Patrick Bardsley talks about Spectrum Designs' journey, why the company was founded, the Myths and Realities of Hiring Persons with Disabilities, and personal experiences and lessons learned.
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Lessons learned about Employing Persons with Disabilities
Transcript for Lessons learned about Employing Persons with Disabilities
Hello, everyone. My name is Patrick Bardsley, co-founder and CEO of Spectrum Designs Foundation. We're a group of social enterprises with the unique social mission of creating employment opportunities for those on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse, a term we use more frequently nowadays. We were founded in 2011, and we made up three unique businesses-- Spectrum Designs, Spectrum Bakes, and Spectrum Suds, all with that same mission of creating jobs for those on the autism spectrum.
So today we're going to talk a little bit about our background, go into where we came from, our journey, things that we do, things that have made us successful and fortunate to be where we are, especially given the global pandemic. But also then we're going to really dive into the myths and realities about hiring persons with disabilities. In our 10 years, we've been able to see and dispel and overcome a lot of these myths, and we've had to work really hard to change patterns of thoughts.
We're in a different place now, and so I'm looking forward to today. I'm looking forward to going into some real data, some real evidence around what it is that makes these myths untrue and sharing some facts with you all, as well as going into our own personal experience for what we've seen over the 10 years we've been doing this.
So the journey-- where did we come from? Those of you listening will probably have gathered by now that I'm not a native New Yorker or even American. I'm from the United Kingdom. I got a job working with a young man called Nicholas, who you see in the bottom of your screen there, with autism on the autism spectrum back in 2006.
And I met his mother, Stella Spanakos, on the top right, and Nicole Sugrue around the same time. Both parents of children on the autism spectrum who were looking at the future for their children and those like them after high school and what they would do. Wanting them to be safe, happy-- like any parent, safe, happy, engaged, contributing members of society, but not really seeing that out there for them.
So our story began out of necessity and a mother's love. And we started, true American story, in a backyard barn in Manhasset on Long Island, realizing that we could start a program and a business there and see from an incubator to where it would go. So we have two separate nonprofits, the Nicholas Center, named after Stella's son Nicholas, and Spectrum Designs.
The Nicholas Center is the human service element part of it, so the job coaches and the educators, and Spectrum Designs Foundation being the group of businesses that we made, really with the mission because we knew that we didn't want to be knocking on the doors of other businesses. We wanted to create the jobs ourselves.
And so that really was what was a tremendous opportunity for us. And we were very fortunate to have tremendous growth. 30% growth average year over year for the last 10 years and being able to open a second location in Pleasantville in Westchester about 50 miles north of here in our headquarters of Port Washington now and no plans of slowing down.
So any good story, any good journey, they tell you to start with why. Unbelievably, it's not as widely known as it should be that people with disabilities represent the largest minority group in the world-- 15% of the population. It's remarkable to me and I'm in this field. But this is something that drives us forward, realizing that this group need a voice, and they need their own voice, and of course, they need the voice and help of us as well. So our why started with that.
But really we realized we focused in a little bit more on employment and said that, wow, only 50% of 25-year-olds have held a paying job, which means half haven't. And my co-founders' sons would have added to that statistic if they hadn't helped create the organizations we have today.
Securing and sustaining employment is one of the number one challenges facing people on the spectrum in 2021, with national unemployment rates estimated at around 80% and about 70% in New York state for this population. And even more alarmingly, in New York, the disabled population is twice as likely to live below the poverty line-- a poverty gap which is likely widened since the pandemic.
It's a pretty alarming statistic to read recently that while a majority-- a large number of people on the autism spectrum or with disabilities performed essential tasks during the global pandemic, including janitorial services and hospitals and the transportation systems and essential work-- that one in five have since lost those jobs, those crucial jobs. And so this keeps propelling our why forward and why we keep focused on doing what we're doing and growing and spreading and opening our doors as wide as possible.
So going into the business is a little bit more, Spectrum Designs is who we are. A full-service custom apparel and commercial products business. So really t-shirts, pens, mugs, tote bags, all those things that people order throughout the year for camps and special events and trade shows and uniforms. And we've been very, very fortunate to have been able to through this business provide over 80,000 hours of meaningful work for those on the autism spectrum and wages now growing over $1.5 million and counting.
The great thing about the economies of scale is now that we're at 59 employees and 35 of whom are neurodiverse is that number adds up much faster each year. So long may that continue. And as I said, we are a non-profit. 100% of our proceeds go back into the mission. And we recently opened our second location-- this is actually our group of first hires in Pleasantville, with some of our leadership team and some of our partners at the Nicholas Center.
Spectrum Bakes-- Spectrum Bakes was found in 2016. So after a few years, we realized that t-shirts weren't just for everyone, and we wanted to give people an opportunity to try out different trades, learn different skills. And so we stumbled upon and did a bit of research. The granola and delectable treats and arrangements business and Spectrum Bakes. So we do things like loose granola, granola bars, chocolate-covered Oreos, chocolate-covered pretzels, granola bites, drizzled chocolate.
We have an incredible customer base of people who are using these now largely in corporate gifting, as well as big gift packs and some stores as well. So same mission of designs-- creating employment for those on the spectrum. Made in small batches, natural, delicious.
One thing that's really important to us is that the product we put out is quality. It's something that is good, it's something that people need. And the same thing that we want to put out a good quality t-shirt, we want to put out a good quality product in the granola bar and delicious treats world.
And so that's what we do, and it's really become a real labor of love. It's a mission business. It's creating jobs. What I like about Spectrum Bakes and Spectrum Suds and Spectrum Designs, Spectrum Suds being the laundry business, which is pretty easy to explain in terms of pick up and drop off. The nice thing about these three different businesses is that they have, while remarkably different industries-- custom apparel, marketing business, promotional products business, a bakery, doing commercial baking, and a laundry, you would think are tremendously different. But when you look at the tasks and break them down for the population that we have, they are easily broken into concrete simple steps that have a clear beginning, middle, and end. So they are inherently reinforcing.
So if you think about t-shirt printing, you bring in the blank shirts, you decorate the t-shirt with whatever design, you put it in the box, it ships. With baking, you take the ingredients, you put them together, you bake them. You cut them, you put them out, and it ships.
Same thing when it goes to laundry. The laundry comes in, separate it by color and by size, and we ship. So it's very one, two, three in that sense and inherently reinforcing and objective, which I think is really important and clear. It's not something-- sorry, yeah, it's not something that is an opinion whether something is complete or not. And I think that's really important for a lot of our employees.
So the Spectrum difference, and maybe I've touched on some of these already. But as I said, more than half our workforce is made up of people with autism. That is really important to us. That's part of our mission. We'll continue to do that.
Another key thing is part of our philosophy from day one has been paying staff, any employees paid at least minimum wage and beyond. We're trying to move the needle. We're not necessarily-- we believe that if we're paying people correctly and that they're making a fair salary for what they're doing, they can then spend that money back in the community. And we turn trainees into taxpayers. Employees get paid raises, promotions, paid time off. We have a 401(k) plan, a health insurance plan. These are all things that are typical business functions, but we get asked about it a lot because there is a history of sheltered workshops and things like that, which are not something we've ever done.
So we also have comprehensive and extensive training, which is based on the individual, but also our staff with and without disabilities are trained about autism and what that means. It's a visual workplace. Dedicated signs-- we go into a little bit of that actually later on in the discussion. But our workshop is very visual, and that's something that has made a big difference to all of our employees, and that's one of the principles of universal design.
We also have a licensed social worker on site, which is part of our human resources. It's not something-- there job is to support all the staff. They're not an educator. They're there to support everyone and help and make sure that the strategy of the organization has people at the forefront. And we have, as I mentioned, real strong collaboration with our partner, the Nicolas Center, who help jump coach and train those who need it at the levels that they need it.
So we have core values, which really help as we grow. There's five of them. I'll go through them very quickly. Obviously people being the greatest resource. Our mission, as I said, is about creating meaningful and inclusive opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. Our grand vision is a world that really sees only ability, and I believe we can change that with every product that we put out and every service we deliver.
We prioritize health, not just of ourselves but the planet. We separate mental health and physical health to just be health. We don't separate them, we combine them. Professionalism, very important in terms of being a real business, a real functioning business and what the expectations are of everyone who comes here. And innovation-- we realize that we must innovate to provide the best possible experience to all our employees, but also to stay competitive in the fast-moving marketplace.
Some featured clients-- a little bit of a name drop this slide, forgive me. But these are some of the clients that I've gotten on board. I think it's really important to add validity to what we're talking about that companies like Google, like ABC, like Voya, like Northwell, these are companies that are brands, J.Crew. These are companies that require high level, high quality. And I think it's an amazing reflection of the employees we have that these are some of our trusted and most trusted partners in all of our businesses.
So awards and accolades-- again, it's not just enough to have nice clients. It's important to say transparent. I won't go through these, but it is important to us that we stay as focused on our mission and our values and remain a good place to be, and these are just some of the reflections of that. And then, excuse me, sorry-- our commitment to the planet. I'm proud of this one because we say all the time, you can have the best mission in the world, but if you don't take care of the planet, where we all going to live?
And so you know we're really proud that our Pleasantville location is a carbon zero powered by renewable energy. We have LED lights at both facilities. LED lights are also something that we found to be beneficial for those who have sensory challenges. The old halogen bulbs would flicker, and this was a good thing for us.
We've always used eco-friendly inks and cleaners, soy-based cleaners mostly because of protection of our employees but also obviously for the environment and the planet. Our apparel, there's a lot of plastic in the apparel industry. We've made sure that we pay a little bit of extra for compostable poly bags and things like that, our shipping mailers and our boxes. So these are all things that have been important to us for a long time, and we hope that it inspires others to do so.
So diving into the real meat and potatoes of the presentation, these are just a couple of some of the things that have been said to us over the years that we pulled out anecdotally. We will go into-- I have seven seven that I want to talk about, but these are just some of them that stand out as the big ones that we've had. And we talked about employees with disabilities are considered unreliable and have a higher absentee rate. I love that one because it's just so untrue.
On the job accommodations are not an inconvenience. They're also expensive. We can talk about that and how the adaptations are really not expensive when done right. The majority of them aren't. Those with disabilities always need someone to help them with every task. Again, these are broad, general statements that just aren't true correct. And then, even here, even with constant supervision, they may cause accidents or are prone to injuries, which I know is a big fear point for other potential employers. They're concerned about some of the litigious nature or the legalities of hiring those with disabilities. And so that's something we talk about.
And then individuals with disabilities are often able to meet performance standards or not as constructive and bring down the production level of the entire team. Again, one, I love because we're in production, and it's just completely on the contrary. So let's go into it. Let's break them down. Let's see some of the myths and facts that we picked to go into today.
So myth number one, employees with disabilities are routinely absent from work, disrupting the work flow and production levels. Again, I'm speaking from being a CEO of Spectrum Designs for over 10 years. This one is laughable, but the studies, firms such as DuPont have looked into this for many years now and prove that people with disabilities do not have a higher absentee rate. In fact, it's proved that they have better attendance than their counterparts. Highly reliable, highly dependable. Welcome structure routines and patterns.
We have federal holidays here, and we have to send an email out reminding everyone, don't show up on the federal holidays. So I know that's anecdotal, but it's just so true. So many of our employees like the structure and the routine. The pandemic was really difficult, not being able to tell them when they could come back to work. Having them watch the governor's briefings each day and, OK, well, he's going to tell us when we can reopen. And maybe it will be in May and maybe it'll be in June.
And it was really difficult for all of us but particularly our employees on the spectrum because I think that structure and that routine and being on time and being at work was really important for them and. And that again it went out the window. So that proves that myth.
Myth number two-- employees with disabilities get discouraged or inattentive within their job and resign after a short period of time. Again, we at Spectrum Designs have a 97% retention rate over our 10 years, and I think that's ridiculously high. And so many of our employees-- the only time I can think of that we've really lost employees with disabilities, because they've relocated or they've gone to a different place or they've moved to a new area. And I, mean obviously there's been other occasions, but that's the majority of the time.
So we find that the best qualified candidate will thrive with proper training, proper encouragement, and open communication. So some of the things we do at Spectrum to help with that is to facilitate continuous learning and upskilling through various training programs. Our managers are hyper-focused on that. Our partnership with the Nicholas Center is hyper-focused on that.
Offer professional guidance and lend an ear. Like I mentioned, we have a licensed social worker on staff. That's something that benefits all our employees. But being able to hire people is one thing. Be able to retain them and keep them that is another. And it's just something that we found to be really helpful in terms of our attention. But also keeping our managers focused on looking after their staff.
It's well-known that the majority of people don't leave or quit their job because of the relationship with the leadership team or the higher ups. It's all about the relationship with their direct supervisor and their manager. So we encourage our managers to have monthly one-on-ones ones with their team members. And they're not necessarily performance-based. They're about where the person wants to be in five years' time. They're about their fears, any myths they wish to dispel, things they may have heard about the organizational direction that simply maybe aren't true.
And so these proactive conversations happen, and they help. But as I said, we've been so fortunate to see such a high retention rate. And I think it's due to being able to understand and also implementing some of these minor changes.
Myth number three-- accommodating workers with disabilities can be very costly. Well, we've actually looked at planning and insight, and most of the accommodations, as I said, are not expensive at all. You can also look at the principles of universal design. And I like to think of the curb cutting on New York City streets as a really good example of universal design and how these adaptations and accommodations that we make initially for a certain group can end up benefiting everyone.
So with the example of the curb cutting, that's the cuts and the curbs when you're crossing the street, that was something that came out of the ADA requirements of New York City and so that people in wheelchairs could safely cross the street and get onto the sidewalks. But shortly thereafter, they realized that mothers with strollers benefit from it. People pushing carts, people carrying luggage or wheeling suitcases benefited from this. So that's a really simple example of an accommodation or an adaptation made that's the right thing to do for a certain group but ends up benefiting everyone.
And there's so much study about the principles of universal design increasing productivity. At Spectrum Designs, we measure and believe that the principles that we included of making accommodations increased our productivity by 30%. So what are some of these accommodations that we've implemented? Visual workplace-- you can see a screen there, which obviously it's a screen and some technology around it. But even below that, a very simple laminated sign that probably costs under $1 to put together helping people understand, making it more visual.
Footprints on the ground, taped out areas, machines with laminated signs on them so people know where to go. I always think about the scenario of when you're getting off an airplane and you need to get off quickly. On the back of every single seat is a laminated card with a cartoon of where to go when you need to get off the plane. It's visual, it's simple. Everyone knows where it is, and it's the quickest, most efficient way to get something done, especially in the event of an emergency.
No one remembers what the air hostess or the air stewards are doing or the video but they know that card's there. And I think that's a really, again, simple example as to the principles of very simple visual adaptations made to workplace.
Myth number 4-- individuals with disabilities do not have the appropriate skills for a business setting. Again, what I don't like about this one is that it's a generalization. We say all the time, you know one person with autism, and you know one person with autism. And so, like any candidate, those on the autism spectrum bring their own unique skill sets and strengths to the table. I think some of these skill sets that we've seen, I think I've seen them-- high levels of concentration and focused effort, logical thinking, highly motivated, honest and open communicators.
If you read articles now about the increase of people with autism and disabilities working in the pharmaceutical industry, working in the cannabis industry now, where it's legal in those states, because these are highly trustworthy positions where they have people with disabilities working because they are honest and open. They are detailed, focusing on the rules and following the requirements of the position. So saying that people with disability is not the appropriate skills for business setting or a production saying, it's just not true. And we've honestly found on the contrary. And again, it's about training, it's about expectations, and it's about presuming competence.
So employees with disabilities-- myth number five, employees with disabilities need constant supervision or can be difficult to manage. The truth is that, again, every employee with every organization, some employees need more help than others. And so we've found that we employ people all across the autism spectrum and not on the autism spectrum and all the way across. There's some people that need certain training or certain help in certain areas and others that don't but they need it in other areas.
So what we think that is a really important thing to think about and learn when people, any employee is joining an organization is really to start with their level and presuming competence, as I just said. Understanding what people are capable of and then directing them to there. Play to their strengths. Set them up for success. Make sure there's proper training not just for them but their direct support. And also encourage everyone to ask questions.
We've always found that an open dialogue, open questions are really important. Think about the way you're communicating. There's the Lovaas quote. "If they don't learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn." And again, this is a great principle for anyone you're teaching a new skill to or a new protocol in an organization.
Reiterate that mistakes are acceptable. We're a production facility. People make mistakes. It happens every single day. It's OK. We just want to learn from them and move forward.
And then also ensure that people are held accountable. That is part of our core values of professionalism. We have expectations of our employees, and they know it and they welcome it. It's much better than having gray areas. And so in terms of that myth, we found that, like I said, we have employees that need help. We have employees-- in certain areas and we have some that can continue working with none at all but may need it in other areas. So it really depends on the individual, and it's certainly not true that everyone needs it or that they can't be faded over time with good training and good job coaching.
Myth number six-- colleagues may be uncomfortable working with those with different abilities. This is an interesting one because over our 10 years, of course, we've had interviews, we've met candidates, we've even hired people in our earlier days that maybe didn't fit in with our culture. Maybe they didn't embrace what we were trying to do. But I think what you have to realize and what you do when you shift that is you embrace that-- you embrace true diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Really embrace true inclusion. You involve everyone. You realize that everyone has unique and special characteristics and traits. This is why I love the term neurodiversity. We're all neurodiverse, even us on this call right now. We have different brains, we have different ways of thinking, we have different skill sets. And so I think it's a great term that really tries to level the playing field.
Our neurodiverse workforce has positive impact in our culture in countless ways. I'm just delighted to talk about it. I could talk about it all day. Bringing additional diversity and points of view.
If I can share a very brief story. Once we were producing really fast. We were putting shirts onto our conveyor belt system. They were going down underneath a very hot tunnel where the ink dries in them. They go through, it takes about 60 seconds. And we're printing and we had a really rush job, and suddenly the power cut out and the shirts stopped and the whole place powered down. We couldn't afford to lose a second.
I'm running around trying to find the box, reset the switch. Someone's calling the electrical company. And meanwhile, the shirts that are running through the dryer have stopped underneath this very hot heat. One of our employees focused, realized manually crank the conveyor belts so that the shirts came out and didn't set on fire and saved the job. The power came back on a few minutes later, and we were able to carry on and finish the shirts. We would have lost about 15 shirts and not been able to meet our deadline.
It just goes to show that different kinds of minds can really solve problems in different ways. I was focused on the wrong thing. The other person calling the electrical company was focused on the wrong thing. The only person who was focused on the true correct thing was the person who saved those shirts. That was the most urgent task at the time.
It raises morale and inspires others. So many of our employees who worked in other print shops or other bakeries or other laundry places and they come and they say, this is the most unique, amazing place I've ever been. And that really inspires them and people to join us.
As I mentioned, decreased turnover. But also you just end up with a kinder, more patient, understanding, diverse, and inclusive workforce. Open-minded. Everyone feels accepted and heard.
There's a saying about the difference between diversity and inclusion, and diversity is being asked to the party, but inclusion is being asked to dance, so that is really what we focus on. And this is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that when you start doing things like this, you really do create a culture that is the least judgmental you could ever imagine. So it's a wonderful thing.
Myth number seven-- hiring individuals with disabilities will adversely affect the business's bottom line. Well, we've shown that not to be true throughout our years, but we've actually found that it's on the contrary. It makes good business sense. It's a unique selling point. It separates you in a really competitive field.
But also doing good, good comes back. I believe in karma in that way. But our chain reaction has a positive effect on our clients and their customers too. So when we work with Google or Uber or local businesses, they can evangelize, they can share that. They can even use that to promote their own company image and corporate image, and I think that's really important.
As well as employees who are applying for jobs and asking about what the company does for the environment or in the community or to further education. Well, now they can say they work for a company that is making socially conscious and ethical choices with their purchasing if they're ordering t-shirts or whatever or that they're hiring themselves. And I think either way, it's a wonderful thing for businesses. And that's truly the business case, which is one of the more important cases if we're going to move these numbers away from such a high unemployment rate.
Studies have shown that disability inclusion effort great increased business performance. You see revenue, profit margins increasing. In some instances, net income grown tremendously. I mean, we've seen that. And it's not just because of our missions. Because we're good at what we do, and we recognize that we have a great team of employees that work for us, and we embrace that at every step.
I love to share this quote from Sir Richard Branson, not just because he's a native Brit, but also because he and Virgin Atlantic have started to work with auticon, which is a technology company, business solutions company that also employs those on the autism spectrum to do what they're doing. And he said in the most recent article of this year that, "The world needs a neurodiverse workforce to try and help and solve some of the big problems of our time." I couldn't agree with it more. I think he would also share probably and add to some of these myths and facts here from what we've talked about today.
I hope that we've covered the economic benefits but also the business case. We've looked at some of the facts and the myths. We've realized that a lot of things are just patterns of thought that may be outdated. And my hope is that as we build back better after this global pandemic and, as we continue to move forward into the new decade, that we can build back better and that people with disabilities are kept at the forefront of that and that we realize that the world needs all kinds of minds.
So thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about this today. Please go forward, spread or dispel myths as you go spread truths. And I really, like I said, really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you for listening today.
Live Q&A
Transcript for Live Q&A
(Kevin McDaniel) Thank you so much, Patrick, we greatly appreciate your presentation. A lot of great information in there. And thank you, Patrick, for joining us, too, for the Q&A.
(Patrick Bardsley) Hello, good afternoon.
(Kevin) Yeah, that was really, really great. I I when I was listening to your presentation, it was we have some organizations I've worked with in the past in
Florida that I really discovered the secret. You know? Not to the extent that you have, you've had incredible success and growth, but it's just so impressive just to see that, to see that continue. And so thank you for that.
You know, we're a little bit ahead. So I know I had some time to get to many of these questions. The first, let me get this out of the way. Are you OK with us sharing your slides and getting a lot of questions about that?
(Patrick) Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Of course.
(Kevin) So I want to talk about one of the numbers that you had in your presentation and that was your 97% retention rate.
(Patrick) Mm-Hmm.
(Kevin) You know where you've talked about a national average of 20% turn over.
The restaurant industry can fluctuate 25-55%. You're doing good if you're at 20%. What can you talk about the successful retention rate there and just why that why that is and I understand, you know, it's all the things you just said.
But but what is if you had to sum it up in a key, you know, what is the the primary key is, they would say in tech, you know, what is the the thing that brings it all together because that's a very impressive retention rate?
(Patrick) Yeah, thank you. It's hard to sum up in a but I'll try and keep it tight. I think it's I think it has a lot to do on our end with training. And I think and education. I think having our managers, having our structure, having our workforce all understand the population that are coming in is a big, big way for us to make sure in terms of communication, in terms of management, it's a really, really crucial factor. In terms of just the population. And and again, I don't know this to be true, but I can make generalizations.
You know, you have a group people that are dedicated, loyal, hardworking and want to stay at stability and like structure and routine and again, broad brush strokes here. But I think that's probably what lends itself. And then I'll pat ourselves on the back a little bit and say we work really hard at retention strategies because it's not enough to just create jobs. You have to then keep people there, and that's really where the rubber meets the road.
(Kevin) But it's not. It's it is. It is training. It is creating that environment, but it's not. You're not saying, Hey, you know, please stay, you know, this is going to promise more pay.
This is all this is like. This is the culture thing.
(Patrick) Yeah, yeah. It's a unique place to work. It's it's a non-judgmental, it's a highly tolerant and inclusive environment. And I think it make that makes it difficult to leave, you know, the make the number kind of know one people leave that jobs is not to do always with money. I think that's like number three. It'ss to do with the culture in the environment and that relationship with that direct supervisor, whether they feel purpose in what they're doing.
And I think even though we're printing T-shirts, shirts, which might go as a purpose in that there's a great a sense of purpose way beyond printing T-shirts or baking granola. And it's about a job and a life and all that comes with that and it really changes everything.
(Kevin) Mm hmm. It's definitely true. I think that people will quit jobs. They quit, they quit people, organizations.
(Patrick) Situations, yeah.
(Kevin) Situations, exactly. And course, not always for bad reasons. But yeah, I totally get that. You know? Let's talk about some of the types of accommodation you touched on that a little bit in your presentation. We've talked a lot about accommodations today.
We've heard that, you know, average accommodations can be as low as $50, $500. But I like I like the idea that inclusive culture where it's like, it's not the idea I have to go buy accommodations. It's it sounds to me like you guys are just that's the mindset is that they're already in place in a lot of ways.
(Patrick) Yeah.
(Kevin) Can you tell me about some common accommodation types because, you know, we have a lot of HR professionals on today who are who are trying to implement an accessibility and inclusion initiative and need to understand that.
(Patrick) I mean, they accommodations can come in all different shapes and forms, right?
You can have the very literal ones which are kind of the laminated signs and the foot marks on the floor, which I talked about. And those lend themselves to the principles of kind of universal design and helping everyone.
I was just on a plane, and I think I said this in the presentation where like, I looked at the back of the seat and there's the there's the way to get off the plane. Very visual, very simple, very easy on a laminated piece of paper, you know, and it's been like that way for as long as we've been flying. So those are the kind of more simple ones, and they've helped everyone. And then the other accommodations, I think again, a kind of communication based. So figuring out, are we communicating with people on a company level and an individual level in a way that that that helps them and works for them, right?
I mean, so many companies just use mass emails. And so we're saying to ourselves, Well, what if our employees either don't read their emails because they don't have them on their phone or they just not have access to a computer?
Or what if it's just a difficult sort of medium for them to receive information? Maybe we need to be using videos. Maybe we need to be using visuals in our in our written or on our communications. Maybe we need to be speaking directly to people.
Maybe we need to have the supervisors speak to them rather than the information coming from me. So these are all different ways. I mean, we've started doing video series where all it sounds a little funny, but like I'll record a message and then and then put it to the company because it's just more digestible for some of our people. So those are just accommodations that I guess are less tangible and a more sort of strategic, but they... again none of these things I'm describing are rocket science, and that's certainly not expensive. You can get expensive with it if you wanted to, but we find them, like you said, Kevin, to be just things that naturally fit into our culture and our operational kind of modus. And with that comes benefits for all. They're there to help a certain segment, but they end up helping everyone. People love them.
(Kevin) Mm hmm. And that's, you know, and you're right to become part of your culture is because you have to have had you had to have engaged and worked closely with people who who request accommodation, need accommodation. And so you can't really just assume that you know, Hey, I'm going to buy a screen reader or I'm going to do this or this is become part of your culture because it is part of your culture and you understand your employee workforce.
I want to ask questions very specific to you from all of our presenters today. And I know it is because, like I said, I've seen similar in a similar model, not as successful. We're on earlier this morning with Craig Leen, who is a former director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
And I remember a few years ago some of his staff came to my office and asked us about how we were, how we were doing this? One, how are you incorporating these best practices into your office? And I'l get to the question here, because you're going to know exactly what I mean when I get to it.
How are you getting around the organizational barriers that exist, those you don't have because you're leading this effort? But the next question was how are you hiring people with disabilities? How do you find them? How? Because, because and you know what I mean?
Because there is there is a mistrust, and rightly so. You know, people want to know that they're working for an organization that really is inclusive and really, truly has their best interests at hearts. And so a lot of the barriers we have.
They exist because of perception, you know? So what if you were hiring manager? If I'm a hiring manager and I say, Hey, I'm charged up, I want to incorporate this. I get leadership on board. Where do I go and what do I do?
(Patrick) Right? Isn't it ironic that, you know, it's it's obviously, you know, National Disability Employment Awareness Month and we're we're still talking about worker shortage in America. Meanwhile, I live in a world of worker surplus, you know, and like and like, not enough, you know, we don't have enough jobs for the people.
And like, but restaurants aren't opening on certain nights the week because they can't find it. And I'm like, There's a whole group of people out there who want to work. They just need to be given the right opportunities and they need to be given a shot.
And and I think to your point, though, Kevin, it isn't necessarily an obvious place to just go right away if you are a hiring manager. There's many resources I could share and certainly pass on. I mean, you know, I'm a member of something called the Neurodiversity at Work Roundtable, which is an initiative started by Microsoft.
And these are some of the, you know, Fortune 500 companies that are incorporating higher initiatives. And I feel like every week we have a different present presenter every month or presenter talking about recruitment tools and almost like. Indeed.
But for those who are neurodiverse. So those things are coming around, and I think those are going to make a big difference because then you have a level playing field. But until then, it's it is challenging because we naturally get it through our reputation because we're that's our mission.
So people hear about us and go, I. I mean, I get resumé every few days and and it's difficult because you can't hire everyone. But I would say, you know, for me there. There are also state programs like Access VR, which, you know, those counselors there jobs are to place people.
So I would start that. Certainly, I would. I would look to a partner agency as well, like a human resource agency. We obviously have the Nickolas Center, which the Long Island based on. But there are many who it's their job to place people and they'll provide the supports that are needed and to get that person onboarded and get them trained. So there are programs at a state level. There are private organizations doing things to get kind of more of these employment platforms where you can go and sort of fish for jobs and look for employees who are neurodiverse.
And then the traditional method of kind of access VR and and using state owned human resource agencies who have adult programs that are looking to place people in supported employment or just regular employment.
(Kevin) Yeah. And I appreciate your insight and I do want to clarify for everyone, you know my question because I completely get, you know, as
I'm thinking through it, I'm like, OK, but you know, we're having worked with so many hiring managers. I also understand they're starting here, you know, they're not, you know, first of all, I found in my my back, you know, from my work experience that one, if your application process is inaccessible.
You're you're onboarding and hiring process is inaccessible. People say no one with disability applies for the job. Well, right? You know, is your is your application accessible in the first place? And if it's not, eventually you're right, people will people live where they work and they and they work where they're included, and it's an accessible process.
And eventually, if it's not accessible, it's not inclusive. They don't apply to your, to your workplace. And so you know you're talking to him to hiring managers are really trying to get something jumpstarted and they're like, Where do I start?
You start with being accessible.
(Patrick) Yeah.
(Kevin) Then you start working closely with the community so you understand the needs in the workforce. So let me ask you this do you do you believe that the success of your organization it can be can be indirectly or directly attributed to your inclusion efforts?
(Patrick) I would. Yeah, I absolutely, because I think, you know, we never we never looked and I'm not being disparaging, but we never went the sheltered workshop model when we started up ten years ago, those were open and, you know, 14C, you know, commensurate wages.
And again, not being disparaging towards them. But we just realized, no, if we're going to do this and we're going to move the needle, we have to be truly inclusive. And that means fair and equal pay or, you know, based on skill set based on ability and time with the company.
That means that means, you know, promotions. That means working with and alongside those who are neurotypical because it was never going to be something that that we could do by sort of putting people in a corner. And we never really wanted to do that because we always wanted to move the needle.
And I think what that did was that that set us apart, maybe at a time when that wasn't really there. And it's still rare, unfortunately, having kind of social enterprises like this. And my hope is that, you know, we can continue to kind of inspire that.
But yeah, true inclusivity was was always there for us. And I think we can be radically transparent with that too and show people and we welcome people to come and see and look through under a microscope and see everything.
Because that's there's there's an inherent kind of what are you guys doing over there, you know, and what is this? And now there must be something that's, you know, and let me look under this rock and there isn't.
And then when people see that they go, Wow, I can get behind that and this is this is something I want to either support with. Orders or with, you know, recommendations and word of mouth, things like that.
(Kevin) Yeah.
Wow, you guys have done an amazing job and I see Alycia has given me the one minute. So I just want to add one more question because I know how much I've just I've been at all the different stages, you know, not at your level, but I've certainly been in the I'm trying for it and I understand where a lot of folks are heads heads are on this. Did you give us some examples and, Alycia, I promise this is it.
Could you maybe share you don't have to give names, but maybe some examples of the type of partnerships that you have that have supported the work that you do like you partner with education, do you partner with other corporations, that kind of thing just to give ideas?
(Patrick) Yeah. So I mean, the Department of Labor have a tremendously beneficial program for workforce development. So they really have given six figure grants to us to train, upskill, educate and, you know, make our employees even more employable and to continue doing what we're doing because we are servicing an underemployed population. Private corporations, Google, Uber, these are companies that have big CSR DEI goals. We offer them a chance to check those boxes by purchasing their goods from us. So they've become really good clients as well. And then private Long Island and other foundations of people who want to see the employment piece.
They really like that because they see that as kind of moving the, you know, pulling at the moving the needle and pulling at that thread. So we've had some really good support all around because I think there's an element of this is something that's going to come back to us in a certain way.
If it's upskilling, it means people are going to make more money in the department, in the labor and state are going to get more money. People are going to spend their money is going to generate more tax revenues.
It makes sense. And then the same thing with the corporations that they're boosting their corporate image, they're improving their employee retention as well. So this is something circular about it. I think that's important. It's not a kind of handout.
It's a hand up.
(Kevin) Mm hmm. Well, I tell you, I really appreciate it, and I know Alycia is going to get on me to. I will. I will go ahead and stop there. But I did get a few more questions in when you were talking, and I'm going to email those to you. Patrick, do you mind?
(Patrick) No. Yeah. My pleasure.
(Kevin) There's great questions here about job postings and job descriptions and on demand training. But yeah, like I said, guys, you know, we had him for 15 minutes. So you know, I but I really appreciate you being here, Patrick.
Thank you so much.
(Patrick) My pleasure. Thank you guys for including myself and Spectrum Designs and all the work you're doing.
(Alycia Anderson - MC) Patrick. Beautiful. Oh my god, I couldn't speak for five that, probably all year, honestly. And inclusion is circular and it's collective and it better.
It should benefit everyone. And this is a beautiful, beautiful business model. So...
(Patrick) Thank you.
(Alycia) That's amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I'm sure everybody else did. Thank you for being here.
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