Imagine scallop and mushroom risotto, Korean-style BBQ meatloaf and creamy harissa chicken, lined up in steaming platters along a wide wooden table. The final ingredient: a litany of diverse dinner guests brought together by a common purpose.
At Chicago-based Home Chef, a meal solutions company, employees hold a firm belief in the power of food as a way to support new inroads to diversity and equity, both in the United States and in the company at large.
“We are a food company and food is political,” said Jordyn Duggan, the company’s national continuous improvement manager. “Food is involved in all kinds of oppression and all kinds of equity. We want to be overwhelmingly on the side of equity.”
When Home Chef’s employees found themselves in the middle of a major socio-political upheaval last year, there were rising concerns internally about inequality for many of America’s diverse groups, and a strong desire to take action at work.
“After the murder of George Floyd, people at the company stood up to create real change within the organization,” said Duggan.
One of those changes was to bring on Jasmine Primm as the company’s new director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). One of her first projects was to begin a series of new initiatives designed to educate employees, create an inclusive environment and empower each member of the workforce to be the best version of themselves.
The essential ingredients of this inclusive environment — psychological safety, empathy, awareness and a growth mindset — are embraced by Home Chef’s many employees from diverse backgrounds, and are brought together by the strength and support of the company’s long-standing employee resource groups (ERGs).
To learn more about Home Chef’s DEI initiatives and the work being done by its ERGs, Built In Chicago sat down with several members of the team, including Primm, Duggan and Breana Render, the company’s operations management associate.
Jasmine, what made Home Chef the right place for you to start these major DEI initiatives?
Primm: I have always tried to align myself with brands I felt had a bigger purpose than just being a business. When I took this role at Home Chef, the most important thing for me was to make sure I would be working with people who felt that their job carried a bigger purpose. Whether it’s hunger we’re trying to face, childhood obesity, obesity in America or food deserts, those bigger goals were things that were really important to me.
Prior to working at Home Chef, I was almost 350 pounds, so this company was a really big part of me learning to feed and care for my adult self. I also loved that throughout my interview process, every single person I talked to was transparent on where the company needed to go and where they needed to grow.
What was at the top of your priority list in terms of DEI initiatives?
Primm: The top of our priority list was addressing how we diversely hire candidates and how we educate the people who are here so that we can retain them and spread overall awareness and understanding about our DEI initiatives. There was also the fact that every industry is hiring right now, and there’s a hiring shortage. It was a priority to make sure that, despite that shortage, we’re doing what we can to diversify our applicant pool.
The top of our priority list was addressing how we diversely hire candidates and how we educate the people who are here so that we can retain them and spread overall awareness about our DEI initiatives.”
What were your first 30 days like?
Primm: Within the first 30 days, we were addressing gender neutral restrooms and the need for training across different plant environments, and we were also understanding that each plant environment is unique. There’s not a one-size-fits-all training program we can do as a company. Our executive leadership bought into the idea that we had to customize trainings for these teams and have one-on-ones to let people elaborate on where they were struggling.
That’s an interesting point. How did you go about customizing some of those training programs?
Primm: We have a custom module training for all of Home Chef’s people leaders — anyone who has any type of direct report — which is based on what their biggest human resources issues have been on a local level. For one plant, our focus has been helping people understand how cultural differences play into racial biases. Their training and workbook are customized around that central goal. For the custom module at a different plant, we will focus on gender roles and gender bias and how those factor into that team’s specific environment.
We also have a learning and development team because there is a baseline amount of education that everyone needs. On top of that, our many ERGs are another way Home Chef’s able to educate and empower its workforce.
Home Chef Has a Variety of ERGs Available to Employees
- Black ERG
- CookOUT (LGBTQIA+)
- Women’s ERG
- Parents ERG
- Multicultural ERG
- HC Connect (company-wide culture and affinity group)
- Professionals ERG
- DEI Council
Speaking of ERGs, we hear you’re a leader on one of them, Jordyn. Can you tell us more about CookOUT and the work you do?
Duggan: The CookOUT ERG is for Home Chef’s LGBTQIA+ community. On a personal level, I recently came out to my closest coworkers and boss as nonbinary, and it was very helpful to know that all of our salaried employees go through LGBT training, which provides awareness and understanding of what it means to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary. Just knowing that my coworkers have some baseline knowledge of what it means is great.
I recently accepted an invite to be the co-leader of CookOUT, and we’ve continued to work on a variety of initiatives. Not only do we have those aforementioned training programs for all salaried employees, but our gender neutral restrooms are being rolled out in conjunction with Pride Month.
What other initiatives is CookOUT involved in for Pride Month?
Duggan: We have drag queen bingo, drag queen storytelling and a program called “Two Dykes and a Knife,” which is a food and visual art-focused experience. I was involved in finding the talent for this last program, as we really wanted a CookOUT initiative that related to food. It will be really interesting to talk about why this group is merging food with their queerness, especially since food is involved in different kinds of oppression and different kinds of equity. It’s going to be really cool to explore how those two ideas relate.
It will be really interesting to talk about why this group is merging food with their queerness, especially since food is involved in different kinds of oppression and different kinds of equity.”
Breana, you’re involved in the Parents ERG. Can you tell us a bit more about your experience?
Render: I'm a parent myself, and I have kids with a large age range — from 12 years old to five years old. I know the balance of work and parenting can be a lot. When I saw the parents ERG had an opening, I felt like I should definitely join, particularly during COVID-19.
It’s been great to have an ERG for parents, because during the pandemic, we had to become really flexible and creative to succeed. We had to reach out for support when it came to virtual learning or babysitting or the mental health strain of having our kids home 24 hours a day without a break. Joining the parents group as a co-chair meant a lot to me.
What initiatives is the parents ERG involved in? What would you like to see it focus on in the future?
Render: We send out fun kits to families, and Home Chef’s employees are starting to post pictures of the paint kits they received in the mail. Sending out these family-friendly kits makes a difference and shows that the company is truly looking out for parents. We will also be having a back to school fair later in the summer. Eventually, it’d be nice to discuss starting a Home Chef daycare or something similar, because that’s one of our struggles here with a lot of our hourly associates.
Are there any other ERGs you engage with or have an interest in?
Render: The professionals ERG was one of the ones that I've always thought we needed for internal growth, so it was great to see that ERG come together. We have a lot of internal growth, but I always hear people say, “How did so-and-so get into this career position?” I always thought it would be nice for people internally to grow or learn or work with people within the specific departments they are interested in for career development.
While funding is important, so is knowing that this is something the company genuinely cares about and is continuously working toward.”
It seems like these ERGs have a great deal of support. How are they funded?
Primm: This was the first year we were given a full budget to go toward our ERGs, so it certainly shows strong support for DEI initiatives from Home Chef’s leadership.
Duggan: I think even more important than the funding is that Home Chef is setting the tone that DEI is a priority. Every company-wide town hall starts with a DEI update and information on where we are on that journey. While funding is important, so is knowing that this is something the company genuinely cares about and is continuously working toward.
