all 50 states as well as in Washington DC.
Last Sunday morning (8th June) I heard an interview with a director of Walgreens – Randy Lewis – on BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday programme. Mr. Lewis was interviewed by Clare Balding.
In a very moving interview Mr. Lewis explained how his son Austin (now aged 26) has autism. And Mr Lewis mentioned that he was always worried about how Austin would cope without his parents. Like many others with autism (and I suppose other disabilities) Austin could not get a job. This in turn led to Mr Lewis to think about whether there was a way in which the company he worked for could find a way of employing a large number of people with disabilities.
The company was at the time taking on 1,000 people a year. So Mr. Lewis came up with an idea of employing people with disabilities specifically. In fact the ultimate vision was that 1/3 of employees would have disabilities.
The important thing was that in doing this there should not be an increase in costs.
The project was agreed and now the company employs a great many people with disabilities on the same terms as those without disabilities. And the project has had an enormous change of culture to the company as a whole.
In the interview Randy Lewis made clear that as well as being driven by the thought of his son, his Christian faith was also a factor. He said that he has always felt that Christians believe in a time of hope. A time of no tears when every wrong will be righted. Therefore his understanding is how do we build this world in anticipation of that time? Something I wholly believe too.
Therefore, through wanting to do something for people like his son and driven by his Christian faith, Walgreens have become an employer of thousands of people with disabilities. And many of those had never worked before.
In the interview Randy Lewis explained that Marks & Spencer in the UK have shown great interest in what has happened at Walgreens and the American electrical retail company Best Buy have also started to adopt the approach. As he said:
“Once you have decided to do something like this, there are others who want to join you”
Walgreens have a 45% stake in the company that owns Boots in the UK and in May there were reports that Walgreen was looking to take over the company as a whole. So who knows, if that happens maybe Boots will adopt similar employment practices to Walgreens?
I find it encouraging that some companies are prepared to do the right thing and act ethically or at least try and make a difference to the lives of others. All too often large companies just don’t seem to have a heart for people. Everything is driven by the bottom line. Walgreens shows that the bottom line can still be taken care of while at the same time people can be taken care of too.
Much of my dissertation for my degree in applied theology was taken up with looking at business ethics and I particularly focused on the work of Sir William Hartley. Hartley was a 19th century self-made multi-millionaire who made his fortune from jam. But his Christian faith (he was a Methodist) dictated that he was a philanthropist. His employees had exceptional working conditions and he ensured they had health care and schooling. And he tried to ensure that his suppliers were paid fairly.
There were other companies at the time who acted in the same way – such as Cadbury and Rowntree for example.
What a better place the world would be if companies sought ways of making profit certainly but also found ways of being good employers and ethical businesses. What a better world it would be if companies did more than just play lip service to corporate responsibility.
Mind you, before we get too misty eyed over Walgreen, it is apparently looking at basing its headquarters in Switzerland in a move that would mean the loss of $4billion in taxes to the US Treasury.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/walgreen-offshore-taxes_n_5481596.html
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