Armando works at the Nestlé Distribution Center in Mira Loma, California. For over eight years, he has helped maintain a clean work environment at the facility. When he first arrived at the warehouse, Armando was shy, soft-spoken and slow at beginning his duties.

"Now, he's just part of the family. He works and does anything and everything you could ask," says general manager Phil Meister who oversees operations at the Inland Empire distribution center. "His social skills have really grown."

The warehouse has been providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities since 1995 through its partnership with Rancho Cucamonga-based Vocational Improvement Program (VIP), a non-profit organization that places disabled individuals in productive jobs that promote independence and personal growth.

The distribution facility currently employs 19 individuals with developmental disabilities, including Armando, whose primary job is to maintain quality standards at Nestl é.

"They do all the cleaning inside and outside the warehouse," explains Meister.

Fast Paced Environment

And that's no easy task. The 814,186 square-foot warehouse/distribution facility houses a fast-paced environment where shipments are constantly coming and going. Therefore, maintaining a clean work space is essential, according to company spokesperson Barb Skoog at the Nestl é corporate office in Glendale.

"It's very important that every function in that distribution center is operating effeciently and effectively and smoothly, and so their contribution to keeping the areas clean and in order is very important for insuring that we keep moving as fast as we can."

"We get very high marks when we do the quality assurance audits," adds Meister noting that those high marks are a direct result of the hard work done by these employees who also help in hand-stacking imported products in the warehouse.

Disabled employees are under the direct supervision of VIP coaches to assist in keeping workers focused on their duties and helping them to excel and develop their skills. The coaches are continuously working with Nestlé managers to broaden the types of jobs offered to its disabled workers.

"We've done different projects that sometimes have been successful, sometimes not. We're always experimenting with what tasks [the workers] are willing to try and take on," Meister says. One employee, he adds, is working on obtaining a license to operate a forklift.

Skepticism at the Beginning

Nestlé is proud of its partnership with VIP, although in the beginning, it was greeted with a bit of skepticism by some. A testimonial on VIP's website quotes quality assurance supervisor Reggie Hunter as saying, " When we were first introduced to the program and VIP staff explained that people with disabilities would be coming here to work, it raised a few eyebrows. However, as time passed and the VIP group was able to assist us through some major inspection audits, they demonstrated that their tasks were value-added."

Meister says that when VIP staff approached the company with the idea of putting people with disabilities to work at his warehouse, "I was more concerned that I would have insensitive employees that would act inappropriately [toward the disabled workers], but that just didn't happen. They were welcomed and made part of the family."

Meister is quick to note that despite some managerial concerns, warehouse employees embraced the partnership. "If anything, it was applauded by the workforce. It's nice to see Nestlé reach out into the community."

A small group of eight workers was hired in 1995 and the number has since tripled, partly due to an increased workload transferred down from another Nestlé warehouse in northern California.

The Mira Loma distribution center is one of the first Nestlé warehouses to bring disabled employees into its workforce. As a result of the invaluable tasks employees perform and the social development of these workers , other Nestlé distribution facilities across the country are willing to follow suit and offer employment opportunities to people with disabilities.

"We've had some conversations on how [the partnership] has worked here," explains Meister, " and it's a win situation for us."

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