What happened at AEFN’s first service provider roundtable?

During the last week of February 2024, Alberta Employment First Network hosted their first service provider roundtable. Tickets sold out in under 24 hours, showcasing the need for service providers across Alberta to come together for a conversation. 

Twenty-five people attended the lunch hour conversation from across the province. Some of the service providers in attendance were Gateway Association, CANWiN, CNIB, REDI Enterprises, Ethos, Linx Connect, WICS, Selections Careers, and Neil Squire Society – to name a few. The group expressed interest in consistent opportunities to come together. 

The roundtable started off with an overview of the Service Provider Survey that was sent out a few weeks prior. This survey inquired about employment barriers for people with disabilities based on region, barriers when working with employers based on region, resources lacking, and lastly a question for each service provider to outline their organization’s assessment tools and results related to participant job placements. Survey results can be summarized as such: 

• Most common location that filled out the survey : Calgary 
• Other locations: Edmonton, Leduc, High River, Lethbridge, Sherwood Park, St. Paul
• Population that service providers served – People with disabilities who are seeking employment , adults, youth, employers. 
• Common employment barriers: lack of employer open mindedness,  lack of employer awareness, lack of family support, discrimination in the workplace, lack of accessible employment, lack of understanding of disability/the disability spectrum. 
• Has there been training for employers or service providers? There have been some webinars, they are sometimes underdeveloped, most offer some sort of training but are interested in growing the capacity. Service providers want training for front line and staff. 
• Resources lacking: open mindedness, transportation, collaboration, higher level of support needed, needing one on one time with businesses. 

Based on these results, the following questions were asked at the roundtable: 

1. How does your organization reach out to employers, and how would you like to strengthen these connections?
2. How do you ensure a participant is properly matched to the role?
3. How do you as a service provider communicate with the employer, and is the participant involved? 
4. What have employers disclosed to you about their fears or hesitations in hiring inclusively? How do service providers support them through this?
5. How often are employers reaching out for help if they need it? 
6. Is there an opportunity for AEFN to provide training and awareness with the business community? How else can we help? 

Below is a summary of service provider responses to each question. 

1. How does your organization reach out to employers, and how would you like to strengthen these connections? 

There is a service provider that has job developers that search for job opportunities for people with disabilities. They do so through a social media reach out, networking at events and through word of mouth in their communities. Once an employer is brought on board, they will sometimes connect the service provider with other employers who are interested in hiring participants. Another service offers employers ASL interpreters when needed and will educate employers on the need for this service. 

A third service provider also uses social media to reach out to employers and networks specifically at job fairs. Some service providers work directly with employers through a human resources lens to alter a businesses’ best practices for accessibility. Collaboration with service providers is used to accentuate all the skills and abilities that employers have that have been the most accessible, but service providers are also there to make changes. Most service providers who shared at the roundtable said that they are able to educate employers and make sure that resources are available for them when hiring participants. Providing services to employers seems to be most successful when it is person centered. There is a need to strengthen these connections but capacity and employer interest are barriers. 

2. How do you ensure a participant is properly matched to the role?

The first service provider shares that they do so by finding employment that their participants actually desire, versus just filing a spot. They get to know the participant first before placing them in a role. The second service provider shares a similar process ; they spend a decent amount of time getting to know the participant and then follow up by contacting employers for a role description before setting up the participant with the employer. 

3. How do you as a service provider communicate with the employer, and is the participant involved? 

One service provider does nothing for the participant without them involved. If they find a great job match, then they follow up with the employer. Following up with employers consistently is showing commitment on the service provider’s behalf and the follow up has been proven to be important. This particular service provider specializes in job carving ; a job is carved to be perfect for the person with a disability and this showcases a participant’s abilities rather than their disability. Through showing employers how an employee can become invaluable to them through job carving, this service provider has impacted many employers’ mindsets on hiring people with disabilities. 

Another service provider tries to highlight what it is that the job seeker is actually looking for and does not choose a role for them. Desired roles will vary based on the job seeker. They always look out for job retention after a participant is placed, and if it isn’t met there is opportunity for this service provider to jump in and advocate on the behalf of the participant. This may be a time where they are supporting the participant and may need to be involved one on one with the employer, with the participant’s consent. 

Other service providers will look for flexibility in the employer’s hiring practices before they bring in a participant to the conversation. They get to know what the role entails in a realistic lens before it is offered. Most of the services providers who shared at the roundtable have a back and forth between the participant and the employer. They will involve the participant in getting to know what role they envision for themselves, and may contact the employer on their own before introducing the participant. 

4. What have employers disclosed to you about their fears or hesitations in hiring inclusively? How do service providers support them through this?

One service provider has approached an employer and they had had an experience where a participant had been placed for a role and had no support at all. The solution was to accompany the participant on a shift with the goal to not do their job for them but to support them before gradually backing out from needing to be there. It’s not helpful to just drop the participant and leave. Supporting the individual from the first day of placement has proved to be the most efficient. 

Another service provider works with employers directly, comes along to training sessions and is not participant centered but is employer centered – only because their specific role requires them to work with the employers if needed. Employers have expressed fear of the unknown, myths and misunderstandings, or not knowing how much support the person they hire may need. Other employers are worried about the cost of accommodations. Service providers often provide them a breakdown of cost, along with other options – like accommodations that are free of charge. 

Lastly, a service provider shared that employers worry that they will not be able to fire a participant if they are placed for a role that does not suit them. Employers are afraid of making the wrong decision or saying the wrong thing, which causes avoidance in hiring participants in general. Service providers ensure that it is normal for a learning curve to occur when hiring people who are differently abled. Through that learning curve, service providers should be there to support and if a person needs to be fired or let go, they let the employer know that they are allowed to do so. 

5. How often are employers reaching out for help if they need it?

One service provider maintains the connection with the employer on a regular basis with regular check-ins, letting them know that they don’t have to wait until performance declines to check in, but to check in regularly. Some employers have said “ I don’t know where to go for help” because there is no centralized location for them to reach out to if they have lost touch with a service provider. Employers may not know how to handle a whole team of people that need adjustments and are overwhelmed with not knowing which service providers or resources to use. There is a need for a centralized resource that can be contacted to connect employers with the right person or organization for support, depending on their circumstances. 

6. Is there an opportunity for AEFN to provide training and awareness with the business community? How else can we help? 

There is a request for stronger promotion of DEAM in 2024, and a need for an increase in virtual options for people who cannot attend in person. Some service providers are encountering a high volume of job seekers and need support from other service providers outside of their organization. They express a need for a centralized resource that can direct their participants to service providers who have the capacity to take on participants when others may be booked. 

A service provider expresses that there are many organizations that have underdeveloped training. Reaching out to AEFN to coordinate training sessions or other resource sharing sessions is a need. 

Overall, AEFN’s first service provider roundtable shed light on the barriers that are encountered when contacting employers and finding placement for job seekers. Collaboration is needed between service providers, between employers and service providers and between AEFN and service providers. The feedback provided at the roundtable is being used to inform AEFN’s capacity building events and when selecting speakers for the DEAM IDEA Conference. There will be other service provider roundtables, community roundtables and employer roundtables in the future. All information about these sessions will be shared on social media, our monthly newsletter and the events calendar on the website.  The terms job seeker, participant and person with a disability are used synonymously throughout this article.

Author : Mariebelle Sawma