Cintas Partner Business Resource Groups: Supporting Employee-Partner Development
Originally published in Cintas 2022 ESG Report
Our Partner Business Resource Groups (PBRGs), Cintas’ workplace affinity groups or employee resource groups, are an important element in our overall human resources and human capital strategy.
Cintas has established six PBRGs to support specific groups of employee-partners. These include IMPACT for our LGBTQ+ community and their allies, LEAD for our partners from Asian and Pacific Island (API) heritages; RISE2 for our Black and African American employee-partners; TODOS for our Hispanic and Latin employee-partners; VALOR for our veteran and military-affiliated employee-partners; and WAVE for our female employee-partners.
IMPACT and LEAD were created in 2022 in response to our company’s growing employee-partner populations and their appetite for group-based, collaborative development resources.
PBRGs provide members with outlets to lend their voices and perspectives, and with spaces where they can share experiences and support one another. They also provide a platform for management to hear from our employee-partners directly about the issues that matter most to them. It’s a two-way dialogue that we believe benefits everyone.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Our PBRG missions not only align with our business objectives and help us secure continued competitiveness, but also provide a platform for our employee-partners to grow and connect with partners from similar backgrounds.
While our mentor opportunities focus on skill- and job-based criteria, our PBRGs are based on common backgrounds and shared experiences. We also believe that the PBRGs give our employee-partners a louder voice, additional leadership opportunities, and greater access to management.
PBRG leadership, past and present, is active and visible throughout our organization. Employee-partners who accept PBRG leadership roles – including president, vice president, and committee assignments – are actively engaged with a broad cross-section of our company, from the field all the way up to the executive offices. Many of our PBRGs also have field chapters that help bring the goals and ambitions of formalized development to employee-partners throughout the United States and Canada. This helps to promote stronger connections to our corporate development strategy and goals, and makes connections between employee-partners across our company who may not otherwise have the chance to cross paths.
Our PBRGs have gained national attention. For example, TODOS – our PBRG to support our Hispanic and Latin employee-partners – is a two-time finalist (2020 and 2021) in the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Annual Conference’s ERG (Employee Resource Group) Challenge.
