Why is there a need for Supported Employment?

Supported Employment (SE) provides an opportunity for people with disabilities to secure a job alongside co-workers without disabilities. Workers are assessed to determine job skills and then a job is located in the community that matches these skills. SE provides intensive short-term support to assist workers with learning their jobs. Once a worker learns their job, long-term support is provided on the job as long as needed.

Assessment

What is assessment?

The first step in getting a job is assessment. During assessment, the individual is exposed to various work experiences. Often a person's interests at the beginning of assessment are simply a history of their opportunities. UOI assists individuals to broaden their interests through job exploration. By actually working at a site, individuals are better able to make informed career decisions.

Who pays the person being assessed?As long as the individual is part of a community basic assessment program and the work is performed on a limited basis, the Department of Labor will not assert an employment relationship. Therefore, an individual with a mental or physical disability essentially volunteers their time in exchange for job exploration.
What is expected of the employer?

Communicate job expectation and provide feedback directly to the person. Communicate any concerns to the Employment Specialist. An Employment Specialist is on site with the individual the entire period of the assessment.

Coaching

When an employee in our program starts a new job, a job coach will be there to offer assistance. The job coach will assist the individual in learning their new job and help find ways to make the job easier too learn. The job coach will introduce the employee to supervisors and fellow workers and help in all areas that are beneficial to job success.

As the employee learns the job better, he or she will do more and more on their own. The job coach will help less and less. Soon the employee will work alongside fellow workers and the need for job coaching will diminish. If a change in duties or a problem should arise, just notify the job coach. The job coach will be happy to retrain or work through any situation with the proper assistance.

Follow Along

For as long as you employ someone who is in our program, we are available to assist you and the client as needed. Once the client has progressed beyond job coaching, we will diminish our presence at the job site. We will meet with the client away from the work site to discuss issues that may arise. When new job duties are assigned, we are available to come back in and provide additional coaching. Our goal is to assist the individual in achieving long-term success.