[nfbmi-talk] always a peckham angle in there

[joe harcz Comcast]

From: Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services 

Winter 2012 News

 

Elmer Cerano, Director

 

 

 

Success in Fully Integrated Community Employment

 

>From the MPAS Executive Director, Elmer L. Cerano: Successes in Fully Integrated Community Employment for People with Disabilities

 

Employment of people with disabilities in the private sector is not a disability agenda. It is a good business agenda.

 

How are we doing on assisting people with disabilities to find and retain good paying employment in fully integrated settings? We are not doing so great,

but private business is moving forward.

 

There are some very promising employment initiatives in the works, but surprisingly, they are not coming from the traditional disability field. The real

innovations are coming from progressive private sector employers who are looking for ways to reduce the high costs associated with continually hiring new

people.

 

Over the past several months, I have written about the challenges and obstacles in helping people with disabilities find and maintain meaningful, well paying

jobs in the community. Erroneously in the past, employment options for people with disabilities have been aligned with the nature or the degree of a disability.

Closer study reveals, however, that the nature or degree of disability may have little to do with the potential employment success. In other words, it

was assumed that people with significant disabilities (whatever that means) are not as employable as people with less significant disabilities.

 

All of that erroneous rationale simply falls apart when we start with a presumption of the individual’s competence and we design employment options that

fit the individual’s skills, interests, and preferences. Add technological innovations to the mix and a whole new understanding of what is possible unfolds.

 

Remember when it was thought to be unreasonable to expect that a person with a visual impairment could fly an airplane? Although not quite there yet, some

modern aircraft are guided by technology instead of the visual acuity of the pilot. Such innovations were never designed to address the employment needs

of people with disabilities. The innovations were designed to decrease human error in flying and to make flying safer for everyone. The applicability of

this, perhaps exaggerated, example for people with disabilities is obvious.

 

Innovations like this, that may positively impact the lives of people with disabilities are happening all over – but they are happening totally outside

of a traditional disability agenda.

 

Employment of people with disabilities in the private sector is not a disability agenda. It is a good business agenda.

 

Innovative employers found that they can reduce their high costs associated with continually hiring new employees, by doing a better job of hiring the right

person for the right job. The correctness of the job match coupled with an expectation of competence and the correct blend of accommodations, technology,

and supports increases the odds of recruiting and retaining good employees – thereby reducing the costs of staff turnover. This applies to all employees

– those with and those who do not yet have a disability.

 

I recently had an opportunity to meet with Human Resources Manager Lisa Kertchaval, Supply Chain and Manufacturing at the Meijer Corporation (Meijer is

a huge retail company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan).

 

Lisa told me about a group of human resource professionals from:

 

Meijer, Best Buy, Bank of America, TJX Company (Home Goods, TJ Max and Marshall’s) The Sears Holding Company (Sears and K-Mart), Lowe’s and Walgreen’s.

 They are meeting regularly to share ideas on successful strategies in building diverse workforces, with a focus on people with disabilities. The group

self identifies as The Knowledge Exchange.

 

These innovative HR professionals began to notice that with the slow, but inevitable return of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. economy, many of the employees

of retail and service companies are returning to their previously held manufacturing jobs. As a result, there is a growing need to improve staff retention

and recruitment techniques in retail and service jobs, in order to successfully compete for dependable and qualified employees and reduce the high cost

of staff turnover. These companies needed to find better ways to recruit and retain the right people and to be competitive with manufacturing in wages

and benefits.

 

>From my limited information of The Knowledge Exchange, the participating companies are not involved in this initiative to do anything but improve how they

build and maintain a workforce that helps the company be successful.

 

Lisa told me, “This is not charity. We simply need good employees and we found that by actively recruiting people with disabilities and, more importantly,

providing the proper job match, we are beginning to measure improved morale, increased job satisfaction, and better staff retention. This measurable success

is for the company as a whole and not only for people with disabilities. We see improvement in these areas with all of our employees. We have begun to

see our cost for new hires decrease because job retention and job satisfaction has improved. We learned that better job matching techniques for people

with disabilities has also improved our job matches for all of our employees.

 

It works both ways. Techniques we have used to improve productivity for people without disabilities, works the same for people with disabilities. The reverse

is also true. Some of the job accommodations and job matching techniques used for people with disabilities are also applicable to employees without disabilities.

 

The bottom-line for our business is reduced costs associated with recruitment and retention and increased profits for the company. Improved morale and job

satisfaction for the employees is simply good business.”

 

Lisa went on to say, “I must admit, prior to my employment with Meijer and my partnering with Peckham, Inc., (a community rehabilitation program in Lansing,

Michigan), on how to do better job matching, I was hesitant to hire people with disabilities in any job that required consistent production levels in a

manufacturing setting. I understand now that with creative job matching and by providing the appropriate supports, a whole new approach to building a qualified,

diverse labor force for our company has evolved.”

 

For far too long, those of us who advocate on behalf of people with disabilities have only talked to each other and not to people in the real world where

employment really happens. With the right supports, attitudes, and opportunities, people with disabilities can be valued employees of existing and emerging

industries. No pity parties no make-work jobs, and no charity – just an honest opportunity and a fair chance for people with disabilities to contribute.

 

Congratulations to Meijer, Peckham, Inc., and the other six companies participating in The Knowledge Exchange for recognizing the value of helping all of

their employees to become productive participants in the American workforce.