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so innovative, so caring, so successful,
so inclusive, so collaborative, so different,
so sodexo |
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Industry Trends |
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Sodexo Cares: Creating Smiles at Children’s Hospitals
By Mindi Gale and Karen Graham, Senior Recruiters
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Sodexo General Manager Shawn Goldrick |
It is hard to imagine anything more daunting to a child than to be a patient in a pediatric ward. At Sodexo, we are committed to doing all that we can to help pediatric patients and their families during their hospital stay. Towards this goal, Dick Desrochers, President of our Hospitals Division, recently hosted an innovation forum to identify and showcase the best practices of Sodexo’s food service teams working within pediatric hospitals. A key objective of the forum was to identify top practices and programs at individual hospitals that could be adopted in our pediatric accounts nationwide to help make the patient stay less difficult and less institutional.
Teams from forty-seven Sodexo pediatric accounts from across the country gathered in Texas to share their innovations, and they competed to be recognized by their colleagues as having the best practices. From this forum, new standards will be established as the Sodexo Pediatric Brand. Read more»
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Diversity |
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PANG Leadership Series: Big Picture Thinking
By Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Manager
At Sodexo, network groups are organized by employees based on their shared experiences. Members join together to provide a positive forum for professional development and share ideas to support the success of our diversity efforts. These groups promote much more than cultural awareness. They promote personal and professional growth, and they help to expand their members’ thinking to broader perspectives.
In March, the Pan Asian Network Group (PANG) took professional growth for its members one step further with the kick-off of the quarterly Leadership Webinar Series. “Our exclusive webinar series is designed, in collaboration with Sodexo University, to support the personal and professional growth of our members,” says Nitu Gupta, PANG Chair and VP, Product Development at Sodexo. “Each session highlights one core leadership competency and is presented by the highest level of Sodexo executives.” Our webinars to date include “Big Picture Thinking” and “Preparing for Promotion.” Future webinars will examine such topics as “Influencing Others” and “Effective Communications.” Read more»
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Sodexo’s Goal: A Work Environment that Fosters Mutual Respect among All People
By Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Manager
“An environment that enables individuals to work at their full potential with challenging and rewarding careers is what we strive for at Sodexo. Our continuous commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion differentiates Sodexo as an employer and business partner of choice. With diversity and inclusion as one of Sodexo’s business imperatives, our future is bright and we are positioned for success in the global marketplace.”
Texanna Reeves
Sodexo Vice President, Corporate Diversity
Sodexo’s leadership in diversity and inclusion stems from our knowledge that being a dynamic company requires people with rich backgrounds and diverse perspectives. For several years, we have been recognized as a leader in building a diverse and inclusive work environment. Most recently, Sodexo received the following three prestigious awards: Read more»
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Sodexo Sponsors NAACP Student Culinary Competition
By Michele Posehn, Senior Recruiter with Jennifer Tschilar, Senior Recruiter
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Sterling Smith, Corporate Chef for Sodexo and one of the Chef Judges for the event. |
Tears were shed as the winner was announced at a recent culinary competition in New York City, sponsored by Sodexo, Hyatt Hotels and ACT-SO, the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics, a major youth initiative of the NAACP.
The event was designed to “promote camaraderie and educational opportunities among student culinary professionals, build a competitive atmosphere, and have fun.” Beginning in the early morning hours, the competitors showed off their cooking skills by creating an appetizer or starter course and a main course for tasting. The five student competitors, each members of the BCA, a non-profit organization that provides educational and professional opportunities for individuals of color in the fields of culinary and hospitality, were given fifteen minutes to develop a menu using ingredients of their selection from the community storeroom. Assisted by mentor chefs from their respective culinary institutions, the students worked in individual cooking stations open to observers from ACT-SO, Sodexo and various culinary schools. Read more»
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Sodexo in the News |
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Sustainability: Top of Mind at Sodexo
By Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Manager
Sodexo was recently ranked among the world’s Top 50 Green Vendors as part of the Black Book’s Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors 2009 study. This study explored new trends and factors that impact outsourcing management. The study also looked into such factors as how economic conditions contribute to making the most environmentally-friendly suppliers. Research examined organizational priorities, budget constraints, option scarcity, the use of contractors to minimize energy consumption, and perceptions of corporate responsibility. Read more»
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Corporate Citizenship |
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Combating Breast Cancer: How One Sodexo Network Group Gives Back
By Tami Carter, Senior Recruiter
 According to estimates by the American Cancer Society, one in eight women in America will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. At Sodexo, we are committed to the Race for the Cure, and our Women’s Network Group (WiNG) is leading this charge with passion, commitment and results.
This year WiNG coordinated 26 events across the country that raised money for the fight against breast cancer. According to Jeff Snook, Secretary for WiNG, in FY ’09 the network group raised $112,000 through the efforts of the WiNG regional leaders, their members, families and co-workers. This effort exceeded the FY ’08 milestone and brought the group to a grand total of nearly $225,000 raised over the last 3 fiscal years for breast cancer research. Read more»
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Sodexo Employees Honored as "Heroes of Everyday Life”
By Scott Sherman, Executive Recruiter
The Sodexo Foundation, the independent charitable arm of Sodexo, recognized the volunteerism by several Sodexo employees on June 4th, as the 2009 “Heroes of Everyday Life” were honored at a fundraising event in Washington, D.C. The award, now in its tenth year, honors employees who are making a difference in the fight against hunger in their local communities. The eight 2009 Heroes demonstrated outstanding efforts that included creating and serving meals, conducting food collection drives, organizing fundraising events, and engaging families for holiday events in their home states of Tennessee, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Arizona. In addition to the recognition, the Sodexo Foundation makes a $5,000 grant in the name of each Hero to the hunger-related organization of their choice. Read more»
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My Career/My Way |
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Sodexo’s Progressive Retirement Program Helps Employees Prepare for the Future
By Jennifer Heth, Senior Recruiter
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While many companies are scaling back on their retirement programs, Sodexo continues to find new and innovative ways to help its employees plan for the future through enhancements to its existing Retirement Program. A startling statistic provided by AARP is that 30 percent of working households have not saved anything for retirement. In order to limit the number of its employees that fall into that category, Sodexo has recently implemented changes aimed at assisting employees with saving more for retirement. Some of the changes include automatic enrollment into the plan, immediate eligibility to participate in the plan for all employees 21 years of age and above, and an increase in the maximum contribution from 25 percent to 50 percent. As an organization, Sodexo understands the importance of saving for retirement and has provided employees with an enhanced plan that provides the tools, products and features that will enable employees to join Sodexo, grow with Sodexo, and retire from Sodexo.
Dave Frick, Sodexo’s Director of Benefits Finance and Savings, notes "Sodexo feels that retirement savings and planning is a shared responsibility. That’s why the plan offers a company match. It’s why we help get employees started saving and provide tools, including a personal account manager, to help build wealth. It’s also why we offer choices that can provide steady income at retirement like a plan annuity. Sodexo is a unique company, and I believe that the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit that we take towards our clients we also take towards our employees.”
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First Impressions of an Intern: A Sodexo Future Leader Shares Her Experience
By Darla Mayse, Senior Recruiter
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Maggie Criser |
The Sodexo Future Leaders Summer Internship is hosting approximately 60 interns at various Sodexo accounts across the country. The disciplines range from Food Service and Facilities to Environmental Services and Corporate Citizenship. To get a glimpse of how the internship is progressing, we reached out to one of the interns, Maggie Criser, who is completing a Food Service Management internship at a healthcare account, The Regional Medical Center in Memphis, TN.
Please tell us a little about your background.
"I am a senior Hospitality and Tourism Management major at the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a Hotel and Restaurant Operations Concentration and a Business Administration Minor. I am a member of NSMH, the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality. I am also involved in the Student Government Association as a member of the House. While in school, I work full-time as an assistant pastry chef at a small bakery in Greensboro, North Carolina. I have been working in the food service industry doing everything from fast food to fine dining, waiting tables to cooking, and everything in between since I was 16 years old and love it!” Read more»
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Sodexo Hires Heros: District Manager Bill Benson
By Suzanne Thompson, Senior Recruiter and Angela Guidroz, Military Sourcing Manager
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Bill Benson |
Sodexo proudly serves and employs the heroes who protect our freedom. Veterans, reservists and members of the National Guard will find opportunities right for them in Food & Beverage Management, Facilities Management and Engineering, as well as Sales, Accounting, IS&T, Human Resource Management and more! With 6000 locations, Sodexo can even provide transfer opportunities for spouses when a service member is deployed or relocated across the U.S.
So how does one go from the mechanic room of a nuclear submarine to being a District Manager at Sodexo? We connected with Sodexo District Manager Bill Benson to learn how. Read more»
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