GREYSTON BAKERY
The emergence of Open Hiring
The will to work; that’s what Open Hiring is all about. Not about the backgrounds or diplomas someone has. Zen Master Bernie Glassman started Open Hiring in America in 1982 when he founded Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, near New York. Yonkers was a down and out area with plenty of poverty and crime, but Mr Glassman wanted to offer equal opportunities believing this would improve the neighborhood.
His idea? Those who want to work go to the (Greyston) bakery and sign up on a list. When a job is released, you get started. Your past is not important: you are judged by what you do and can do and not what you have done.
In this way people have had a fair chance at getting work for over 40 years, thanks to Mr Glassman.
START FOUNDATION
Open Hiring
Start Foundation took Open Hiring to the Netherlands in 2018 and translated the idea for the Dutch labour market and have employed thousands in this way, and now they are partnering with a local organisation to promote this approach to recruitment in the UK.
In most societies people are marginalised, sidelined, sideswiped, experience prejudice and exclusion for a multitude of reasons; their background, race, gender, lack of education, lack of formal employment history; or because they struggle with writing or interviews; things that may not affect their ability to work.
Open Hiring levels the playing field and offers a way for anyone who wants to work, to get a job and engage with other people in the workplace.
