WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Jane Anderson, Director Midwest Institute for Telecommuting Education, Minneapolis MN Project STRIDE Strategic Telework Research for Innovative Disability Employment Preliminary Findings from National and Demo Inquiry

Identify and describe the key elements of telework via a national inquiry and case studies Articulate these elements in the context of effective and innovative telework strategies through two demonstration sites WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Research Goals (slide master A)

General Telework Employees with Disabilities Newly Hired Teleworkers with Disabilities Types of job tasks and telework jobs available WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Areas of Interest

Telework: To work at home or a at remote location during normal hours or shift, anywhere from one to five days per week, excluding occasional or after hours telework, sales forces, and mobile work. Teleworker: A contractor or employee of an organization who works at home or at a remote location during “normal hours or shift” anywhere from one to five days per week. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Definitions

Pre-screening questionnaires to 15,782 human resource professionals and managers in the government, for- profit, and non-profit sectors 463 employers qualified and 235 of those completed the full questionnaire WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Summary of Findings

WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Telework Respondents by Industry

Workforce Size Percent employees26 20 or fewer employees 20 1,000-9,999 employees 19 10,000 or more employees employees employees 8 WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Work Force Size Sample

For-profit and non-profit (non-government) sectors offer more telework in general Employers that reported having teleworkers: –76% of non-government respondents (54 of 71) –60% of federal, state, and local government respondents (81 of 136) Excluding new hires, larger employers (+500) overall provide more general telework opportunities for persons with and without disabilities. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Summary of Findings General Telework

Incidence 25% of organizations offered telework to employees with disabilities; 46% reported practice scattered throughout the organization 71% of teleworkers with disabilities worked in full-time positions and 37% of employers reported teleworkers had exempt employee status Conditions such as isolated employee situations (45%), teleworking only with supervisor approval (46.2%), and telework being offered in certain types of jobs (32.3%) WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Employees with Disabilities Transitioned into Telework

56.8% of employers indicated telework has been used as an option for short-term disability leave. Employers currently not employing teleworkers with disabilities expressed a strong preference towards a new employee with a part-time telework schedule WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today

Job Types Office Functions (52.5%) Administrative Jobs (49.1%) Research and Analysis (45.9% Technician (36.1%) Customer Service (26.2%) Claims Review (24.6%) WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today

Identifying jobs that appropriately fit telework tasks (47.7%) Difficulty in measuring performance (41.5%) Lack of priority placed on telework by management (33.5%) Supervisor resistance and uncertainty about managing remote workers (32.3%) WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Challenges

10% of organizations directly hired new persons with disabilities to telework, while 48% said they have not, and 40% said they did not know. Job Functions included research and analysis (62%); office functions (55%); administrative (52%); customer service (48%); and call centers (47%). WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Newly Hired Teleworkers with Disabilities

A higher percentage of for-profit and non-profit respondents had hired new employees with disabilities than respondents from the government sector. Of employers who hired persons with disabilities specifically for telework, most (16 of 23) said they would encourage other divisions or groups to consider telework. 66% of employers indicated the decision would depend upon the job tasks; 53% said it would depend upon the employee skill levels and 40% said it would depend on the individual’s disability WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today

Difficulty assessing teleworker skills and work habits (53.6%); difficulties in training and monitoring performance of employees they can’t see (49.1%) Perception new employees need to work in- house first (45.5%) WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Challenges

There were more opportunities for newly hired teleworkers with disabilities in employers with fewer than 500 employees. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today

Assess teleworker skills before hire through training programs (43.3%) Implement training or work experiences to ensure teleworker is job ready (45.4%) Telework job try-out experience on a temporary basis before hire (42%) Combine specific repetitive functions in several jobs to one job the teleworker could perform WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Strategies

Thirty-one percent of respondents indicated that telework is likely to increase in the next five years. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Future Trends

Telework helps respond to specific employee needs and retain employees Also cited by respondents: –Increased productivity –Cost savings –Reduced operations costs WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Employer Benefits

Minnesota Resource Center (Twin Cities) Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (University of Wisconsin) Hubert Humphrey Public Affairs Goal: Place 40 teleworkers in MN and WI. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Demonstration Sites – 2 yrs.

Virtual call center trend is on increase. Teleworker training offered quarterly (6 wks minimum) Refine training with employer collaboration Looking for telework opportunities in other job tasks such as data entry. WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Next Steps

WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITY LEADERSHIP WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES: Ready for Tomorrow’s Jobs Today Project STRIDE Jane Anderson, Director