Joseph Kenner, CEO, Greyston: The Changemaker Interview

Started forty years ago, Greyston focuses on unlocking the power of human potential through inclusive employment, one person at a time. Serving as President and CEO since April 2020 of this combination bakery and foundation is Joseph Kenner, who first joined Greyston in 2018 and has a diverse background in the private and public sectors.

David Ezekiel: Please describe the personal and professional journey that led you to the CEO chair at Greyston.

Joseph Nower: Connecting the dots of my career would be a real exercise for anyone. I spent 14 years in corporate America and almost 10 years in government in various elected and appointed leadership positions. After numerous meetings with Greyston, including my predecessor as CEO, I found my place here.

Grayston is truly the hidden gem of Westchester County, New York. I began my tenure in 2018 as VP of Programs and Partnerships and was eventually named Greyston’s CEO in April 2022—we could have a day at work with that experience—following my predecessor’s departure. I’ve always said that if I could write a job description for myself, it would look like my current role. It is the perfect combination of purpose, mission, business and social and economic impact.

David Ezekiel: Open hiring was a pretty radical idea when Greyston’s founder started championing it 40 years ago. What is open and inclusive hiring and what are the bakery and the foundation doing to promote it?

Joseph Nower: Open hiring at a very basic level is a no-questions-asked form of hiring, especially at an entry-level level where a person can learn the job on the job. Companies practicing inclusive hiring can take a wide range of steps (eg, application, interview, screening criteria) to create a fairer hiring process.

At Greyston Bakery we practice open hiring. We have a job listing where all a person needs to do is enter their name and contact details for our bakery apprentice positions. When the next job becomes available and you are the next person on the list to get a call, you have the job…if you want the opportunity.

Is this the success of our bakery – which celebrated its 40 years^th anniversary this year – or the success of some of our open hiring replication partners, we are promoting open hiring as a business and talent management strategy. We share the success metrics we see with our partners ie. turnover rate and time to reduce hiring or increase productivity. The bottom line is that you will find that it takes great and loyal talent that allows you as a business to continue to produce your product or provide a service – you just do it in an innovative and efficient way compared to traditional ways of hiring.

David Ezekiel: It feels like a lot of progress has been made in this area over the past few years. Why do you think that is? What are some of the significant successes Grayston has been a part of?

Joseph Nower: Why the advances? Look no further than 1) record job vacancies, 2) record quit rates, and 3) an official jobless measure that captures only about half of job vacancies. On top of that you have people with barriers to employment (our best place), ie. ex-prisoners, single parents, disconnected youth who have left the workforce altogether, and that adds at least another 10 million people. The current hiring model is clearly not working, so we need new leadership instruction here.

Our first large open-to-hire replicator was The Body Shop. They came to us in 2019 to do a pilot project because they were having challenges hiring people in their distribution center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The initial results were a nearly two-thirds reduction in their turnover and their time to hire essentially cut in half, with productivity increasing by double digits. Three years and around 3,000 opportunities offered later, these numbers not only hold, but The Body Shop has implemented open hiring in both its distribution centers and retail operations. Additionally, they now have Open Hiring in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.

There is indeed that moral imperative, but the business results are just as compelling. They did generate additional interest from other major retailers. For this reason, we are extremely excited to announce a partnership with IKEA. With bold and purposeful companies like The Body Shop and IKEA around the world, we can make a serious impact in terms of bringing talent from the sidelines and igniting real economic development and social change by simply hiring those who have been left behind – those who have great potential, but need an opportunity to demonstrate this.

David Ezekiel: What are some of the most common objections you encounter when talking to businesses about open hiring?

Joseph Nower: As someone who spent 14 years in corporate America, I understand the reception that a radically different but innovative concept like open hiring can get in the C-suite or with other key corporate stakeholders. The no-questions-asked form of hiring flies in the face of years of conducting interviews and background checks. get it But we need to shift our mindset and ask some questions: Does it make sense to go through these complex and frankly expensive—both time- and dollar-wise—when we have entry-level jobs where you can learn the job on the job with the only requirements being to show up, demonstrate a willingness to learn, and have that desire to be successful in whatever you do?

David Ezekiel: Greyston made great strides in its first 40 years. What is your main goal for the next stage of the organization’s development?

Joseph Nower: Since my appointment as President and CEO of Greyston, I have worked with my executive team and board to develop what we now call our Vision 2030. Our vision going forward as an organization is to first be the renowned champion of how business can uplift humanity through inclusive employment. As the first registered Benefit Corporation in New York State, the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit is in our DNA.

First, we want to intentionally lead with our for-profit, Greyston Bakery, as an incubator for what inclusive employment looks like, and we’ll be leading this discussion with our Open Hiring model as the crown jewel.

Second, we want to continue to be a recognized leader, role model and innovator in inclusive employment and workforce development. In 2021, our nonprofit Greyston Foundation took a more holistic approach to its human capital and talent management strategy and created the Greyston Employment Opportunity Center (GEOC). We provide a one-stop shop for inclusive employment strategy and solutions through GEOC’s four strands: transitional employment, workforce education and training, comprehensive support and of course, open and inclusive recruitment replication efforts.

We want to unlock at least $3 billion in economic impact by providing 40,000 open and inclusive job opportunities to Americans who face barriers to employment (i.e., justice-related, homeless, mental health, and disengaged youth) , working with partners such as The Body Shop and IKEA. With millions of people out of work and millions more on the sidelines, there is enormous economic and social potential that can be unleashed if business leaders simply change their minds about how and where they extract their talent.