The consortium for employment success: collaboration as a strategy to optimize employment outcomes for people with disabilities

Journal of Rehabilitation,  July-Sept, 2007  by Dennis Gilbride,  Jamie S. Mitus,  Jennifer Coughlin,  Virginia Scott

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The data concerning the high unemployment of people with disabilities is stark and stubbornly consistent. People with disabilities have much higher unemployment rates then people without disabilities (Burkhanser & Houtenville, 2003). Many people with disabilities would like to work but cannot find appropriate employment (NOD, 2000; 2004); and when they do find a job, some people with disabilities struggle to retain their position (Gibbs, 1990; Mueser, Becker, & Wolfe, 2001). Further, employment rates of people with disabilities did not significantly improve, and may in fact have worsened (Burkhauser, Daly, & Houtenville, 2001) during the 1990's business cycle. While there is little doubt that the ADA has improved accessibility and opportunities for many people with disabilities (Silverstein, Julnes, & Nolan, 2005), much more needs to be done if consumers are to reach their goals of participating in, and benefiting equally from our society.

The challenge of assisting people with disabilities to find and retain appropriate employment has not gone unaddressed. The federal government, in partnership with the states as part of the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program, has spent billions of dollars to provide placement assistance to people with disabilities. Along with VR, other public and private agencies--including thousands of not-for-profit community rehabilitation programs (CRP's)--provide numerous employment related services to people with disabilities in an attempt to help consumers enter and remain in the labor market. While many people have benefited from these placement and retention services, others have not.

While it is clear that employer attitudes are in part to blame for the high unemployment of people with disabilities, Hernanadez, Keys, and Balcazar, (2000) found that employers expressed a willingness to hire people with disabilities but often did not because they perceived applicants with disabilities as being unqualified. This perception is consistent with research by Gilbride and Stensrud, (1993) who also found that employers reported a willingness to hire people with disabilities but were unable to recruit them. While these employer perceptions may be in part self justification, they might also point to the broader challenge of finding ways to narrow the gap between consumers and employers.

Millington, Miller, Asner-Self, and Linkowski, (2003) asserted that rehabilitation counselors must improve their ability to understand employer's needs and more clearly recognize how employers manage their personnel systems. They concluded that rehabilitation counselors must develop the skills necessary to partner with employers during the entire personnel process, and not just focus on the specific hiring event.

Gilbride, Stensrud, Vandergoot, and Golden (2003) found that many employers welcome thoughtful, timely, effective support in meeting their personnel needs and dealing with disability related issues. They found that employers who received ongoing support and assistance from rehabilitation professionals appreciated that assistance and believed that it increased their ability to successfully hire and accommodate people with disabilities. Employers also indicated that they would like "one point of contact" for all their disability related questions. Employers are often confused and frustrated by the myriad of providers in their communities. They often struggle with understanding the differences between agencies and find the inconsistency of procedures and lack of responsiveness of some providers wearisome.

Vandergoot and Martin (1986) argued 20 years ago that placement professionals need to form cooperative partnerships with businesses to meet the shared goal of placing suitable workers in available job openings. Much research has been conducted over the past few decades (Fry, 1997; Gilbride & Stensrud, 1992; Vandergoot, 1987, 2000) documenting the importance of developing effective relationships with employers to improve employment opportunities for consumers. While most argue that partnerships with employers are necessary, in practice only minimal resources are committed to developing and maintaining these relationships (Gilbride, 2000). Most rehabilitation agencies feel that they are under-staffed and under-funded, and while they would like to commit more time to developing and maintaining employer partnerships, the ongoing and compelling needs of the current caseload consumes their time.

In order to meet the dual needs of employers (who would like one point of contact), and providers (who perceive themselves as already over-extended) we developed the Consortium for Employment Success (CES) Model. The CES consists of a group of placement/employment services professionals who have voluntarily agreed to enter into a structured consortium for the purpose of jointly partnering with employers to enhance job opportunities and retention of consumers. The CES extends the more common consortium/networking group concept to include shared resources and a centralized, contractual arrangement in which members work together at an operational level. As part of this objective, we hope to move the CES partners to a level of collaboration uncommon to the industry, where decisions and activities of the partnership directly influence the manner in which service delivery is carried out in their respective agencies. Because the CES utilizes a more structured form of collaboration, it is important to understand the common factors related to successful collaboration. In this article we will define and outline the basic components and stages of effective collaboration, describe the CES model, and then discuss the benefits and challenges to both meaningful collaboration and the CES model.