The Diversity Leadership Council sets the strategy and direction. At the local level, nine Employee Business Resource Groups and diversity councils within each market segment bring the strategy to life.

Organized by fellow employees around a sense of shared interests and experiences, or a common dimension of diversity, Sodexo's Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) provide networking, professional development and learning opportunities; visibility and access to senior leadership; opportunities to impact business results, community involvement; resources and support systems.

 

African American Leadership Forum (AALF)

AALF strives to serve as a champion to support the culture of diversity within Sodexo by promoting efforts that increase the value of the career journey for our constituents. AALF creates and maintains an inclusive connection amongst members and contributes to a raised awareness of the particular needs and experiences of African Americans. 

Learn about the AALF Resource Group and their connection to Sodexo’s mission and values, our employees, and our partnerships.

Honoring Our Nation's finest with Opportunity and Respect (HONOR)

The mission of the Military Resource Group is to provide support, guidance and resources to employees and families connected to the military. HONOR accomplishes this by offering development opportunities, providing a forum to recognize and celebrate contributions made to our country, and establishing partnerships with community groups that support veterans, active duty, National Guard and military reserve.

Learn how our HONOR Resource Group works with Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition Group (TAG) to recruit high caliber talent and supports our veterans’ careers.

Intergenerational Network Group (i-Gen)

i-Gen’s goal is to leverage multi-generational differences and commonalities for personal and professional growth in order to attract and retain talent that enhances Sodexo's strength of diversity and inclusion in the marketplace.

Understanding and respecting multi-generational differences and commonalities, results in a more positive workplace and a more productive workforce.

 

Native American and Aboriginal Council (NAAC)

Mission:
To create a welcoming environment for native peoples in North America through a deeper understanding of their heritages and values. In these communities and in our membership, we are committed to the development of individuals through education, recruitment, and retention efforts and the development of partnerships through community services and mutual business opportunities.

Pan-Asian Employee Network Group (PANG)

PANG is committed to increasing the awareness of Pan Asian cultures, thereby contributing to the success of the company. By fostering a corporate environment that embraces and values the cultural diversity of its employees, we can enhance the individual and professional growth of Pan Asians.

PANG inspires employees to be motivated and productive as Sodexo appreciates the culture and values of others.

People Respecting Individuality, Diversity and Equality (PRIDE)

PRIDE believes that strategically aligning the organizational structure to embrace all diversity, inclusive of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and all employees, adds greater value to Sodexo, to the communities it serves, and to its membership. Sodexo encourages our employees to bring their whole self to work in a safe environment.

Sodexo Organization for disAbilities Resources (SOAR)

SOAR seeks to raise awareness, provide education and resources, and proactively create a culture that embraces, values and fully utilizes persons with disabilities. SOAR supports seeing the abilities in employees in a people first environment.

Sodexo Organization of Latinos (SOL)

The mission of SOL is to support Sodexo’s diversity strategy by enhancing the Quality of Life at Sodexo for Latinos, facilitating interaction and communication among our members and with community organizations, and by promoting external awareness of Sodexo in Latino communities.

Through SOL, Sodexo supports individuals’ professional development, while supporting our changing demographics.

Women’s Network Group (WiNG)

WiNG seeks to foster a culture where enhancing women's individual and professional growth contributes to the global success of our company and the communities we serve. The development, promotion and retention of Sodexo’s talented women are key.

On-going learning and development opportunities ensure optimal employee performance. Our one-day Spirit of Inclusion session is mandatory for all managers and focuses on building awareness and skills around diversity and inclusion. In addition, learning labs and online courses ensure employees have the opportunity to continually focus on and strengthen their knowledge, enhance awareness and develop their skill sets. We offer more than 25 learning labs on a variety of dimensions of diversity.

By connecting across cultures and business lines, mentoring hones leadership skills while fostering a more inclusive culture at Sodexo. It offers employees the opportunity to proactively support one another through collaboration, goal achievement and problem solving. By leveraging technology as well as high-touch programs, participants engage as mentees (learners), mentors (advisors) or both.

Sodexo continues to focus on Flexibility Works!, our business-based flexibility initiative, because research shows that employees who have a greater sense of control over their work and lives are more engaged, productive and likely to stay with their organization.

We take great pride in the awards and achievements we earn as a result of our mission, values and dedicated workforce. Learn more about how our Quality of Life Services make everyday a better day for our clients, our people and the local communities in which we serve.

We invite you to review our most recent company and diversity specific awards.

Sodexo is a leader in supplier diversity management for our percentage of spend, how we mentor and support of diverse vendors and our company goals for supplier diversity — as well as the fact that employees are held accountable for achieving these goals. Sodexo spent over $495 million with nearly 2,183 diverse vendors last year. We track and report diverse spend to over 640 clients.

Darlene Fuller, senior director of Supplier Diversity, explained, “Our supplier diversity program helps us grow our business because an increasing number of clients have supplier diversity programs that require us to track and report our diverse spend at their account as part of the contract requirements. Sodexo being a leader in supplier diversity helps provide additional value to these clients, as well as to the national, regional and local diverse businesses from which we purchase products or services.”

Learn more about our Supplier Code of Conduct.

We have partnerships across all dimensions of diversity, with over 35 civic and community-based organizations, representative of 65 programs and initiatives.

PARENT SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP (PSP)
We support the Parent Schools Partnership (PSP) program managed by the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (MALDEF). The PSP program is executed eight times a year, in Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Sodexo Chefs and Dietitians educate approximately 50 families on cooking and eating healthy. Our own Executive Chef Sterling Smith prepares items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for families to cook at home with their children. Each family receives 50 grocery bags filled with 40 pounds of fresh produce and the recipes used during the workshop.

THE ACADEMIC, CULTURAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC OLYMPICS YOUTH INITIATIVE (ACT-SO)
The Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics Youth Initiative (ACT-SO) program helps us develop the next generation of chefs while also creating brand loyalty and building a pipeline for our talent base. Through this year-long youth achievement program we provide students with an opportunity to work with professionals in their area of interest. Students are mentored and coached to develop individual projects for local and national competitions. Sodexo and Hyatt Hotels partnered with ACT-SO to develop a new Culinary Arts Competition where we negotiated a $44,000 fully funded scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America as the first prize offer; a $15,000 partial scholarship to the New England Culinary Institute for the second prize offer, and a $10,000 scholarship to Stratford University in Arlington, VA for third prize.

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION ON DISABIITY (NOD)
Through work with the NOD, and championed by managers in New Jersey, we have embraced and demonstrated our commitment to hire individuals with disabilities by developing a metrics-based six month pilot in New Jersey to recruit, train, accommodate and retain individuals with disabilities in multiple client sites.

Our policy of affirmative action facilitates the placement of qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans at all levels of the organization. Through our affirmative action plans, we identify the good faith efforts the organization will take to achieve the appropriate representation of women and minorities in our workforce. All of our affirmative action plans include targeted research, recruitment, upward mobility initiatives, annual goals and timetables for women and minorities required by Executive Order 11246 and other federal, state and local affirmative action laws and regulations.

All managers are responsible for complying with federal affirmative action regulations. This includes complying with site-specific affirmative action plans and ensuring that there are no artificial barriers to the advancement of qualified women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities anywhere in our company. These plans are monitored by senior management and developed annually.

The fair treatment of all employees is the right thing to do, and is a critical component to maintaining strong employee relations. Our policies and practices provide protection and specific investigative procedures to ensure that employee complaints are heard in an environment of respect and concern. We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, harassment or retaliation of any kind, and Sodexo employees have a variety of ways to report and resolve any of the aforementioned.

The central mission of the Office of Employment Rights (OER) is to reinforce our policies against discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace. The OER enforces the policies by providing neutral human resources professionals to thoroughly investigate EEO-related concerns by all employees in management and professional positions, as well as employees in administrative positions outside the unit.