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The Accommodation Process Presented By Sheridan Walker CEO, HirePotential
The Accommodation Process
Presented By Sheridan Walker CEO, HirePotential
Objective • Providing the fundamentals for a functional and efficient
accommodations process to support applicants, new hires and your existing employees who request accommodations.
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Training Topics • Learning about the changes to the ADA (ADAAA). • Learn about candidates who request an accommodation. • Understand the importance of the interactive process. • Learn about available assistive technology. • Learn how to deal with accommodation requests. • Learn how to build a centralized accommodation process. • Learn how to limit liability.
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Update: Changes • Section 503 – Accessible ATS or Accommodation July 2008. • Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act ( ADAAA) 2009. • Section 255 – Telecommunication Act:
-21st Century Communications and Video Act of 2010. • DOJ: Final regulations revising the ADA regulations, including
Standards for Accessible Design 2010 – Internet based activity as a public site.
• UNRUH statute-California – Public accessibility, this includes internet-based activity as a public site. RECRUITING
• Airlines – Online reservation and Kiosks need to be accessible to all.
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Business Challenges • Government Regulations (ADAAA, Sections 255, 508, 503, EEOC) • Insurance and Benefits Costs • A Cost Effective Centralized Approach • Retention of Highly Skilled Employees • Aging Worker Population • Consistent Execution of Corporate Initiatives • Liability Exposure
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EEOC - ADA Settlements
Effectively 50% of survey respondents indicated they did not have a documented process in place for accommodations (e.g., requested or needed by a candidate or employee)
2013 $109,200,000
2012 $103,440,000
2011 $103,437,626
2010 $76,123,463
2009 $67,826,112
2008 $57,155,828
2007 $54,540,645
Fiscal Yr Settlement Amt Continues to
Increase
Myths and Facts
Myths - Accommodations • Myth: All people with disabilities require job accommodations. • Fact: Studies have shown that fewer than one-quarter of employees with
disabilities need accommodations.
• Myth: Accommodating workers with disabilities costs too much. • Fact: Reasonable accommodation is usually far less expensive than
many people think. In most cases, an appropriate reasonable accommodation can be made without difficulty and at little or no cost.
-A study commissioned by Sears indicates that of the 436 reasonable accommodations provided by the company 69% cost nothing, 28% cost less than $1,000, and only 3% cost more than $1,000. -JAN Study: Nationwide- 44% cost $400-$600 and 56% cost nothing
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Myths - Accommodations • Myth: Under the ADA/ADAAA, employers must give people with disabilities special
privileges, known as accommodations.
• Fact: Reasonable accommodations are intended to ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities have rights in employment equal—not superior—to those of individuals without disabilities.
A reasonable accommodation is a modification to a job, work environment or the way
work is performed that allows an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform the essential functions of the job, and enjoy equal access to benefits available to other
individuals in the workplace.
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Benefits
Benefits • Ability to recruit from a larger pool. • Ability to retain current employees. • Intangible costs avoidance: morale, productivity, additional
turnover. • Improved organizational performance, productivity and
profit. • Reduced Workers Compensation and Disability claims
(UNUM study 1998).
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Business Benefits – Case Study 867 companies surveyed realized the following specific
benefits of investing in accommodations:
• Hired and retained more qualified employees. • Eliminated the cost of training new employees. • Saved in Workers Compensation and/or other insurance. • Increased worker productivity.
Source: Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
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Case Study - Telecom Company Retention Benefits (accommodations) • Number of employees – 5,000 • Projected turnover next five years – 70% (approx.) • Retention improvement – 10% (approx.) • Estimated average cost of turnover per employee –
$102,000 • 350 employees retained – $35,700,000 cost avoided
Definition
What is the Difference between • Accommodation: Individual: adjustment; making or becoming
suitable; adjusting to circumstances
• Accessibility: Universal/all: a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is accessible by as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and possible benefit of some system or entity.
• Assistive technology: Tools: a generic term that includes
assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them.
High Tech and Low Tech Solutions • High Tech
– Assistive technology – Software products
• Low Tech – Flex scheduling – Job Sharing – Large Print – Built-in telephone volume controls or existing relay
services
Reactive vs. Proactive Reactive: A specific person • Individual Accommodations • Decentralized
Proactive: Environment • Accessibility: IT environment including Applications (code
development), hardware, web design and procurement • Centralized
Reactive Approach
Interviewing
• Accommodation Statement • Home & Career
Page • Training • Phone, Fax,
Email • 24/7 help desk • Manual Process
• Read open positions
• Submit resume to all
• Documentation • Reporting
• Follow up
Outreach/Recruiting Applicant Tracking
Accommodations and the Recruiting Process
OFCCP
EEO/ ADAAA
• Training • Interview • Positioning • Hiring
Managers • Accommodation
Process • Interactive
Process • Testing
• Timed • Accessible • Alternative
• Culture • Language • Marketing Material
• Alternative Format
• Training • Support staff • Recruiters • Hiring Managers
Pre Employment: Accommodation • Must provide an equal opportunity for an individual with a
disability to participate in the job application process and to be considered for a job.
• An employer may not make any pre-employment inquiries
regarding disability, but may ask questions about the ability to perform essential job functions and may, with certain limitations, ask an individual with a disability to describe or demonstrate how s/he would perform these functions.
Pre Employment: Accommodation cont. • An employer may not require pre-employment medical
examinations or medical histories, but may condition a job offer on the results of a post-offer medical examination, if all entering employees in the same job category are required to take this examination.
• Tests for illegal drugs are not medical examinations under the ADA/ADAAA and may be given at any time. A test that screens out or tends to screen out a person with a disability on the basis of disability must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Tests must reflect the skills and aptitudes of an individual rather than impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, unless those are job-related skills the test is designed to measure.
Interactive Process Steps Step 1: Recognizing the Accommodation Request
• Form Step 2: Gathering Information
• Ask the person to identify what barriers exist in performing the essential functions (or applying for a job, if requestor is a candidate).
Step 3:. Exploring Accommodation options • Continue to involve the person requesting, identify possible
accommodations that have the potential to remove such barriers Step 4: Choosing an Accommodation
• Having identified various possible accommodations, assess the effectiveness of each accommodation and the person’s preference, determine whether the various accommodations would work or
• pose an undue hardship upon the employer.
Source: The Job Accommodation Network
Interactive Process Steps
Step 5: Implementing the Accommodation • Procure • Outsource/insource
Step 6: Monitoring the Accommodation • Follow up and document
Documentation on every step to completion and then follow up to make sure the accommodation is successful
Source: The Job Accommodation Network
Accommodations Process: Individual Implementation Model
Evaluation Definition Follow-up Training Setup Referral
Implementation of an Individual Accommodations Process helps businesses hire and retain employees with disabilities with a seamless approach.
Proactive Approach
Assistive Technology Accommodations: Proactive Approach
Who does it Touch in an Organization
Common Areas: • HR Recruiting, Employee Relations • Insurance Workers Comp., Risk Mgmt.,
Health/Occupational Medicine • Legal ADA/ADAAA /EEOC • Gov’t. Regs. 255, 503, 504, 508 Uncommon Areas: • I. T. Hardware, Software, Systems
Integration, Website • Procurement 3rd party vendors
Accessibility - Proactive Organization Process
– Processes and Procedures People Process
– Interview, Pre-testing – Daily job tasks, productivity – Retention
Business Process – Centralized or Department
Technology Process – Website, Hardware and Software – Procurement of Assistive Technology
Technology/Business Process - Proactive
Pre Employment - Reasonable Accommodations - Questions to ask yourself. Do you know if…
• you have assistive technology available? • the company’s IT department has accessibility standards in the
development process or requirements? • you do skills testing, are the applications accessible? • the company has alternative formats for materials/paperwork? • the company has a process for accommodations? • the company has resource you can implement on the spot?
Technology • Companies need to understand:
– Accessibility coding standards for website and applications.
Global Standards. Priority 2, AA Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – Automated and manual testing for accessibility.
– Assistive Technology.
Proactive – Outsource Value
• ADA/508 compliance for accommodations expertise
• Decrease Workers Compensation exposure
• Proactive Risk Management • Third party providing
Accommodation assessments, implementation and reports
• Quick Delivery to solve the problem before escalation
• Retention (Aging workforce) • Increase Productivity • Decrease liability
• Provide National Support for Accommodation Requirements
• Focus on seamless integration for People with Disabilities, both new hires and current employees
• Expand Opportunity to Secure Additional Consumers and Government Business
Assistive Technology
Assistive Aids • Adapted computer keyboards and large button key pads • Computer software zoom and large print features • Closed captioning for video products • Web browsers that work for people with visual disabilities • Screen readers or voice-activated software • E-mail, text or audio messaging • Phones with adaptive systems • Amplifiers- phone, headset, conference/meeting
Screen Readers - Blind – JAWS: Most used – Window Eyes
Magnification Software- Visual Impairment
• ZoomText • MAGic (most flexible in business environment) • Built in Microsoft - Limited
Voice Activation Software-Upper Extremity
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking- Most used • Via Voice
• Built into Microsoft-limited
Hearing Products • Amplifiers - HD-40 • Headsets - Jabra/GN products • Translators - ICommunicator • Video phones • Live Video Chat- Interpreters
Summary • Be Proactive
– Establish a centralized budget – Outsource to disability experts – Get an assessment – website, testing – Have alternatives ready
• Education: demo of most common products • Get IT Department involved • Procurement
Resources For Questions • Job Accommodation Network-
www/askjan.org
• For Implementation HirePotential, Inc. – www.hirepotential.com
Thank You
For more information:
Sheridan Walker at 888-590-8808 x 4 or
www.hirepotential.com
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