From SCDigest’s On-Target E-Magazine Joins Handful of Others with Similar Programs, but Progress Seems Slow Since Walgreens Got the Ball Rolling SCDigest Editorial Staff in 2006, retail chain Walgreens and then SVP of Logistics Randy Lewis launched what turned out to be a very successful program to employ disabled workers across its distribution network. (See Walgreens on How to Make a Program for Disabled Workers in the DC a Success .) Lewis retired in early 2013, but the Walgreens program has continued going strong more than two years after Lewis’s departure, though apparently he is still involved in the program in a part-time role. SCDigest Says: Disabled worker have clearly shown they have less turnover and are far less likely to call in sick or stay home when it snows in the morning, for example. On a panel discussing Kroger’s new disabled worker program, Howard Green , deputy director, corporate programs for the National Organization on Disability, told an audience at the Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC) annual conference in Orlando last week that at one Walgreens distribution center in Connecticut, more than 50% of the workers are disabled and – get this – there are some 40 deaf fork truck drivers. How they are able to do that job safely wasn’t clearly described. Since Walgreens pioneering success, a few others have followed, but overall progress seems slow to SCDigest. Other retailers with active programs include Lowes, Starbuck, Toys R Us, and now Kroger. A single executive in Kroger’s mid-south or Nashville region heard about these types of program, and challenged managers in the region to see if such a program could be launched, starting with a single major distribution center in Cleveland, TN. This facility was selected in part because at times Kroger has had recruitment challenges […]