Job Site Training and Supports
The type of job site training and supports a person may need are unique and should be determined and ajusted based on their circumstances. Some people may need minimum support while others may need more planning and support.
Often, a plan or approach to training and support may need to be changed or adjusted if it is not working or achieving the results desired.
Workplace support decisions should be based on the preferences and support needs of employees with disabilities, in collaboration with their employers.
Types of Supports and Training
A workplace support plan includes information about the types of supports and training needed and who will provide them.
Types of Supports and Training
- Analyze Job Duties
- Discuss Disclosure
- Consider Accommodations, Information Technology and Assistive Technology
How Training and Supports Will Be Delivered
- Ensuring Employee Success with the Least Amount of Assistance
- Identifying Natural Cues and Support
- Teaching Employee Self-Management Skills
- Developing Employee Relationships and Social Networks
- Collecting Data and Evaluating Worker Performance
- Implementing a Fading Plan
- Transitioning to Extended Services
Analyze Job Duties
The job duty analysis is developed and refined prior to the first day of employment through interview to ensure that the job duty analysis meets the business needs.
During the analysis, the employment specialist observes how the job duties are performed, including identifying efficient ways to adapt them to the worker’s support and training needs.
The employment specialist also analyzes the workplace culture. For instance, it is important to observe the workplace to identify “unwritten rules” that coworkers follow.
Key features of a quality job duty analysis include the following:
If needed, task analyses are identified or developed for the skills in the job duty analysis. Employment specialists determine if the business has already developed step-by-step procedures for the skills that the worker with disabilities will be performing. If so, these analyses can be used as the starting point for the worker.
Task analyses are used to collect data on the worker’s performance as well as to train the worker to develop skills, when needed.
When developing task analyses in the workplace:
- If the company’s step-by-step procedures do not fit the needs of the worker, the employment specialist collaborates with the business to modify the task analysis.
- Any changes are discussed and approved by the business to ensure the skills/tasks are completed to the company’s standards.
- observe coworkers performing the tasks to determine if modifications need to be made for the worker with disabilities.
Discuss Disclosure
Workers with disabilities (e.g., workers with mental health conditions and other non-visible disabilities) may choose not to disclose their disability to the business. Initial job training and supports for these individuals are negotiated between the worker and the supported employment agency. Each of the quality features that follow should be modified to take into account how supports will be provided if the worker has not disclosed his or her disability to the business.
Disclosure Resources:
- Job Accommodation Network Disability Disclosure
- Disclosing a Disability from the Career OneStop
- How to Disclose a Disability to Your Employer (and Whether You Should) from the New York Times
- The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Youth with Disabilities (pdf) from the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth)
Consider Accommodations, Information Technology and Assistive Technology
Consider how workplace accommodations, information technology (IT), and assistive technology (AT) may facilitate skill acquisition, fading of supports, and workplace inclusion. This may include considering:
- universal design and other technology, such as smart phones, tablets, and readily available devices before fabricating or purchasing specialized devices.
- when specialized accommodations are needed, a team of professionals, such as a rehabilitation engineer or occupational and physical therapists, is included in the design and selection of workplace accommodations.
- modifications needed in the workplace are discussed with and approved by the employer and the worker with disabilities. Under the ADA, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for qualified employees with disabilities, including allowing the employee to determine their own personal technology for communication, mobility, and manipulation access, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship.
Job Accommodation Resources:
- Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) Employer Tools
- The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues.
- List of Independent Living Centers for all States and Territories
How Training and Supports Will Be Delivered
Ensuring Employee Success with the Least Amount of Assistance
Training and support on the job should include the least amount of assistance necessary for the worker to learn the job. If additional training is necessary, it should be based on data collected by the individual’s work performance.
- Be careful not to provide too much assistance, which can result in the employee with disabilities becoming dependent on the employment specialist.
- On the other hand, enough training and support must be provided to ensure that the worker with a disability learns his or her job and becomes connected with coworkers.
- Finally, the employment specialist should develop a schedule for fading the assistance and support they provide, as part of a job site training and support plan
Identifying Natural Cues and Supports
Even before someone starts a new job, consider what natural supports may be available to the employee on the job. Identifying these supports should happen prior to the first day of employment and during the job training phase. Spend some time doing workplace observations to explore how supervisors and coworkers typically provide support to all employees. This may include having conversations with the supervisors and coworkers to discuss how they can provide these same supports to the worker with disabilities and demonstrating ways to improve natural supports to meet the needs of the worker with disabilities.
Employment Specialists should also evaluate their own behaviors to ensure that they are not preventing the supervisor and coworkers from providing natural supports to the worker with disabilities.
Employment Specialists should not insert themselves into the business by completing work or assuming supervisory responsibility for the worker with disabilities. It's important to work in partnership with the business to identify company personnel, including the supervisor and coworkers who will support the new employee with a disability.
- As possible, coworkers are the first choice for providing assistance and training to the worker with disabilities.
- A natural cue represents a feature of the workplace or job task that signals the worker what to do next. Typically, they can be seen, heard, touched, or smelled. Employment Specialists observe the workplace and talk with the supervisor and coworkers to identify these cues.
Teaching Employee Self-Management Skills
Workers with disabilities may not be able to self-evaluate if they are completing their job duties correctly, on time, and at the production rate negotiated with the employer. Employment specialists can discuss with the worker and the business what the expectations are and design a plan to enable workers to monitor their own performance. Self-management usually includes:
- using natural cues
- external cues and prompts
- compensatory strategies - ways of using your strengths to compensate for weaknesses
- universally available technology, such as smart phones and tablets
Developing Employee Relationships and Social Networks
Workplace inclusion happesn when an employee develops relationships and social networks within a company. Employment specialists can support the employees to do this by:
- assisting the worker to participate in naturally occurring support groups, such as a workplace mentor programs or social activities. This creates a model for coworkers to support the worker during breaks and other workplace activities.
- developing a plan to learn and manage work-related activities. This may include:
- learning how to access and use transportation services
- scheduling appointments
- managing medication
- maintaining personal hygiene
- obtaining and caring for work attire
- identifying family and other supports necessary to ensure that relationship and social networking skills are learned and maintained outside the workplace.
Collecting Data and Evaluating Worker Performance
Collecting data to evaluate a worker’s performance should be part a well-planned job site training and support plan. The plan should include how data will be collected on the job site.
Data collection should be:
- used to evaluate the need for instruction and the worker’s initial level of independence from the first day on the job.
- collected on an on-going basis to make modifications to the job site training and support plan, such as changing instruction, adding compensatory strategies, and adding cues.
- used to determine when the worker is independent on the job. On-going dialogue is maintained with the supervisor on the worker’s performance and progress.
On-going evaluation of the employer’s satisfaction with the worker’s performance should be scheduled and completed. The employment specialist sets a schedule with the supervisor to discuss satisfaction with the worker’s performance. This also includes on-going evaluation of the worker’s job duties, wages, benefits, social integration in the workplace, and opportunities for advancement within the business. All of this information is used to evaluate and make modifications to the assistance provided by the employment specialist and natural supports of the workplace, as needed.
Maintaining evaluation data for performance reporting:
Critical measures of a quality supported employment outcome include the similarity in wages, benefits, and supports provided to the worker with disabilities in comparison to workers without disabilities. The individual with a disability:
- is an employee of the business,
- earns at least minimum/commensurate wages to other employees without disabilities,
- receives benefits that are provided to other employees, and
- is physically and socially integrated in the workplace.
Implementing a Fading Plan
A well-designed fading plan is critical to the success of job site support. Waiting until the employee has learned their job before thinking about fading substantially increases the likelihood that the employment specialist will have difficulty fading from the job site.
- Develop a fading plan before the first day of work.
- Outline how supports will be transferred from the employment specialist to the natural supports of the workplace (e.g., employer, supervisor, and coworkers).
- Once on the job, make fading decisions or adapt the fading plan based on data about the employee’s performance in collaboration with the supervisor and coworkers.
Transitioning to Extended Services
When training and support activities are completed and the new employee is stable on the job, the VR counselor, worker with disabilities, and the employment agency or VR placement staff should agree on a transition to extended services. Issues to consider include:
- Has the individual reached a maximum level of work performance in a competitive integrated employment setting?
- Has the agreed-upon hourly work goal been reached?
- Has job coaching and other follow along services decreased to a level necessary to maintain the individual in employment?
Once the transition to extended services has taken place, the VR case starts moving toward a successful closure (usually after at least 90 days of stable employment). The maximum time that VR may cover Supported Employment Services is 24 months unless extenuating circumstances occur and the individual and VR counselor agree to extend this period. For youth, supported employment services may occur for up to 48 months or until the individual turns 25.
Tools
Following are some tools and resources to assist you with your career planning activities.
Related Resources
- Accommodation and Compliance Series: Job Coaches from the Job Accommodation Network
- Resource Roundup: Employability Skills Training from Project E3
- A Guide to Increasing Independence at the Jobsite from the VCU Rehabilitation Research and Training Center
Tools
- Workplace Culture Survey from the Massachusetts Natural Supports Project at the Institute for Community Inclusion
- Tips & Steps for Job Coaching Students with Disabilities from the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities
