Dale Verstegen

1. Dale Verstegen Employer Engagement: Our Impact on the Employer’s Bottom Line CT APSE Conference Presentation October 3, 2019

2. Engaging Employers? Who Has? ? • Placed over 10 candidates • Had an Economic Impact on the Employer’s Operation • Designed a Customized Job that Benefitted the Employer’s Operation • Worked with the Same Employer to Place more than One Person

3. Today’s Objectives • 1. Job Development Process • 2. Role of the Job Developer • 3.The ADA and HR Practices • 4.Employer Economic Impact Study • 5.The Importance of and Recommendations related to Employer Engagement

4. Job Development Process Employer Contact Informational Interview Presentation Negotiation Placement

5. Look for Issues & Challenges • Customer / employee complaints • Log jams / backlogs/ long lead times/Waiting • Unassigned, but critical tasks • Burn-out or high turnover • Managers or key staff pulled away from core tasks • Workflow fluctuations • Rush times, crunch times, seasonal fluctuations, sporadic- but important tasks that are not getting done

6. The Employer Proposal: Facilitating the Hiring Decision • Greetings and Recap of your meeting • What you observed about the employer’s labor needs and potential benefits to the employer • Requirements of the targeted job • Applicant’s skills & ability to meet job requirements • Employment Services that would benefit the employer (i.e.: placement and job coaching services) • Close and next steps

7. Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) • TITLE I – Employment • TITLE II – State and Local Governments • TITLE III – Public Accommodations Slide 7

8. Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) Qualified Individual with a Disability A person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one of more major life activities “who satisfies the requisite skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the employment position and who with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of such position.” • Key Terms Slide 8

9. Career Counseling vs Job Matching & other Services Job Candidate Case Load Scenarios • Apply without Representation • Job Match to Essential Functions or Job Description • Job Match to a Customized Job that We Design • Job Match to a Customized Job that They Design

10. Labor Needs Analysis and Representation • Avoids the labor market approach to job procurement • Provides negotiated positions that meets both employee and employer needs • Represents the job seeker as a good job match • Looks at tasks rather than job descriptions • Promotes the services and supports provided to the employer

11. HR Trends • Job Sculpting • “One size does not fit all - not in service responses, not in the jobs in the workplace. We want our food, music, fashions, and vehicles to reflect who we are; we also want our work to reflect who we are. In an intellectual or thinking workplace, the more jobs are customized to the talents and thinking of each employee, the better they perform. Customizing jobs directly affects employee engagement, attitude and company performance”. Jay Forte • Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1361277 Poor job matches result in 70% of the US workforce not being fully engaged in their job or personally invested.

12. HR System is Changing • “The trouble is, the employment system starts with the wrong premise: If we define the jobs, we'll find people we can jam into them.” • Nick Corcodilos • http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/08/ask-the-headhunter-why-americas-employment-system-is-so-broken.html

13. One size fits all is changing • Google • “We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who had done the interviews and what they scored the candidate, and how that person ultimately performed in their job. We found zero relationship. It's a complete random mess”. • http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/08/ask-the-headhunter-why-americas-employment-system-is-so-broken.html

14. Advice to Graduating College Students • Decide where you want to work. Study your target company. • Explore the problems and challenges it is facing, • Figure out how you can help the company tackle them profitably. • Apply your skills and abilities in new ways to re-define your qualifications. • Think in terms of what the company doesn't have but needs: that's your new job. • That's the business plan you need to present. • This is the customized process

15. Overview of Study • The United States Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Disability and Employment Policy (ODEP) contracted with Economic Systems, Inc. to conduct an economic impact study of employers who have hired individuals with disabilities in customized jobs for the Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program (EFSLMP).  • The objective of the study was to gain the perspective of employers related to employing persons with a disability (especially those with significant disabilities) and working with local employment programs, including the use of Customized Employment.  

16. Employer Characteristics • Each employer had been working with one or more local employment service providers for a number of years and had employed a number of employees with disabilities over time • They each worked with Employment Specialists who understood and could articulate the concepts of Customized Employment and had success matching job candidates to the required tasks and culture of these worksites • Employers were ‘internal champions’ for Customized Employment and were able to articulate how flexible employment strategies and alternative sources of labor benefited their organizational culture, overall operation and bottom line • All employers adopted some form of quality improvement process

17. Findings • Increased Productivity • Reduced Cost • Recruit • Hire • Train • Reduced Turnover and Absenteeism • Improved Workplace Culture • Opportunities to Expand Placements • Opportunities for Advancement for Employees with Disabilities • Importance of Mitigating Risk • The importance of incorporating Quality Improvement processes into Business Engagement Activities • The importance of building Rapport with Employers

18. Increased Productivity • Participating employers consistently reported increased productivity as a result of using customized employment strategies and articulated specific measures of economic impact such as: • reduced hours per cabinet (HPC) (assembly line • A job can be customized by removing low skill tasks from existing employees, allowing those employees to focus on tasks requiring higher skill levels or on higher priority tasks. Entry level employees can now take over these tasks • Reduced hours per unit (assembly line efficiency) • Eliminating the need for contract labor or use of temp agencies, and reduced overtime costs

19. Reduced Cost • Job developers can create opportunities for employers to make better job matches resulting in savings of employer time and resources in the hiring process  • Employers reported that employees with a disability in customized jobs, where they flexed both tasks and hours worked, reduced the overall costs to recruit, hire and train and also increased job satisfaction • Employers reported significant costs associated with recruiting, hiring and training employees who turnover, particularly in part time positions. Employers indicated that it can take 8 to 12 weeks to go through the hiring and training process and can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000

20. Opportunities to Expand Placements • Once these employers incorporated customized employment practices and workplace supports into their operations, they found the practice beneficial for integrating other types of employees returning to work such as: • Employees with Disabilities • Employees Returning to Work • Employees on Workers Compensation

21. Importance of Mitigating Risk • Employers reported that the perception of risk associated with the hiring of employees with a disability is a key concern that needs to be addressed in order to be able to partner with employers on a long-term basis. • These employers also made the case that, when done correctly, the employment of persons with a disability can help mitigate risk. • Employers reported that the process of making the workplace safe for employees with a disability made it safer for everybody. • These employers indicated that there is inherent risk associated with hiring employees without disabilities in entry level positions where safety is a concern. “Cheap labor is cheap for a reason.” When employees were properly matched to the job, employers reported diminished safety risk and increased profitability.

22. Mitigating Risk (cont’d) • Discussing potential risk and finding solutions is essential to effective customized job development. Employers must feel comfortable that they are not unnecessarily exposed to liability by either the employee with disability or job coaches. • Mitigating risk may be an accommodation or a solution for risk factors for all employees. • “We felt confident we could mitigate the risk and he approached us about this and he said, ‘Okay, there is risk. We acknowledged it, but then said, "I think there's some ways we can deal with it.”

23. Advancement of Employees with a Disability • Employers reported expanding the number and types of tasks being done by employees in customized jobs, increasing the number of hours and wages accordingly, and providing additional training and skill development over time. • One employer reported that two employees went from 16 hours per week to full time. • Another employer reported that an employee in a customized job no longer needs to be supported by the employment provider and is becoming more ‘self-sufficient’.

24. Improved Workplace Culture and Retention • The hiring of persons with a disability including customized employment was reported to improve workplace culture, morale and communication and therefore had a direct positive impact on job retention. • Employers reported that accommodating and supporting employees with ‘differing abilities’ made them work and communicate as a team in ways they normally wouldn’t and made them a ‘better company’. One employer stated: “Co-workers wanted to be a part of these folks’ success.” • Employers reported the presence of people with disabilities in customized positions heightened morale and had a positive impact on turnover of employees without disabilities.

25. Importance of Labor Needs Assessments and the use of Quality Improvement Processes • All the employers confirmed that their customized employment jobs are based on continuous improvement methods to identify tasks that improve over-all operations. • A key business case for Customized Employment is making existing employees more productive by removing tasks that prevent them from focusing on core tasks. Customized Employment is most effective when it increases overall business productivity. The productivity increase can be measured     • Providers can engage employers by speaking the business language of process improvement (e.g. Six Sigma, Lean). This approach can be an effective strategy to understand business processes. 

26. Approaching Employers and Building Rapport • Employers talked about the importance of building and cultivating relationships by asking the questions that get at employer needs. The employers also talked about building trust through these relationships. • Sending well matched job applicants increases the trust between job developers and employers. Trust can lead to collaborative relationships where employers see providers as supplying the right candidates to meet the employer’s needs. • They recommended a ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ strategy for getting buy-in by a potential employer. The top down strategy requires access to key decision makers where the mitigating of their perception of risk is addressed and evidence of positive, economic impact is presented. The bottom up strategy requires access to potential co-workers in the workplace where they can see the capability of the job candidate.

27. Conclusions  • The economic impact of hiring individuals into customized employment positions can be quantified by: • Decreased hiring costs • Decreased training costs • Increased productivity • Decreased exposure to liability and risk • Reduced Turnover and Absenteeism • Employment specialists can use this information to build a business case for their employment services including Customized Employment and build a trusting relationship with employers • Employers and Employment Specialists can use customized employment practices to expand placements including returning workers and workers with injuries

28. Recommendation – Training And Support • Well-trained staff in the areas of discovery/assessment, job development and workplace supports including the concept of Customized Employment. • Training for job developers including customized job development should include elements of quality improvement (e.g. Six Sigma and Lean). This would give job developers a very useful tool in working with employers to create customized job descriptions that increase the productivity in the workplace. • Effective communicators about the services they have to offer employers and the benefits of these services utilizing some of the economic impact results provided in this report.

29. Recommendation – Focus on Employer Engagement • Building a trusting, on-going relationship with an employer is, at its core, providing solutions to employers that decrease costs and increase productivity, both of which are quantifiable and replicable and maintained through a range of recruitment and retention services. • A monitoring and tracking system of their employer customer base. Such as tracking system could assess the economic impact and benefits of their services over time to encourage repeat business (multiple placements) and a better employer penetration rate. • EVERYONE in your organization should be involved in employer engagement

30. Recommendation – Proper Compensation and Incentives Proper Compensation for Required Skills Representing job candidates, providing recruitment and job matching services and designing customized job opportunitiesrequires high level analysis, negotiation and marketing skills. Organizations committed to broad based employer engagementshould take this into account when recruiting, hiring and incentivizing job developers. Administrators of agencies and provider organizations should develop strategies to address turnover issues that impact the quality of services to both consumers and employers.

31. Contact:Dale Verstegendverstegen@transcen.org