Partnering with Businesses to Advance Disability Employment: A Guide for Community-Based Organizations and Workforce Development Professionals

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Many employers see the value of a workplace that includes people with disabilities, but they may not know how to recruit, hire, or support them.

Vocational rehabilitation service providers can help by showing businesses the benefits of hiring workers with disabilities and connecting them with qualified candidates. They can also support workers by offering guidance on hiring, accommodations, retention, and other key workplace needs.

Disability and Workforce Development Service Providers Can Be Key Allies to Employers

Service providers can be valuable partners for employers looking to hire and support workers with disabilities. They can:

  • Educate businesses on the benefits of employing people with disabilities
  • Identify and connect employers with qualified job seekers with disabilities
  • Provide ongoing support to help employees with disabilities succeed on the job

The Dual Customer Approach

Demonstrating to employers the benefits of partnering with service providers is not always easy. The key is to broaden the definition of who is being served, while respecting and responding to both the business’s needs and those of job seekers with disabilities.

Service providers must understand that they actually have two customers: individuals with disabilities and employers. This is called a “dual customer approach”.

Partnering with Businesses to Advance Disability Employment: A Guide for Community-Based Organizations and Workforce Development Professionals

This guide helps disability and workforce development service providers work with employers to support employment of people with disabilities. It provides information and case study examples on:

  • Meeting business needs
  • Developing partnerships
  • Communicating with businesses
  • Leveraging business motivations
  • Sustaining business relationships
Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN)

Tremendous Opportunities for Advancing Disability Employment

With the right information and strategies, service providers can establish and sustain relationships with businesses, expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and become a vital resource for their partners. EARN has a variety of resources that can help to create and sustain these partnerships. We encourage you to share these resources with the businesses with which you work to help them recruithireretain, and advance employees with disabilities.

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