Walgreens credits long partnership with BRS for hiring hundreds of workers with disabilities

Mark Senya, field disability inclusion manager for Walgreens, said the company has partnered with BRS for about 18 years and has hired "well over hundreds of people" referred through that relationship.

Senya described the partnership in remarks to stakeholders, saying it provides both job candidates and supports that prepare employees and supervisors. "We've been partners with BRS for the last 18 years or so," he said. "BRS gives us that additional support and resources to go forward here at Walgreens."

The company, he said, holds all employees to the same standards "whether they have a disability or not," and that workers referred by BRS meet productivity expectations and attendance standards. "Once you show that people with disabilities are capable of working alongside anyone else and can hit those productivity numbers ... it's kind of an eye-opening experience," he said, adding that such hiring helps "erase those stereotypes, those biases."

Senya outlined the practical supports BRS provides beyond referrals, including job coaching, additional training, and "disability awareness and disability etiquette training." He said those services help ensure on-the-job success for referred workers and support supervisors integrating new hires.

He also said the partnership has expanded beyond a distribution center into Walgreens retail stores and other states, with BRS referring candidates for customer-service positions. As guidance to other employers, Senya recommended starting slowly and involving BRS early in the process: "start slow, lean on them," he said.

Senya closed by noting Walgreens works with "strong partners in VRS" and that the joint effort is aimed at making employees successful. There was no formal action or vote associated with his remarks; they were presented as testimony about an existing employer–provider partnership.