December 19, 2011

The Standard’s partnership with DePaul Industries shows their commitment to the community and helping people return to work.

This article originally appeared in The Standard's internal company newsletter, newStand, on December 19, 2011. For more information about The Standard, visit www.standard.com.

 

By any measure, it’s a tough economy in which to find a job. Now imagine you have a disability that may require employers to make accommodations to fit your circumstances in even an entry-level position. Now how do you like your employment chances?

Chris Norwood and Richard Garcia, both records specialists, are recent hires from DePaul Industries. Both have a developmental disability, but their supervisors say the Portland-based nonprofit went far beyond anything they’ve experienced before to ensure a new employee’s success.

The Records Management supervisors — Sandy MacLaren for the Plaza and PSB buildings in downtown Portland, and Cheri Pinson for the Center building and Tanasbourne — were very impressed with DePaul.

“They really give a lot of support to both the clients and the hiring manager,” Sandy said.

“They went out of their way to make it a smooth process,” Cheri agreed.

In both cases, after the supervisors contacted DePaul about their job openings, they were visited by a representative who learned what tasks and responsibilities were involved. She also gave a presentation to the records teams to help them understand what DePaul is about and to help them feel comfortable working with a teammate who has a disability.

The goal of DePaul Industries is “to change the landscape of employment for people with disabilities.” One of the ways they do that is through Project SEARCH, a program that connects DePaul with employers who have offered to partner with them in this effort. Recent surveys, including the 2010 U.S. Census, show that 65 – 70 percent of people with disabilities who want to work are unemployed.

Both Sandy and Cheri said that message really struck them after each interviewing three candidates from DePaul: all said they wanted to work.

Sandy and Cheri said they had discussed using DePaul with their manager, Darren Irwin, director of Corporate Records and Information. They were encouraged to use its placement service the next time they had a position to fill.

The records specialists’ jobs are entry-level positions and lend themselves well to this opportunity. But as much practice as they’ve had in hiring for these jobs, which are often used as a stepping stone to other positions in the company, Sandy and Cheri said they were very impressed with DePaul’s placement services and with how successful their new employees have been.

Much of that credit can be shared with the employment consultant DePaul provides who, after meeting with the supervisors to understand the job, worked with the candidates through their interviews and initially came on-site with the new hires to help them learn the tasks.

“The training went so quickly,” said Sandy, who hired Chris last August. “I really thought it would take longer. Chris didn’t need the employment consultant after the first week. In fact, we’re very happy with Chris and already are looking to identify more of his skills to see where else he might want to work.”

Cheri said by October, when she hired Richard, the employment consultant was already familiar with the general job tasks and the company’s email and software systems, and Richard came up to speed just as quickly.

“We didn’t need to make any changes or adjustments for Richard,” she said. “The job coach only needed to spend a few days here with him, and then he was on his own.”

Now, after two months, Cheri said Richard is already taking on extra work because he’s so quickly completing his own.

For his part, Richard likes the repetitive nature of the work, even the filing. “That works for me,” he said. “I prefer not to get interrupted or distracted and I have good attention to detail, so that helps with filing.”

Chris, who is working in his first paying position, also likes his job. “It’s nice to be working, even the filing,” he said. “I felt this was a good fit for me.”

Although the records areas in the different buildings are similar in function — with opening and entering records in the system, labeling them, charging them in and out and delivering them throughout the building — “the main difference is in the product,” Cheri said. “In the Plaza it’s records for Retirement Plans, and over here in the Center it’s primarily Employee Benefits. We have more than 10,000 linear feet of records in this area alone.”

That volume wasn’t too daunting for Richard; both he and Chris are meeting the challenges of their new jobs and are happy to have the opportunity to do so. The Standard has not only benefitted from its partnership with DePaul, but is even part of the reason Project SEARCH has a successful track record. The Standard Charitable Foundation made a $25,000 grant to DePaul in June to underwrite a portion of the costs for the employment consultant who played such a key role in making Chris and Richard’s entry into our workforce so smooth. The employment consultant also supports full-time employees at Oregon Health & Science University, Providence Health and Services and Legacy Health.

With the company’s values of caring about people and doing what matters, matched with our business expertise of helping people with disabilities return to work, it was an easy grant to make. If you’re a manager, following Sandy and Cheri’s example could also be easier than you think. The Standard has committed to hiring up to 10 Project SEARCH candidates through DePaul, so any manager with an entry-level position should consider it.

Noel King, Vice President of Development & Social Programs at DePaul Industries, was enthusiastic in describing the relationship between The Standard and DePaul Industries. “We have two organizations working collaboratively in a mutually beneficial manner to provide work opportunities for people with developmental disabilities, who have proven to be capable and productive employees,” he said. “It perfectly exemplifies how Project SEARCH works.”

Now we just need to let them work for us. 

 

Managers who are interested should contact:
• Gretchen Holloway, Staffing Manager at The Standard, at gretchen.holloway@standard.com
• Noel King, Vice President of Development & Social Programs at DePaul Industries, at 503.331.3824 or nking@depaulindustries.com.

 

 

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