Workforce Development

2006 Issue 01 Volume 02

Customized employment means individualizing the employment relationship between job seekers and employers to meet the needs of both. That is, a customized set of tasks are negotiated for the employee to perform that are based on particular strengths and interests of the employee. It also means that the performance of these tasks meets a specific need of the employer. Making sure that the arrangement works for the employer is one of the most important keys to customized employment. In other words, the employer should be treated as a valued customer ­ both before and after the hire.

What follows are some basic customer service strategies that will serve to attract and retain employer customers, and, if done regularly and routinely, can make them advocates of customized employment relationships.

Underpromise and Overdeliver!
This is the hallmark of all great customer service, no matter the business. People like to do business with those who give them more than what was promised. When used by career specialists it can open many doors for customized employment. Here are some examples:

• Even if there are no current customized employment opportunities at a company, offer to tell other employment agencies about formal company openings.
• Give each employer that hires a job seeker the career specialist represents a coffee mug with the Career Center's logo.
• Send holiday cards to all business contacts.
• A career specialist helps identify a customized task that, when assigned to a new employee, saves the company money.

The gesture does not have to be grand or significant. It only matters that the employer customer gets more than is expected.

Respond Quickly
One of the most effective ways to give a positive customer service impression is to be ready to immediately offer assistance when an employer needs or asks for it. Some examples:

• Return phone calls and email messages before the end of the business day.
• Confirm appointments 1 day ahead of time. This communicates respect for the employer customer's time and also provides an opportunity to quickly prepare for any additional requests the employer might make in advance of the meeting.
• Respond immediately to pressing situations at the worksite such as when employee support is required for sagging performance or problematic workplace social behavior.
• Continually assess how the situation is working for the employer (see Solicit complaints below), and immediately address any concerns the employer may have.

Solicit Complaints (and other feedback!)
In any business mistakes will inevitably occur. Even the best of career specialists experience occasional foul-ups or unhappy employers. But mistakes or problems, if handled well, can often lead to new opportunities. If the problems are addressed AND if extra customer service is provided to employer customers, then they will often become more loyal customers than ever.

It is far better to have an unhappy customer turn into a happy one, than it is to have an unhappy one just go away. In fact it is quite easy to determine how an employer feels about the customized employment relationship by simply asking. The questions should be about performance, integration into overall company culture, and employer satisfaction with the service provided by the career specialist. The questions should always include reference to how the career specialist can better serve the employer. That way, the career specialist is in a position to promptly respond to any concern that the employer expresses. There are several ways to encourage employer customer feedback:

• Telephone calls or site visits to ask "what can I do better?"
• Listen! When employers are describing how the customized employment relationship is affecting operations at the worksite, there are often cues as to potential trouble areas that can be addressed by the career specialist.
• Organize formal feedback procedures, such as calls at regular intervals and/or well structured surveys.

Regardless of how the feedback is structured, there are three basic questions career specialists should always ask employers after they have hired an employee in a customized job:

1. How is this working out for you?
2. Is there anything you'd like help with?
3. What can I do to provide better support?

The Bottom Line
When done well, customized employment relationships are inherently customer service oriented. A department store sold more shoes when tasks associated with sizing and sorting of shoe inventories were customized so that sales clerks could spend more time waiting on customers at the store. A real estate acquisitions company processed transactions faster after collating and copying tasks were re-assigned to a job seeker, for whom those tasks were carved, freeing the rest of the office to concentrate on managing the transactions. In these situations, and a host of others, the employer got more than expected from the arrangement. It is a safe bet that they are satisfied customers of the career specialists who helped negotiate these positions.

Attracting and retaining interested employer customers requires that the process of delivering service is characterized by attentive activity and that the outcomes for employers are quality oriented, with value added. Many jobs and careers are launched for job seekers as a result.

Since the project's inception, MCEP has had the chance to learn from and share its successes and challenges with a diverse network of stakeholders. In recent months, the project hosted guests from Brazil, Japan and Vietnam. Each group contacted the MontgomeryWorks One Stop Career Center with specific requests to meet with customized employment career specialists and participants in the hopes of finding out more about the customized employment process ­ and how it works within the larger workforce system. Members from each visiting group had the chance to tour the One Stop, visit with workforce personnel, and meet with previous MCEP participants (now employees) while on their jobs.

Additionally, two Brazilian exchange students from the University of Maryland spent one complete semester immersed in customized employment activities in partnership with the One Stop. The students participated in the discovery process by assisting with positive personal profile meetings, met with customers in the One Stop and in the community, conducted informational interviews with employers, observed the negotiation process, and became assistant short-term job coaches. Both students have since returned to Brazil and are putting their newfound skills to work assisting Brazilians with disabilities to get back into the workforce.

After the hire, the quality and type of workplace supports provided can make or break the job. Workplace supports must benefit both employers and employees, they are a critical factor for customized employment success. By incorporating a customer service approach to providing quality workplace supports, both employers and employees can embrace customized employment opportunities and maximize employee skills and abilities.

Maryland WorkFORCE Promise is a statewide initiative to improve inclusive employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The mission of WorkFORCE Promise is to promote the personal and professional independence of individuals with disabilities by effecting systems change to eliminate barriers to employment.

A key feature of Maryland WorkFORCE Promise is a state-wide Resource Center, called Maryland Disability WorkFORCE Information Exchange, which provides:

• Best Practices for Employment and Individuals with Disabilities,
• Classroom Training,
• Informational Website,
• Follow-up Support,
• Technical Assistance, and
• E-Learning.

Training subjects include:

• Employment supports and services available in Maryland,
• Employer supports,
• Benefits Counseling and Work Incentives,
• Best Practices in Customized Employment,
• Self-Employment and Entrepreneurial approaches for individuals with disabilities, and
• Customized trainings for One-Stop Staff, Businesses, Faith-Based and Community Organizations, Disability Navigators, Individuals with Disabilities, Family members, and State and Local agencies.

Maryland WorkFORCE Promise offers a series of free e-Learning courses and web-based tools for professionals in disabilities services, their clients, and the businesses with whom they work. Courses currently available include:

• Customized Employment
• Interviewing & Hiring Individuals with Disabilities
• Motivational Interviewing
• Social Security Work Incentives
• SSI Calculation Worksheet
• SSDI Calculation Worksheet

Maryland WorkFORCE Promise and the Employment Systems Transformation Steering Committee
Maryland WorkFORCE Promise is partnering with the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) and the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) on an Employment Systems Transformation Steering Committee. Jointly chaired by Robert Burns, Assistant State Superintendent In Rehabilitation Services, and Jade Gingrich, Director of Employment Policy in the Maryland Department of Disabilities, the Committee has worked to establish common employment definitions across state agencies, to identify values driven outcomes, to create a vision/map for a unified state agency approach to employment, and to define initial action steps toward the vision. Recommendations made by the Committee have already been adopted in the Governor's State Plan for Employment of People with Disabilities. See Statewide Activities on the Maryland WorkFORCE Promise website for more information.

For Antoinette Haynes, a customer service approach to finding the right position coupled with appropriate workplace supports have made her job at Loehmann's clothing store in Rockville, MD an example of customized employment success. Customized support from MontgomeryWorks made this possible.

Antoinette has been in the foster care system most of her life. While living with a foster family, Antoinette attended high school and received a special education certificate of completion when she was 21 years old. Antoinette was referred to the MCEP at MontgomeryWorks by her transition teacher for assistance in locating employment. Antoinette dreamed about working, but didn't have a good sense of what she wanted to do or what her skills were. She had never held a paying job.

While investigating her strengths and examining different jobs in the community, it became clear that Antoinette enjoyed helping peopleŠ and she also enjoyed shopping! The Montgomery Works career specialist worked closely with her to discover and capitalize on her strengths, and at the same time, examined employment possibilities within her community. The career specialist contacted Loehmann's and identified some specific ongoing needs (that were not met by one specific job description) ­ and those needs perfectly matched Antoinette's skills. A customized position was negotiated combining the identified needs into one job.

A Support Staff position was created in which Antoinette is responsible for straightening clothes on fixtures, putting the appropriate size numbers on hangers, putting sensors on clothes, taking plastic off of new shipments, and other duties requested by the morning manager. Before Antoinette came on board, everyone pitched in when they had a chance doing the different tasks that have become Antoinette's job. Because of Antoinette's new role at Loehmann's, the other staff can focus on their primary responsibilities of waiting on customers.

Loehmann's benefited from MontgomeryWorks' attention to its needs. From the initial identification of the usefulness of restructuring assignments to the post-hire support, Loehmann's received focused customer service from the career specialist. In addition to initially supporting Antoinette in learning her job duties, the career specialist facilitated a smooth transition for Antoinette to receive ongoing job coaching support from Jewish Vocational Services, with funding support from the Division of Rehabilitation Services. As a result, Antoinette now has her first paying job!

In our last issue of Workforce Development, Volume 1, Issue 4, we highlighted a MontgomeryWorks customer who got a job at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). She is not the only one. Because of an ongoing working relationship that has satisfied the DVA and contributed to addressing ongoing operational needs at the DVA, one position has since expanded into five copying and filing jobs in two different departments.

In addition to filling an initial job vacancy request with a quality employee, MontgomeryWorks career specialists have worked closely with the DVA to:

• provide job coaching for the new employees;
• identify and facilitate effective support on the job from co-workers and supervisors;
• identify creative solutions for job sharing and full and part-time positions;
• customize job tasks to meet the employer's needs and employees skills and interests; and
• identify other areas of need and helped to shape these into more job opportunities which MontgomeryWorks helped to successfully fill.

Not only did the career specialists provide support with the job creation, hiring process and initial job coaching, but the career specialists have consistently looked out for DVA's operational needs in making these matches. These positions essentially created a more efficient way to accomplish the administrative support tasks. The DVA now has high performing employees filling their copying and filing needs.

"MontgomeryWorks provided prompt service, responsiveness, and creative solutions to our work flow. We feel like they really attended to our needs. Once we saw how they could help, we asked if they had more workers. We look forward to continuing this positive relationship," said Jerry W. Howard, Administrative Officer of the DVA.