With a wide swath of 6,000 clients to serve across North America, this service-solutions company places hourly workers everywhere from cafeterias and laundry plants to custodial and housekeeping departments. But to ensure its own gears keep turning properly, it relies on its administrative assistants, who finally scored a development initiative of their own last spring. The Administrative Professional Engagement Program offers mentoring, live and virtual networking, educational opportunities, scholarships and industry association memberships to hourly workers at headquarters, in Buffalo, NY, and in Allentown, PA. While its current focus is on corporate staff, the program will soon be available across all business units. “Having access to a mentor helps in the development of your skills, so you never feel behind the team,” says Cindy Clemenza, executive assistant to the company’s chief human resources officer. To further expand their horizons, employees who work 30 hours per week can apply for $2,500 in tuition aid each year and sign up for free management, computer and culinary courses through Sodexo University. High-potential frontline employees in Atlanta and Oklahoma City recently piloted Supervisor Essentials, a program that offers them the training, networking and mentoring they need to grow their own careers.

Hourly workers 87%

CEO George Chavel

Senior VP & Global Chief Diversity Officer Rohini Anand

Female hourly workers 61%

Work hours required for family health insurance 30

Job skills training during work hours for hourly workers Yes

Encourage breaks so nursing moms can breast-pump No

Average annual paid time off taken by hourly workers 15 days

Minimum job-guaranteed maternity leave offered to hourly workers 12 weeks

Minimum paid maternity leave offered to hourly workers Varies