A St. Albert student has a new job thanks to a pilot project meant to help disadvantaged groups find work in restaurants.
Alek Demetrioff works at the downtown KFC/Taco Bell in St. Albert and attends the St. Albert Public Outreach High School. He likes video games, Lego and Star Wars, has rainbow-coloured hair, and has Asperger’s syndrome, or, as he calls it, “autism with attitude.”
He works as a cashier right now, but says he plans to climb the corporate ladder.
“Man, if I became manager here, so much would be changed!” he jokes.
Alek says he ran into a lot of discrimination at his last job at Target due to an angry manager.
Alek has trouble talking to managers, says his mother, Kerri Demetrioff, which is why she and her husband have a guardianship order for him that lets them intervene on his behalf. However, this manager refused to speak with them. Alek ended up quitting the job.
Alek got his new gig at the KFC through the Alberta Food Service Labour Connections project – a pilot program in Edmonton backed by the province and Restaurants Canada now in its second year.
The idea for the project came out of the labour shortage of a few years ago, says Mark von Schellwitz, western Canadian spokesperson for Restaurants Canada, a national advocacy group for the food-service industry. Restaurant owners were struggling to find local employees, and people from underrepresented groups such as youth, seniors, long-term unemployed, immigrants, aboriginals and the disabled were struggling to find jobs.
In partnership with the Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Restaurants Canada teamed up with a variety of community groups to try and link these two groups. The program’s co-ordinator takes lists of job requirements from businesses and sends them to community groups who seek clients with the skills needed for those jobs.
About 90 of the 500 people put through the program so far have been hired, von Schellwitz says.
Employers often won’t hire people with disabilities because they think doing so will be expensive or unsafe, says Marc Biollo of the Chrysalis Society, which works with persons with developmental disabilities and has placed people through the Restaurants Canada project.
“A lot of the individuals we support have learning disabilities. It doesn’t (mean) that they can’t learn the skills for a job.”
It can take longer to train someone with developmental disabilities, and some owners don’t want to spend that time, says Raheem Pirani, who owns St. Albert’s downtown KFC. But if you take the time and play to that person’s strengths instead of their weaknesses, the rewards are great.
“What’s really nice is that they’re proud to be working here,” he adds – something you don’t often find in fast-food workers.
Biollo says hiring someone with a disability enhances workplace diversity and often gets you a very hard-working employee – they know there are prejudices working against them, and that they have to work hard to overcome them.
“When they come in, they want to do a good job. They want to perform well.”
Alek says his job has helped him build his social and math skills, and made him more patient and responsible.
And it gives him a chance to get experience and contribute to society, Kerri says.
“You have to be part of society, and you can’t do that if people are going to discriminate.”
The program runs until March 2016. Contact Barb Jusiak at 1-866-300-7675 for details.
