Cintas embraces and supports its Hispanic and Latin communities in part through TODOS, the company’s award-winning and innovative Partner Business Resource Group (PBRG) that works to foster an environment of inclusivity throughout the company while removing barriers and building the future.
TODOS, an acronym for Together Offering Diverse Opportunities & Solutions, was founded at Cintas more than a decade ago and was one of the company’s original employee resource groups.
“It started with really just seven of us at the corporate office. We were self-identified Hispanic or Latino partners and leaders who worked in the Cincinnati market or at the corporate office,” said Omar Ramos, TODOS President and General Manager at Location 51K in Tampa, Fla. “It was an opportunity for us to talk about the importance of diverse hiring and creating an inclusive environment for Hispanic or Latino partners as they were coming on board.”
TODOS has grown exponentially since then. About three years into the group’s existence, Scott Garula, currently the President & COO of the Rental Division, became its executive sponsor and pushed the organization to the national stage. Garula organized a three-day event that united Cintas’ Hispanic and Latino leaders from across the country at the company’s Cincinnati-area headquarters.
“It was a fantastic opportunity where we got to meet some of the top leaders within the organization that self-identified as Hispanic and Latino. We knew that there were more of us out there. We just weren’t tapped into our collective knowledge and experience yet. That’s when it really kind of came together for TODOS,” Ramos said.
Today, TODOS provides innovative programming, community service opportunities, a commitment to aid members’ career advancement, and cultural awareness.
It’s a two-time finalist in the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Annual Conference’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) Challenge, earning the designation among the country’s top ERGs in both 2020 and 2021.
The PBRG’s mission is to engage, inspire, develop and retain Hispanic and Latin partners of Cintas to drive total business performance and establish an esteemed reputation as the best place to work for the Hispanic and Latin community.
The TODOS vision is to be the top-of-mind “must join” community for connections, growth and development of all Cintas partners – not just those who identify as Hispanic or Latin – and to be considered Cintas’ most engaging PBRG with a dedicated member base across North America.
As a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), TODOSmembers speak to potential Management Trainees, recruits and interns at HACU’s annual conference. TODOS is also a member of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
TODOS’ annual meeting highlights the group’s activities for its membership and creates opportunities for members to connect directly with company and group leadership. It also hosts a monthly development speaker series to help members with both career and personal growth.
In addition to generating awareness during National Hispanic Heritage Month every Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, TODOS publishes a quarterly in which they feature group members to help members form a deeper community. Other content includes visibility from high-level TODOSleaders, short essays from employee-partners about their Cintas careers called “Por Que Cintas?” and career news including promotions.
TODOS Vice President Jose Hernandez, a Corporate Key Account Manager based out of the Boston area, said the group is a very important resource for Cintas’ Hispanic and Latino community.
“(TODOS) creates opportunity for our community to get involved. It allows them to feel heard. It allows them also to know that there are folks who look like them and are similar to them in the field and throughout Cintas,” Hernandez said. “We have the support of many employee-partners, and seeing some of those employee-partners become executives is also very rewarding.”
TODOS is also a resource for employee-partners who want to connect with other Hispanic and Latino employee-partners and their communities. To help the group expand its impact with programming and outreach, the PBRG also has three standing committees: Partner Development, Communications and External Relations. Each committee focuses on creating programming to help advance its members, the PBRG and Cintas, and to help further entrench the company as an employer of choice for Hispanic and Latin employee-partners.
Ramos and the TODOS board continue their work to help increase the organization’s visibility, both throughout the company and in the community.
TODOS’ leadership team also hopes to increase its membership, especially with employee-partners throughout North America who are both passionate about creating a diverse work environment and who appreciate the business and cultural importance of supporting diverse employee-partners and the communities Cintas serves.
TODOS Mission Statement
Our mission is to engage, inspire, develop and retain Hispanic and Latin partners of Cintas to drive total business performance and establish an esteemed reputation as the best place to work for the Hispanic and Latin community.
TODOS Vision
To be the top-of-mind, “must join” community for connections, growth and development of all Cintas partners; to transcend into the most engaging PBRG through our dedicated member base around the country.
