CHICORÉE LEROUX integrates autistic employees to enrich its human capital

Since 2008, Chicorée Leroux supports the Autisme Nord association. The first action of the company in favor of the association was the Route du Louvre: during the race, each kilometer traveled by the participants from the Leroux team was converted into euros for the profit of the association. 

Then, in 2009, Chicorée Leroux decided to change the decoration of the dining room. The task was entrusted to Sophie Masson, 31 years old, a painting autistic enthusiast, supervised by the late painter and plastic artist Raymond Vaurs. The objective was to brighten the refectory in an original way while pleasing Sophie, and to reinforce the partnership with Autisme Nord while educating people about what autism is. 

Since 2011, the company welcomes a dozen autistic persons from the ESAT des 3 Bonniers d'Orchies, a facility from Autisme Nord, to perform packaging tasks. The adaptation of workstations for handicapped workers was conducted with the help of ergonomists from the occupational medicine.

The objective is to be able to welcome autistic employees in the broad sense of the term. The integration is total since these young people share with the employees the facilities (workshops, break rooms...), the working hours, and they also take part in all the events organized for the whole staff. They are an integral part of the Chicorée Leroux team. An autistic person regularly works in pairs with a receptionist for the physical and telephone reception and he/she can replace the receptionist when the latter is away. It is important to note that this ESAT is independent and can work for other companies than Chicorée Leroux. 

Since 2013, Leroux sponsors the “Handinamique” program, run by students from the IESEG – a French business school –, whose goal is to support and help handicapped workers find a job.