Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation

This article provides a business perspective and shares the unspoken fears within the employer community related to the hiring and advancement of people with disabilities. It discusses the importance of understanding these fears and the strategies that will be necessary for combating these issues.

This paper will present an national strategy for addressing the needs of employer-customers and job seekers with recruitment, hiring, and advancement of people with disabilities in the business sector. This national strategy known as the Business Leadership Network, or BLN, was first developed in 1994 in conjunction with the United States Department of Labor, Office of Disability and Employment Policy (formerly known as the President's Committee on Employments of People with Disabilities). A BLN is an employer-lead coalition that works along side with the rehabilitation community, people with disabilities, and employment support programs to promote the employment of people with disabilities as a talented, motivated source of untapped labor.

This article examines the need for identifying the business reasons for including people with disabilities in the workplace. Attitudes of businesses will be addressed, as well as strategies for bringing about a reduction in the unemployment of people with disabilities. The authors will discuss suggestions made by Human Resource personnel, as well as first line managers regarding issues of recruiting, hiring, accommodating, and promoting people with disabilities.

Wells Fargo shares their strategies for the hiring, advancing, and retaining people with disabilities in the workplace. Vital to their company model is the belief that companies that have diverse customers needs a diverse workforce to serve them. A corporate culture that promotes continues learning and develops hiring procedures that yields good employee/job matches have been the keys to success.

Supplemental staffing organizations are providing the key to unlock the high unemployment figures facing people with disabilities. HirePotential provides companies the knowledge and integration support to move people with disabilities from employee's of a staffing company to permanent jobs with corporate customers. Specific strategies are shared to replicate these successes within other supplemental staffing organizations across the country.

This article describes the growth of telecommuting as an employment alternative and its application for employees with disabilities. Information is provided that can be used to answer employers' concerns about the use of telecommuting and specifically with employees with disabilities. A research agenda is proposed to examine the best use of telecommuting for meeting the needs of employees with disabilities.

This articles reviews the basic principles of marketing and applies them to partnerships between staff in vocational rehabilitation organizations and the business community. Best practices are shared for developing and strengthening such partnerships. In addition, guidelines and components for rehabilitation personnel training programs are provided and designed to strengthen the business-rehabilitation partnership.

The competitive employment potential for students with severe disabilities exiting the school system has not achieved the potential that new technologies and legal protections afford. Project CORPS addressed the systemic barriers to post-school employment of students with disabilities through a corporate/employer-driven model of transition to supported employment. Students were assisted with employment through the use of business mentoring and other supportive services provided by the employer, supervisors, and coworkers.

This article summaries the case for positioning disability as a strategic business priority. It reflects the experience of the United Kingdom and international business communities, as well as the findings from the latest academic research.

The attitudes of employers of people with mental retardation were examined through a survey distributed nationally. Employers of all sizes have favorable experiences in employing people with mental retardation and value the training provided by supported employment service providers. Common accommodations to employees with mental retardation include extra supervision time, providing flexible hours and using the services of a job coach. These accommodations are perceived to be of minimal cost to the company. In terms of human resource management, employees with mental retardation are viewed as costing companies the same or less than employees without disabilities, except in the area of supervision and training. In this area, employees with mental retardation are perceived to cost more than employees without disabilities. The implications of these findings for employment support providers are discussed.

This paper describes the development and field-testing of a presentation portfolio, a job development tool for individuals with disabilities. The portfolio was developed with significant input from the vocational rehabilitation field and employers. Findings indicate that the portfolio could be an effective tool for job development.