building and nurturing employer relationships that lead to ... · building and nurturing employer...

Building and Nurturing Employer

Relationships that Lead to Careers

for People with Disabilities Community Summit – Wenatchee, WA

June 15, 2017

Building Relationships with

Employers That Lead to Careers

2

Project SEARCH Overview

• Began at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 1996

• 500+ programs in 46 US states, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bahrain

• Goal of 100% Employment - Addresses the critical unemployment rates – 85% of people with developmental disabilities do not have a paid job in their community. (National Core Indicators)

• 60+ employees at Children’s Hospital

• 10,000+ gained employment at 16+ hours/week 3

Industry Sectors• Healthcare

• Banks/Finance

• Insurance

• Colleges & Universities

• Government

• Hospitality

• Manufacturing

• Museums

• Distribution Centers

• Zoos and Parks

• Retail 4

Employer Partnerships

• Kaiser Permanente (California & Oregon)

• United Healthcare (Corporate Office & Texas)

• Hilton Properties (10 states & London)

• Seton Healthcare (Texas)

• PeaceHealth (Oregon)

• Fifth Third Bank (Ohio and Michigan)

• Dignity Health (California)

• Kalahari Resorts & Conventions (PA and WI)

• Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospitals (Mass.)For a complete listing:

http://projectsearch.us/GetINVOLVED/FindaProgram.aspx5

Program Description

• Collaboration with employers, education, families, and multiple community partners.

• Nine month training program

• 8-12 interns with a variety of intellectual and developmental disabilities

• Instructor and skills trainers

• Immersed in host business culture

• Rotations through three internships with continual feedback

• Customized job-search assistance

• Outcome of employment in the community6

How do People Find

Job Openings?

• Networking 64%

• Answer Want Ad 11%

• Employment Agencies 12%

• Internet 4%

• Other 9%

Source: SelfGrowth.com7

Networking & Community

InvolvementInclude Everyone in your organization:• Executive Director

• Board Members

• Staff

• Families

• Suppliers

• Banker

• Attorney

• Accountant

Have a coordinated effort and be VERY clear about

your message and request!

8

Advantages of Networking

• People prefer to do business with someone they

know

• Can get deeper information about the culture of the

company…

• Who really makes the hiring decisions and what jobs

are really open—The Hidden Job Market

• If several resumes have been received for a job it

helps your candidate stand out

• If you know someone, it will be easier to request

accommodations

• TRUST—This is why companies usually ask current

employees for leads on new employees9

Where do you network?

Personal Connections

• Family

• Friends

• LinkedIn

• Teachers

• Neighbors

• Past Employers

• Former co-workers

• Current co-workers

• Former and current classmates

• Six Degrees of Separation - 1929 by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy

10

Where do you network?

Community Connections

• Chamber of Commerce

• Clubs or Affiliations

• City Government

• Community events

• Religious Affiliations

• Local –where you shop or use services

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Research & Analyze Potential Employers

Prior to the First Appointment

• Company websites

• Job Fairs

• Economic development

center in the community

• One-Stop Career

Centers

• Business journals

• Book of lists

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Sales Statistics - How many

touches does it take?• 48% of Sales people never follow up

• 25% make a second contact and stop

• 12% of Sales people only make three contacts and

stop

• Only 10% make more than three contacts

**********************************************

• 2% of sales are made on the first contact

• 3% of sales are made on the second contact

• 5% of sales are made on the third contact

• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact

• 80% of sales are made on the fifth contact!!!!!

Source: National Sales Executive Association

13

Good Communication is Key

• Clearly define job descriptions and company

expectations that have been reviewed and approved

by the Manager

• Have a consistent point person for each

company/department so the Manager/Mentor knows

who to contact

• Avoid using disability services jargon and acronyms

• Ask lots of questions and listen carefully to the

answers

• Pay close attention to body language

• Be on time for meetings and honor the

Manager/Mentor’s time constraints

14

Nurture Relationships

• Nominate the business for status awards that can be used in their reports and literature

• Provide opportunities for business staff to promote your organization and their company

• Invite other employers, elected officials, and the press to tour worksites

• Write HANDWRITTEN notes

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Promote Your Business Partners• Promote businesses on

appropriate social media

• Share special interest stories in newsletters or with local media

• Patronize employers and promote their business

• Write press releases when big things happen

• Recognize employers on your agency website

Examples can be found at: http://projectsearch.us/OurSUCCESSES/ProjectSEARCHintheNews.aspx

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Sample Facebook Posting

17

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Exceptional

Customer Service is

the Key to Success!

For More Information:

Paula Johnson, Program Specialist

Project SEARCH

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Paula.Johnson@cchmc.org

(360) 606-2961

www.projectsearch.us

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Employment Through the

Eyes of an Employer

(AKA Nurturing Employer Relationships)

James Emmett

Deb Russell

Fruits of Employment

This session…

Covers how to be more effective in working with business

to help them employ people with disabilities

• You will learn:

• What employers need (why they may want to employ a

person with a disability)

• How to develop outcomes that meet the needs of you,

people with disabilities and businesses

• Case studies showing how to be an effective partner with

business

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New Focus on Both Sides

Agencies/Advocates

1. Employment First

2. ROI

3. 503

Employers

1. ROI

2. 503

3. Employment First22

Employment First

Movement to

Increase

Community

Employment

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Successful Disability Inclusion

Projects

• Walgreens

• Lowe’s

• Toys ‘R Us

• AMC Theatres

• TIAA-CREF

• Safeway

• Best Buy

• Staples

• Pepsi

• Procter &

Gamble

• Cintas

• Amazon

• UPS

• SAP24

• Large, untapped labor pool

• Lower turnover

• Reduced recruiting costs

• Fewer absences

• Good performance

• Good safety record

• No impact on medical & insurance costs

• Positive diversity impact

• An ethical, socially responsible thing to do

Hiring people with disabilities

makes good business sense!

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Agencies/Advocates Contribute

to Success

• Do not devalue the services that can be offered to the

business (do not use “charity” approach)

• Respect business’ specific Corporate Culture

• Take time to learn about the operational aspects of the

company

• Build the company’s trust – don’t expect to have a

trusting relationship after the first meeting

• Do a lot of listening

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Agencies/Advocates

Contribute to Success (cont.)• Utilize good counseling/consulting skills - reflecting,

encouraging, observing

• Do not overpromise – lean towards under promising

and over delivering

• Step up your game with business– always following

up and following through

• Be creative and use your diverse skill set as disability

specialists to customize ideas

• Provide specific examples of how disability outreach

impacts other companies/competitors

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• Visible Champion (s)

• Buy-In at Multiple Company Levels

• Focus on Business Case

• Partnerships with Local/Regional/National Disability

Organizations

• Holding same expectations/performance standards

• Clear messaging of project (loud & proud)

• Support from Disability Experts

• Flexibility in recruiting/hiring/training systems

• Evaluate regularly/keep eye on ROI

• Prepare for positive cultural change

Business Contributes to

Success

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Advantages to Business

• Direct access to the large and growing labor

and customer pool of persons with disabilities

• Ongoing Support services that meet

individualized business needs

• Access to a set of valuable, customized

business consulting services

• Development of internal strategies that foster

diversity and business growth

• Support from disability experts

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Advantages to People with

Disabilities

• Expanded information about company culture,

recruiting, retention and promotion practices

• Increased short-term and long-term

employment opportunities

• Heightened potential for development of

successful career paths

• Working in companies where increased internal

support and advocacy exist30

• Assessing individual interests & strengths

• Creating individualized career portfolios

• Building active partnerships with local companies

• Pre-training necessary soft & hard skills

• Developing natural supports in the workplace

• Monitoring progress utilizing career maps

• Expanding partnerships with local companies to build disability & inclusion initiatives

Employment First & DI Blend

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•Recruiting

• Incentive Planning

•Natural Supports

•Marketing/PR

•Pre-Training

Build a Disability & Inclusion

Project

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Case Study-Loma Del Rio

Vineyard• Large vineyard crew of 14-22 individuals.

• Agency had contract to provide 32 hours of job coaching

to client who received a job offer from Loma Del Rio

through the Fruits of Employment Hiring Model.

• First day, client arrives with job coach. Employer was

uninformed that agency expected to provide job coaching

on-site.

• Employer supervisor informed agency that job coaching

was unnecessary but would communicate with agency if

it became necessary.

• After 2 months of employment, employee was tardy

several times in one month. Employer supervisor called

agency. Agency met with employee during break next

day and worked out system to assist in timely arrival.

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Case Study-Badger Farm

• Medium apple crew of 6-10 individuals.

• Employee had been employed for 3 years with no need

for supports.

• Employer introduces new pruning technique to crew

members and one person struggles to perfect the

technique.

• Employer calls Fruits of Employment (FoE) Embedded

Consultant who reached out to local agency.

• Agency determines employee is eligible for limited job

coaching services to help retain employment.

• Job coaching provided for 2 weeks, employee learns

new technique and is able to meet employer expectation. 34

Contact Us

James Emmett

Lead Strategist

emmettx4@aol.com

574-808-9779

Deb Russell

Corporate Disability Inclusion Consultant

deb@debrussellinc.com

224-261-455935

APPENDIX 36

• In order to ensure compliance, must develop and submit

plans for outreach and recruitment

• Full scope of penalties and fines for non-compliance is

unclear but loss of federal contract is possible

• Any private company with over $10k in federal contracts

with 50 or more employees

• Sub-contractors that work with large federal contractors

are subject to the exact same regulations

• As of March, 2014 new regulations require federal

contractors and subcontractors to ramp up recruiting,

hiring and advancement of people with disabilities

• Goal for contractors - 7% utilization goal across all job

groups

What is

s503?

Is it

applicable?

What are the

implications?

Basic Info on Section 503

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• Diversity Training • Human Resource Mentoring• Recruiting/Screening/Training Support• Disability Management • ADA Consultation and Training• Visual management• Job Accommodation/Modification• Rehabilitation/Assistive Technology• State and Federal Financial Incentives• On the Job Training and Job Tryouts• Job Coaching• Marketing Collaboration

Disability Inclusion Services

38

Essential Functions Analysis

Job Analysis:• Record Review

• Interviews

• Observation

List Tasks

Rank Importance

Essential/Non-essential

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Outreach Process

• Proactive – “Job Development in a

Can”

• One-Stop Shop

• Broker Other Relationships

• Support/Evaluate Partnerships

• Don’t Get “Locked Out”

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• Look again at the fastest growing labor and customer

niche market in this country = the disability community

• Look again at the last untapped labor pool in the

country to prepare your company to successfully find

workers as the economy bounces back

• Look again at the cost savings and incentive creation

through strategic recruiting in the disability community

• Look again at enhancing your diversity & supplier

diversity programs by adding people with disabilities to

the mix

• Look again at a labor pool that contains 1 in 5

Americans

Pitch

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Key Services to Offer

• Coaching/mentoring

• Clear directions/feedback

• Insuring employees know how to ask for "help"

• Modeling

• Visual supports

• Recognizing that employer is expert on job and

workplace

42

Offerings for Disability Inclusion

43

• Diversity Training

• Human Resource Mentoring

• Recruiting/Screening/Training/Support

• Job Accommodation/Natural Supports

• State and Federal Financial Incentives

• On the Job Training and Job Tryouts

• Job Coaching

• Marketing Collaboration