Making the Workplace Accessible

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Keywords: people with disabilities, Kodak, IBM, retention, recruitment, ADA, Americans with Disability Act, job accommodation

Tim Vaughan, director of worldwide marketing for document imaging at Eastman Kodak, was concerned he would not get sheltered parking at the company's new suburban facility in upstate New York.

What might be a job perk for some is a necessity for Vaughan, who uses a wheelchair. It takes time for him to get in and out of his vehicle, and having to park outside--especially during inclement weather--would be a hardship.

"It took a little while but they built sheltered parking," says Vaughan, who is also a founding member of Empower, Kodak's employee-resource group, which is made up of employees who are interested in solving disability issues. "[Sheltered parking] makes you more efficient when you work the hours we do."

Making employees the most efficient they can be is the theory behind providing accommodations for employees with disabilities. Employees who are able to access buildings and conference rooms, and hear, see and communicate effectively are able to focus their energies on performing at their best level, rather than worrying how they are going to get from the parking lot to the office in inclement weather.

Companies that accommodate their employees with disabilities, such as Eastman Kodak, No. 2 on The 2008 DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People with Disabilities^® list, are better able to tap into a gold mine of talent, not only in their current employee base but also to potential employees who have a disability.

"Even if the employer doesn't have everything in place, providing accommodations says the employer is welcoming and responding--that goes a long way," says Linda Batiste, principal consultant for the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).

JAN fields calls from and conducts free training for companies that range from Fortune 500 corporations to mom-and-pop corner stores on how to provide accommodations and work opportunities for people with disabilities. The organization receives its funding from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

"We average 32,000 cases per year and those include employers and employees," says Batiste. "In the Americans with Disability Act there are rules employers have to follow regarding accessibility. But accommodation is a case-by-case basis and you do whatever you need to help employees."

Batiste says companies that get the most attention from people with disabilities are those that have provided basic accessibility and have a record of responding to accommodation requests.

"[Companies should] encourage that accommodation requests are made by putting on the web site that accommodations can be asked for and are encouraged," says Batiste. "Applicants get a feel for whether an employer is really inviting them to apply and is accepting of their difference. Even if the employer doesn't have everything in place, that the employer is welcoming and responsive goes a long way."

A company's web site and its employee handbook both should provide information on how employees can request accommodations.

"Then practice it," says Batiste. "As workers see people being accommodated, they realize that will happen if they need it."

Companies should also conduct disability-awareness events, develop an employee group focused on issues people with disabilities face and make sure that the company's policies and procedures regarding people with disabilities are consistent worldwide.

"The process helps get rid of inconsistencies," says Batiste.

Providing accommodations is not as expensive as most employers think, says Beth Loy, a principal consultant at JAN.

"Accommodations are relatively cheap, and the ones that do cost [more] don't cost thousands of dollars. Typically, many accommodations don't cost anything or at most cost $500. That's cheap when considering you're getting a loyal, hard-working employee," says Loy.

Providing accessible buildings is a worldwide concern at IBM, No. 1 on the DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People with Disabilities.

"Even though China may not require accessibility, we do because our employees are global and so are customers," says Millie DesBiens, program manager in global diversity and for people with disabilities at IBM. "We've put together global guidelines based on the ADA's guidelines for our real-estate partners to follow, so as buildings are being built, accessibility is part of their blueprint. We want to say to customers and employees, 'No matter where you are in the world, if you go to an IBM building, it will be accessible.'"

IBM gives every hearing-impaired employee a BlackBerry to make sure they can communicate via e-mail, as well as in-person through virtual sign-language interpreters.

"We also have video remote interpreting, where you get a setup on your computer and you dial into a remote interpreter who you can see and who interprets [through sign language] what's going on in the meetings," says DesBiens. "The deaf employee calls into a conference call number and connects through the Internet to the remote interpreter and sees the signing."

In addition to ensuring that IBM buildings worldwide are built to the same standard of accessibility and that there is a consistent method to respond to accommodation requests, IBM makes sure accommodation costs are not paid from a department's budget. That frees the manager from weighing the worth of an accommodation request with another departmental expense.

"The cost for any assistive technology or service comes out of a central fund … therefore managers don't have to worry about whether their department can pay for assistive technologies," says DesBiens.

Sometimes employees lose an ability after they are hired. When that happens, IBM not only helps the employee with accommodations but also trains the manager on understanding the emotional turmoil of the employee and how to respond accordingly.

Vaughan became wheelchair-bound after he became an Eastman Kodak employee. Trusting that the company would respond in a nurturing manner made his rehabilitation process and return to work easier, he says.

"I was injured 14 years ago … I was highly motivated to go to rehab and get back to work. I had to support my family. I just needed to bring the subject up and have the conversation and work through any arrangements needed," says Vaughan.

Mary Ann Kuntz, board chair and project manager for the Empower network, has fibromyalgia and her husband is a person with a disability. That she feels open discussing her symptoms with her supervisor is a sign of Kodak's supportive culture, she says.

"At any time of day it may be difficult for me to get to work. But I have the ability to work from home and my supervisor is aware of the situation and has been very accommodating. So it's that person-to-person level that we're trying to reinforce," says Kuntz.

Some of the accommodations Kodak has made for employees with disabilities include voice-recognition software as well as software that types who says what during a conference meeting. The company has also contracted with sign-language interpreters and provides different accommodations for its blind employees.

"Awareness is a huge, important thing for us," says Kuntz. "Our motto is, 'Empowered in the face of life's challenges.' It's important for people facing challenges to come in and do the best work they can."

For a list of The 2008 DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities, click here.

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