Building BusinessFriendly Community Rehabilitation Programs

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Building Business-Friendly Community
Rehabilitation Programs

• RSA Region V CRP-RCEP Teleconference
• June 29, 2004
• Richard Luecking
• TransCen, Inc.

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BEG
PLACE
PRAY
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Marketing Maxim

• It is more effective to find out what customers
  need and want and match it to what you have to
  offer,
• than it is to get them to buy what you are
  selling.

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Purposes of Presentation

• Gauge your level of business friendliness
• Review important employer perspectives
• Examine influences of organization development
  (OD) on service delivery and
• Review a process for re-tooling how CRPs interact
  with businesses

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• GOOD NEWS
• An expanding array of service strategies and
  workplace supports

• BAD NEWS
• Employment rates remain unacceptably low

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Reason for Low Employment Rates

• People with disabilities unprepared for
  workplace????
• OR
• Workplaces not ready for people with
  disabilities???

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Reasons for Low Employment Rates

• OR
• rehab processes and protocols that are unfriendly
  to employers and their workplaces?

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Credible partners with business

• It is not sufficient for CRPs to do good, i.e.,
  find jobs for people with disabilities
• CRPs and their staff must be good, i.e.,
  provide quality service

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What Employers Want

• Programs that address a particular workforce need
  of the company
• Programs that address an industry-wide workforce
  need and/or
• Programs that address a perceived community-wide
  need that makes it a good place to do business.

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What Employers Need

• Quality service from workforce programs
• Convenient access to workforce programs
• Products and services that support employees in
  the workplace (including supports for people with
  disabilities)

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What Employers Often Get

• Programs defined by job seeker category
• Programs defined by geography
• Programs of varying quality
• Confused and frustrated!

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Organizational Development

• A series of planned processes by which human
  resources are identified, utilized, and developed
  in ways that strengthen organizational
  effectiveness by increasing problem solving
  capabilities and planning.
• (Rothwell, Sullivan, McLean, 1995)

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Organization Development

• Output quality of products/services by
  continually addressing internal quality areas
• Job design
• Employee selection and management
• Employee role clarification
• Work flow dynamics
• Supervisory communication

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Links in the Service-Outcome Chain
Operating Strategy and Service Delivery System
Employee Satisfaction, Retention, Productivity
Internal Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction Loyalty
External Service Value
Jobs Outcomes Funding Growth

• Workplace design
• Job design
• Employee selection and
• development
• Employee rewards and
• recognition
• Tools for serving customers

• Service designed
• and delivered to
• meet targeted
• customers needs
• Retention
• Repeat business
• Referral

Service concept Results for customers
Adapted from Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser
Schlesinger (1996)
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Common Factors affecting Internal Quality

• Staff turnover
• Regulation compliance
• Reporting requirements
• Service hours
• Staff training

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 1 Performance analysis
• How are we doing?

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 2 Cause analysis
• Why is this happening?

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 3 Intervention
• What can we do about it?

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 4 Implementation
• Rolling out the Action Plan

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 5 Managing Change
• Where is support needed?

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Re-tooling for business friendliness

• Step 6 Evaluation and measurement
• What changed and what do our customers think?

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Guiding Questions

• Do the organizations mission and value
  statements reflect commitment to external
  customers?
• Do the organizations procedures help or hinder
  employer relationships?
• Are staff rewarded for service to external
  customers?

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Guiding Questions

• Do job descriptions reflect attention to external
  customers?
• Do staff development activities feature external
  customer service strategies?

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Guiding Questions

• Do employers come back for more? (repeat
  customers)
• Is the organization receiving more referrals?
• Are job seekers getting jobs they want?

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For more information

• Working Relationships Creating Career
  Opportunities for Job Seekers with Disabiltities
  through Employer Partnerships (Luecking, Fabian,
  Tilson) www.brookespublishing.com

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Contact Information

• Richard Luecking
• TransCen, Inc.
• rluecking_at_transcen.org
• www.transcen.org