People-to-Work Initiatives: Nurturing the American Dream (Restaurants USA, March 1997)

March 1997 issue

People-to-Work Initiatives: Nurturing the American Dream

Restaurants USA magazine's final issue was published in September 2002 but these archived articles remain available for our readers' convenience.

Restaurants USA, March 1997

The restaurant industry is serving up jobs to people--some of them welfare recipients who are hungry for success and starved for hope. But in giving those workers an opportunity to attain the American Dream, restaurateurs are in turn gaining dedicated employees and a positive image as employers who put people to work
By Stephenie Overman

"I had no job skills, no high school education. I was at the bottom of the ladder," recalls Dee Dee Stanback. Stanback, 39, was a welfare recipient with one child when she started as a dishwasher at the Angus Barn in Raleigh, North Carolina, in January 1979. Today she is a dining-room manager at the restaurant, overseeing a waitstaff of more than 200 people and providing customer service to between 700 and 1,000 customers a day.

Stanback is just one of the many success stories of people who began their climb up the ladder of independence in entry-level restaurant jobs. "I believe the restaurant industry is a great place to start for many people who may have otherwise given up achieving their piece of the American Dream," says National Restaurant Association Chief Executive Officer and President Herman Cain.

"The focus on welfare to work is a great focus, however, there are a lot of other people who also need to work but have different barriers that prevent them from working, such as language or skills barriers," Cain continues. "ThatÕs why we refer to our efforts as Ôpeople-to-workÕ initiatives. People to work is about identifying any barrier that prevents people from joining the work force. The biggest barrier is that many people donÕt know what the industry offers, so thatÕs why weÕre trying to get the word out."

Although it would seem that such happy endings as StanbackÕs are a natural outcome when an industry hungry for entry-level workers hires people desperately in need of training, skills and hope, there are quite a few barriers specific to welfare-to-work initiatives. Certainly, the barriers donÕt lie in finding potential employees to be drawn from this pool. According to the Department of Health and Human ServicesÕ Administration for Children and Families, as of October 1996, there were more than 4 million families and almost 12 million individuals on welfare in the United States. And apparently there will not be a lack of industry jobs either. According to National Restaurant Association research, the restaurant industryÑwhich currently employs 9 million peopleÑis expected to grow to 11 million employees by 2005.

Finding entry-level jobs for welfare recipients may be the relatively easy part. President Clinton wants to give businesses $3.4 billion in incentives to hire people from the welfare rolls. But retaining unskilled workers who often donÕt have basic job skills, adequate child care or reliable transportation is more difficult, leaving government agencies, nonprofit organizations and the restaurant industry scrambling to overcome those barriers and give people who are willing to work for it a chance to attain the American dream.

Taking it to the states

Federal legislation passed last August transformed welfare from an entitlement program into a work program based on block grants to the states. Many states already have waivers allowing them to implement programs that are at least as strict as the new federal reform.

Wisconsin is an experienced leader in the welfare-reform movement, and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association (WRA) has been actively involved in the state program known as Wisconsin Works, according to Edward J. Lump, the associationÕs executive vice president.

Matching welfare recipients with restaurant jobs is "an ideal marriage," Lump says, because "weÕre used to taking people who do not have a lot of labor skills to offer and training them in basic areas such as teamwork, reliability and cleanliness. I know of no other industry that offers such potential for upward mobility as that of the foodservice industry. We have entry-level jobs that can quickly lead to higher pay, better benefits and long, rewarding careers."

According to a 1995 WRA survey, the restaurant industry in the four-county Milwaukee area alone could provide jobs for at least half of the stateÕs estimated 5,000 to 10,000 welfare recipients. RestaurantsÑespecially in the Milwaukee areaÑhave been facing an unprecedented labor shortage, and the state has been doing its part to bring potential employers and employees together.

Jayne Aliota, director of human resources, training and development for DeRosa Corp., the parent company of Chancery Restaurants (located in Milwaukee) praises WisconsinÕs revamped Job Center NetworkÑa program that provides applicants access to job openings online and provides job training. "Their new JobNet [online] system and frequent job fairs have allowed us to fill many positions, ranging from dishwasher to manager," she says.
Robert Otto, vice president of operations for Cousins Submarines Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, notes, "We have the jobs. We provide the training. ItÕs the story of restaurants everywhere. WeÕre part of it."

But Otto says the state welfare-reform-advisory commission that he served on had only begun to address such key issues as the lack of available child care, health care and transportation.

Is Uncle Sam doing his part?

Government agencies may be working to match welfare recipients with employers, but those who study welfare reform say government help has traditionally been in short supply once a company actually puts welfare workers on the payroll.

"Welfare reform in the past has been primarily labor-market-entry-oriented. There was the naive assumption that once people were in the labor market, they would stay there and graduate into the middle class," says Tom Corbett, acting director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

"As the government has become more aware of people falling back into welfare, more attention has been paid to support once a person is in the labor market. TheyÕve spent a lot of time now talking about work-support functions, but I donÕt think thereÕs any systematic strategy for dealing with it," Corbett continues.

Part of the problem is that "government doesnÕt have a lot of experience in providing postemployment services," Corbett says. With money for such assistance programs running thin, he predicts that "that kind of service may be the one thatÕs not going to be expanded."
"There are a few hothouse demonstration projects" that deal with the problems, but "I donÕt know if that can be replicated on a large scale," he says. "The bottom line is there are probably bits and pieces of the answer out there, but I donÕt think thereÕs a coherent strategy."

Job readiness

Steve Savner, senior staff attorney with the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington DC, agrees that today "many welfare recipients can get jobs, but they have a hard timing keeping them," because "frequently they just donÕt have the work experience. They donÕt have the skills to work through problems with their managers."

Savner advises restaurateurs to go to local welfare agencies and "talk about whatÕs available," because those agencies have control over job-training money. "Say ÔhereÕs what we need in entry-level workers. We can help you design job-readiness programs,Õ " he says. "ItÕs worth exploring. You may be able to combine federal job-training money with company money."

Some state and county pilot programs are already taking steps to meet the basic needs of welfare recipients trying to make the transition to employment, including:

o The Michigan welfare departmentÕs Project Zero pilot program guarantees access to health-care coverage to working welfare recipients in six pilot sites once the workersÕ eligibility for transitional Medicaid benefits ends. The Project Zero pilot program, which is designed to remove barriers to employment, has also implemented a Dial-a-Ride service for people who need transportation to and from work in Midland County. In Ottawa County, it has contracted with other organizations to provide backup child-care service for workers.

o The Bridges to Work program provides rides from job-poor cities to employee-hungry suburbs. Over a four-year period, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee and St. Louis will receive government funds to implement similar demonstration projects.

o Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is providing used cars to welfare recipients. In the Wheels to Work program, county officials work with community organizations to encourage their members to donate used cars. In return, the donors can write the cars off as charitable tax deductions.

o Fairfax County, Virginia, has beefed up its child-care-assistance program to accommodate people who work evenings, weekends or varied shifts. The county has contracts with 165 centers and 750 family day-care providers.

Profiting from nonprofit partnerships

Restaurateurs are gaining additional benefits from their work with nonprofit organizations. Both the Wisconsin and Texas restaurant associations, for example, work with the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, a nonprofit organization in Washington DC that provides training and technical assistance to grassroots organizations.

Robert Woodson, the centerÕs president, likens his organization to a "Geiger counter" that finds out whatÕs working at the grassroots level. Then "we apply the Miracle-Grow"Ñby linking those grassroots organizations together with appropriate industries, he says.

Hiring welfare recipients gives the restaurant industry more than just a new source of workers, Woodson says. It gives the industry new friends from grassroots organizations who can step in to help defend the restaurant industry when it is accused of exploiting workers or of offering only "burger flipper" jobs.

Restaurateurs in the San Antonio area have joined forces with Victory Fellowship, a nonprofit group that helps former drug and alcohol abusers and their families acquire basic job skills, says Richie Jackson, executive vice president of the Texas Restaurant Association.

"WeÕre setting up joint training. We provide some basic training in sanitation and personnel policies. We have an extensive segment on moving beyond minimum wage," Jackson says. "At the same time, Victory Fellowship provides value-based training, so people will have a work ethic, personal responsibility, honesty and pride. These are the things restaurateurs look for but have a hard time teaching in job-related training. Restaurateurs will get employees who can actually serve as role models once theyÕre on the payroll."

A ladder to independence and success

Some restaurant companies are going a step further and creating programs to ensure that welfare recipients will remain on the job once hired.

Marriott International, Inc., headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, created Pathways to Independence, a six-week unpaid training program that guarantees job offers to all graduates. The program is administered in Marriott hotels and restaurants with some government funding. Ninety percent of the participants complete the job training, and 77 percent are still employed by Marriott after 300 days.

The programÕs success lies in strict screening of applicants and intensive training. Only about a quarter of those interviewed join the program. To be included in the program, an applicant must have a sixth-grade reading ability, pass a drug test and demonstrate a desire to work. In the last six years, more than 600 participants have graduated from the program.

Janet Tully, director of Community Employment and Training Programs for Marriott International, notes that, on a scale of one to 10, "any company wants the eights, nines and tens. But we can deal with the sixes and sevens" if they have the motivation, coupled with good training.

Tully says Marriott employees pitch in to make the program a success by helping Pathways trainees find transportation to work, purchase uniforms, they may even speak to public-housing officials in some instances.

Putting an individual through the program costs an estimated $5,000; government money covers all but a half. The company reports that it costs about $900 to recruit and hire an employee, so Marriott estimates that if it can keep a welfare trainee about two-and-half times longer than the average worker, the training pays for itself.

Entry-level hope

When Dee Dee Stanback began working at the Angus Barn, she says, "There were all kinds of headaches." Stanback experienced firsthand the problems welfare recipients have in securing transportation and adequate child care so that they can work. Even filling out the employment application was intimidating, Stanback says. She advises operators to "make it as comfortable for [newly hired welfare recipients] as possible. Give them an example of how to fill it out. Managers need patience. The person who conducts the interview has to be skilled" at drawing out the qualifications of someone who has probably spent little time at a paying job.

"ThereÕs a lot that the employer will have to put up with in the beginning," she warns. "But when people really want to do well, they will try hard. ItÕs these problems that slow them up."

Little things can mean a lot to people trying to make it into the work force, Stanback says. For example, "employers could change the pay schedule to once a week, instead of once every two weeks. Two weeks is a long time when youÕre making the transition from welfare." Supplying information about health-care and child-care options to the new workers would be helpful as well, she says.

"Training is a key issue. I was given up to 10 weeks of training for some jobs so that I could move up. I donÕt think I could have gone as far without training as well as determination."

Stanback stresses the need for operators and managers to be aware of the workersÕ special needs. "ItÕs important that someone recognizes you," she emphasizes, especially for people with little work experience. "In some places, managers donÕt take time to talk to you. They donÕt ask, Ôwhat can I do to make your job easier?Õ ItÕs good to have a personal relationship with people you employ. When you walk in a restaurant, you can tell if the workers are happy. If theyÕre not happy, the food and the service are not going to be a delight for customers. When you recognize people, they do a much better job."

In 1979, Stanback probably couldnÕt have imagined that she would one day be acting as an ambassador for the restaurant industry, helping former welfare recipients gain the knowledge and skills they need to be independent. She says that now she sometimes works with former welfare recipients in her job as manager. "In the back of the house, in the entry positions, they donÕt have the education. ItÕs important to me to go right over and make them feel welcome. I know what itÕs like there. But they have the willingness, theyÕre eager to learnÑand that motivates me. IÕm right there with them. I tell them, ÔIÕm going to pull you up and teach you everything I know.Õ "

Back to top

Stephenie Overman writes for Restaurants USA from Arlington, Virginia.