Best Practice Guide

November 30, 2002

Christina Alvarado , Christina has a job just made for her at Walmart. Walmart participates in carving jobs suitable to the person. Their goal is to achieve maximum potential for each employee. She works in several departments at Walmart. She is a door greeter, a plant waterer, a product stocker, a clothing organizer, and a recycle hauler. She likes her job and the paycheck.

Barriers to Job Tailoring

5. Job Tailoring

5.1 Job Tailoring Costs

Job Tailoring Costs - One fear potential employers of people with significant disabilities have is that the changes they will have to make to the work place will cost too much. A study by the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) found that "69% of employees with disabilities required no special assistance and that half of the accommodations may cost less than $500 to implement (52%), with the typical cost being about $200" (JAN, 1994). JAN has useful, free information about job accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and how to employ people with disabilities. JAN includes suggestions for typical accommodations for people with developmental disabilities. (Visit JAN on the web: www.jan.wvu.edu/)

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5.2 Job Carving and Restructuring

Job Carving and Restructuring -Sometimes people with significant disabilities, for example, who are medically fragile or have psychiatric problems, can do, or choose to do, only small part or parts of a job, but not the whole job. The first step is to determine a person's capabilities, needs and interests through whole-life planning. Next, the work duties the employer needs completed can be analyzed. Those duties can then be compared with what a person wants to do and can do. Then, with a flexible employer, specific job tasks can be matched to what the person can do. A job can be built to match that person. This is called "job carving". "The utmost care must be taken not to create jobs that devalue people with disabilities by physically separating them from other workers or by having them perform tasks that are considered bothersome, dangerous or unpleasant" (Griffin, 1996). One study found that employers were willing to meet requests for time off, sick leave, or changes in hours as long as it "did not disrupt the operation of the business" (Unger, 2002). Employers have restructured work schedules to match such needs as health and stamina. One employer designed an entire data entry system around the abilities of an employee with a significant disability (Ibañez, 2001).

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5.3 Job Sharing

Job Sharing - Again, some employees may not be able to perform all of the job duties or work the hours the job requires. Another solution is to share a job with one or more co-workers (Nisbet, 1988).

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5.4 Mentoring

Mentoring - A self-advocate Steering Committee member comments, "Peer mentors can help, too. They tell us what they have done to get their job and show us what it looks like to work somewhere." A study of employers who have hired employees with significant disabilities agreed. "The most frequently cited employer or workplace support available was the use of a coworker mentor (40.9%) followed by the employment specialist providing initial training (31.3%)...90.6% of employers [used co-worker trainers]" (Unger, 2002). Co-worker mentoring may paired with required, one-to-one personal assistance.

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5.5 Home Work Station/Ergonomic/Accommodation Support

Home Work Station - As home offices become more popular, some employers will let an employee with a significant disability work at home (Ibañez, 2001).

Ergonomic/Accommodation Support - Employers and Employment Specialists can partner with the employee to assure that a workstation meets the specific physical needs of the employee. For example, is the height of the workstation right for a wheelchair? Is a screen reader needed for someone who cannot read or who is blind? Is a larger track ball needed? Is a larger keyboard needed? Should key entry speed be slowed? Employees may need specific job tools. Visual icons, differing font size, highlighting, simple wording, or translation may enhance a specific employee's performance (Stevens, 2001).

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