Penn Emblem Company, a 75-year-old textile manufacturing and full-service brand decoration company, has announced a new partnership centred on workplace diversity, with a focus on people with disabilities. The organisation is happy to continue to put a greater emphasis on diversity and inclusion as they enter their 75th year.
Penn Emblem has formalised its partnership with Grit & flow, a firm that offers corporate training and inclusion/business advice to businesses in order to improve their hiring policies and treatment of diverse people. Grit & flow is a unique group of people from various backgrounds who take a multi-disciplined approach to inclusion. Their plan is based on data that has been compiled and prepared by specialists. Their inclusive design strategies are guided by a combination of personal experiences and research-based practises. They can measure and interpret the organization’s data as a whole and translate it into workable solutions that impact your organization’s performance, inclusion, and sense of belonging, in addition to human resources.
Since partnering, Penn Emblem has 42 new, active individuals with various diverse backgrounds due to the work being done with Grit & flow. Grit & flow founder Tiffany Jameson and her team have helped onboard 22% of Mira Loma’s facility. “It is not enough for us to simply say that we are open to hiring people with disabilities,” says Penn Emblem President, Randi Blumenthal, “we must walk the walk too. Individuals with disabilities are experienced, and eager to do a good job, just like anybody else.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States in 2019 employed roughly 19.3% of people with disabilities. However, while that number may seem higher than expected, it is small in comparison to the nearly 67% of people without disabilities employed in the country. Over 56 million people in America live with a disability, making people with disabilities the largest of the minority group.
Recommended reads: Dickies Celebrates 100 Years with a Campaign Dedicated to “Real-world” Women
