A few years ago, we read in the New York Times about Greyston Bakery, located in Yonkers, New York. It is a for-profit company that aims to hire the ‘hard-to-employ’: people with a criminal record, single mothers, homeless, ex-drug addicts, school dropouts. It is profitable, selling its cakes and brownies to companies like Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods, and Delta Airlines; and the profits go to its non-profit Greyston Foundation to fund low-income housing, day care open to the community, a medical centre for those with AIDS, and other local community needs. Some call this a case of conscious capitalism, others call it social innovation; we emphasize that its ‘practice of open hiring’ is not just another way of recruiting employees but, from a practice-theoretical logic, initiates a process of organizing that allows the possibility for multiplicity to occur.

The practice involves that, if people want a job at the bakery, they just go in and put their name and contact information on a list. When a job opening comes up and their name is at the top of the list, the job is theirs. There are no background or work history checks, drug tests, credit checks or call to references, not even interviews. The decision is strictly according to whoever is next on the list. After putting their names on the Greyston list, people usually wait about six months before a job becomes available. They then start working as a paid apprentice, for six or more months, as required to train the person, and are paid slightly above minimum wage. When the apprenticeship is successfully completed (40 per cent do so), the employee is given a permanent position.