Oodles of Noodles
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From tacos and soups to wraps and curry, take a tour of Westchester’s most inventive noodle dishes
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Greyston Bakery founder and Zen Buddhist Bernie Glassman created the company’s open hiring business model back in 1982 by asking a simple question: How do you give people, especially those who face barriers to meaningful employment, hope?
“He believed you start by just giving them a job,” Joseph Kenner, President and CEO of Greyston Bakery, says, explaining the company’s hiring approach that’s been in place for four decades.
Unlike other companies’ application processes, Greyston doesn’t require any resumes, interviews, or background checks. Instead, individuals seeking employment simply fill out a brief form to get on the waitlist, no questions asked.
Open hire positions are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and after someone’s name is on the list, they wait to receive the phone call that they’re hired.
After being hired, new employees go through a two-day orientation followed by a six-month training process, which gives them an introduction to both the hard and soft skills they’ll need to succeed in their new roles at Greyston.
“The open hiring is an opportunity to give a lot of individuals the chance to prove to themselves that they can come back to the workplace,” Director of Human Resources Abigail Saunders, who has been overseeing the company’s onboarding process for six years, says.
Where many HR professionals are trained to look narrowly at relevant prior work experience or a specific educational background, Saunders and the leadership team instead see potential in each and every person, regardless of their past.
But Greyston’s inclusive processes don’t end after hiring. By meeting individuals where they are and providing them with the support they need to successfully navigate life circumstances through an onsite social worker, Greyston works to help its employees achieve self-sufficiency and stability.
“[Open hiring] is how we bring people in,” Kenner says. “But once they get here and get their training, do they feel safe? Do they feel supported? Do they really feel like they’re a part of a team?”
For Kenner, taking a holistic approach to sourcing and nurturing employees is an important part of Greyson’s business model. “That’s what inclusive employment is, and open hiring is the appetizer to that,” he says.
“One of the best things that we do here is trust that you have the potential,” Saunders explains, highlighting that not only are Greyston’s employees eager to work but they’re also like sponges, working hard to absorb and hone new skills.
At Greyston, being formerly incarcerated, overcoming a substance abuse problem, recently immigrating to the country, or returning to the workforce after a gap in employment doesn’t diminish the company’s trust in an individual’s ability to thrive moving forward. “They might come here thinking this is just your average job, but it’s much more than that,” Saunders says.
DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD
Greyston’s signature product is its line of packaged brownies (currently, six varieties — three of them vegan), all made sans artificial preservatives, flavors, sweeteners, or hydrogenated fats.
Their brownies caught the attention of Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Cohen was so smitten with them, in 1987 he…
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