Sodexo Wrapped in 2022 DE&I Awards
January is a time for reflection as we take stock and look forward to what’s ahead. This year, Sodexo’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team is looking back on 2022 as a year of meaningful progress toward building and nurturing a welcoming, authentic workplace.
We proudly received numerous inclusion awards, but we’re even more proud of how we earned them — through the real work of our rockstar employees: on the ground, every day. We’re honored to share their accomplishments.
We were again honored with inclusion in DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity Hall of Fame and Seramount’s Best Company for Multicultural Women Hall of Fame, an organization that’s recognized us for 15 years for our hiring, retention and promotions practices.
We also landed on Fortune’s Most Admired Companies, Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity and the Best Diversity Practice’s Inclusion Index. And we were included, for the sixth time, in the NGLCC & NBIC Best of the Best Corporations for Inclusion, honoring corporations for their commitment to America’s diverse employees and business owners.
In 2022, we:
- Supported 164 Inclusion Ambassadors, who created belonging for frontline employees across all business lines
- Partnered with 66 external organizations committed to equity and participated in 40 external partner programs
- Led 217 Diversity Learning Lab trainings for 8,024 healthcare, campus, corporate services and corporate employees
Our Work in the LGBTQ+ Community
We consistently demonstrate strong support for our LGBTQ+ team members. Many, like SodexoMagic’s Chef Ghazwan Alsharif, deeply appreciate the love and acceptance they enjoy at work.
In 2022, for the 15th consecutive year, Sodexo received a score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring LGBTQ-related workplace policies and practices.
We also received the Business Equality Excellence Award, recognizing the fostering of economic stability in the LGBTQ+ community through fair treatment and inclusion of LGBTQ+ employees, suppliers, consumers and business partners.
In June, we celebrated at numerous Pride events, offering “safe space” webinars, career trainings, leadership talks and multigenerational gatherings.
We were really excited when our own Alfonso (A.J.) Francavilla was named to BEQ Pride’s annual LGBTQ Leaders Forty Under 40 class. A.J., who serves as Senior Director, Digital Experience North America, volunteered countless hours as Chair of our PRIDE employee business resource group for LGBTQ+ and Ally employees. He is especially treasured for his positive, highly visible leadership, community advocacy and powerful sponsorship of young leaders.
Embracing Employees with Disabilities
Sodexo also earned praise from organizations representing people with disabilities. We scored a 100 on the Disability:IN Disability Equality Index (DEI) and were named one of the 2022 Best Places to Work for People with Disabilities for the eighth consecutive year.
We were also recognized by the National Organization on Disability and as the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind Employer of the Year for our hiring of people with sight impairment and blindness at sites such as UMass Boston, Bridgewater State and Framingham State.
On our company blog, we celebrated the contributions of star employees like Sue Nykaza at Lewis University in Illinois and Vocational Rehabilitation workers at the University of Southern Maine (USM). We hire — and support — these employees and thousands more through our Workforce Initiative program, which helps people with disabilities, work-eligible refugees and immigrants and others obtain stable, rewarding jobs.
For International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Jean-Patrick Cano, Senior Manager of Supply Management at Sodexo Canada, shared a powerful, informative essay on his personal experience with ADHD.
Celebrating Cultures and Origins
We couldn’t accomplish any of this without our foundational Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs). These generous employees volunteer their time — outside of their primary work roles — to make Sodexo more inclusive, equitable and caring.
Last year, 2,866 employees participated in our nine EBRGs, which offer networking, learning and development opportunities in alignment with our five priorities: Cultures and Origins, Gender, Disabilities, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Generations.
We received a 5 Star rating from the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s (HACR) Corporate Inclusion Index.
Accountability, to progress and our teams, is key to DE&I success. We are proud to participate in the Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s Black Equity at Work Certification Program, a groundbreaking roadmap for companies committed to racial equity. Along with 50 other top U.S. employers, we’re “All In” on applying a rigorous, measurable approach to developing successful Black leaders. We’ve built on our commitments to Black equity at work by engaging with MLT’s Hispanic Equity at Work, demonstrating our commitment to creating equity for Hispanic employees. The program requires us to develop a clear, robust and comprehensive three-year racial equity plan and hold ourselves accountable for significant, measurable progress.
And finally, HONOR, our group for military veterans and families, was named a 2022 Diversity Impact Awards Top 25 ERG. In 2022, we supported multiple Stand Down events to help veterans experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
“We’re proud to continually receive recognition for our inclusion work, which we see as critical,” says Tony Tenicela, Vice President of DE&I for Sodexo North America. “A work culture rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion is our commitment to our greatest resource: our employees.”
(L-R) Patrick Sochnikoff, Group SVP, Corporate & Social Responsibility; A.J. Francavilla, PRIDE Chair and Senior Director, Digital Experiences North America; Satu Heschung, VP Global DE&I; and Tony Tenicela,VP of DE&I for Sodexo North America at the 2022 Workplace Pride Leadership Awards Gala on October 28, 2022, in Amsterdam.