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Maine's CHOICES CEO Project
For Employers
The top priority of Maine's Strategic Plan is to engage with Maine employers about the value of hiring people with disabilities. A major first step in this area was the launching of Working Together: Expanding Maine's Workforce. Working Together as Maine's first business-to-business network focused on employing workers with disabilities.
Visit the Working Together website to learn more about who is participating, what evernts are planned and what additional resource materials are available. You might start with the Business Case, makes a compelling case for the economic benefits of hiring a qualified person with a disability as your next employee
The Working Together business network recently joined the US Business Leadership Network (BLN). The USBLN is the only national disability organization led by-business for-business. It was established to promote best practices in hiring, retaining, and marketing to people with disabilities.
Since July 2008 the Working Together business network has published a quarterly e-newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter by e-mailing info@expandingmainesworkforce.com.
Over 51 Maine businesses have joined the Working Together business-to-business information network by signing the pledge. Has your company joined?
The Working Together business network is using social networking tools to engage with Maine businesses. Connect with them on FaceBook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
Business/Employer Toolkit: The CHOICES CEO project and its various partners have collected and organized some helpful resource materials. On this page we have posted some examples of what we've collected. We would love to hear your feedback on these resources. Topics include:
- The Business Case
- Maine Employer Resources
- National Employer Resources
- Benefits of Hiring a Person with a Disability
- Disability Management
- Workforce Planning
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Business Case
- Talent to Drive Your Business' Success
- Hear what businesses have to say about the value of employees with disabilities.
- Business Sense
- Archives of a monthly email on issues related to business and disability, prepared by the federal Department of Labor.
Maine Employer Resources
- Compilation of Business Success Stories
- The listing includes links to stories of business successes with employing specific workers, as well as success with diverse workforce strategies, such as hiring and retaining workers with disabilities.
- Model Maine Businesses
- A list of Maine businesses that have received awards or have otherwise been identified as having employment practices that are model or exemplary.
- New England ADA Center
- This center provides information, guidance, and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), tailored to meet the needs of business.
National Employer Resources
- Lesson One: Finding Qualified Workers with Disabilities
- This U.S. Department of Education web page assists employers to tap into the talent pool of people with disabilities.
- Communicating With and About People with Disabilities
Disability Employment Practices: A Resource Guide for Recruiting, Hiring and Employing People with Disabilities
Benefits of Hiring a Person with a Disability
- Workplace Accommodations: Low Cost, High Impact. New Research Findings Address the Costs and Benefits of Job Accommodation for People with Disabilities
- This is short PDF report from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.
- Taking Pride in That Which Sets Us Apart
- This article by Shayn Anderson was published in the June 2005 edition of Disability World's Disability Network Newsletter.
Disability Management
- Disability Management Resources
- This is a listing from Worksupport.com (Information, Resources & Research about Work & Disabilities Issues) from Virginia Commonwealth University's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports and Job Retention.
Workforce Planning
- Fast Facts On Recruiting From Nontraditional Sources of Labor
- This PDF document, called Fast Facts, is a joint publication between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce & Virginia Commonwealth University's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports and Job Retention.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- The ADA Guide for Small Businesses (html format) or (pdf format)
- This document is provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice
- Reaching out to Customers with Disabilities
- This is an online ADA course for businesses. It is from the U.S. Department of Justice, Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA Home Page.
