Did you realize Hispanic Heritage Month started last Tuesday?
If you didn't know, Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the US from September 15 through October 15. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of the independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively.
Hispanic Heritage month is a great time to learn more about Latino contributions to our country so I spent some time this morning on the internet and on Twitter searching for more information about the history behind the celebration. Because Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to Sodexo and its employees I also knew we would have the information I was looking for on our intranet (SodexoNet). This is where I learned that there are more than 44 million people (that's 15% of our population) in the United States who are of Hispanic origin. But what I was really excited to read was that at Sodexo more than 17% of our workforce population identifies themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Also, Sodexo is ranked #2 on DiversityInc’s Top Ten Companies for Latinos.This is further evidence that Sodexo truly embraces and respects the diversity of our workforce.
I've written about Sodexo's Employee Network Groups on this blog before. Our seven employee network groups have more than 1,300 members and 42 regional chapters and are organized by Sodexo employees based on their shared experiences. No surprise with 17% of our workforce identifying as Hispanic or Latino Sodexo’s Organization of Latinos (SOL) began in 2004 with just 10 employees seeking to support the company’s mission and diversity strategy by enhancing the quality of life at Sodexo for Latinos. Since that time, SOL has grown to include six regional chapters and more than 350 members. In the spirit of enhancing the quality of life at Sodexo for Latinos, this group recently announced the launch of the SOL Development Scholarship which will be awarded annually to employees of Sodexo or their children. Take a look at the SOL video below to learn more about this Employee Network Group.
Here on this blog we are going to be celebrating the month with a couple guest blog posts from Sodexo employees who identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino. I'm looking forward to their stories and I hope you are as well!
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