APSE: What is HR Connect?
James Emmett: "HR Connect is designed to help the business community develop strategic outreaches to the disability community. We provide consultations to businesses and corporations to help them develop: recruiting, hiring and training strategies and to bring on and to work with people with disabilities."
APSE: How did HR Connect start and why?
James Emmett: "It started about two years ago with Celane, Chris Davies, myself, and some of the board members and Laura talking about the concept of HR Connnect. We were trying to develop a private side of APSE, as we call it in Indiana, "the dual customer approach". The job seeker with disability is critical to supported employment but just as critical to effective supported employment is the business. APSE is known across the nation as the #1 Supported Employment Organization because of the services that we provide to our members in terms of supported employees and those that work for community rehabilitation providers, these services and the conference are awesome. However, I think that what we have talked about for years is what can we do to better serve businesses on the supported employment side of the equation, and that's why HR Connect was developed."
APSE: Tell us how HR Connect can help businesses meet their bottom line?
James Emmett: "We offer businesses bottom line impact strategies. We help businesses save money in recruiting costs by helping set up the systems. We help them reduce turnover, training costs, preparation time, and screening. We help businesses access tax incentives related to recruiting in the disability community. We help them access The Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Some of the businesses we are working with, are going to become Ticket to Work vendors. They are going to make money directly from Ticket to Work. We are working on incentives. For example, with Best Buy, in helping them access grant dollars. Grant funding is given in some states to help them with training and recruiting services. We impact on both sides in terms of saving businesses money through those channels and but also generating revenue through the incentive channels. We provide consultation for risk avoidance. For example, looking at ADA consulting and helping businesses develop accommodations that are appropriate that may get them out of difficult situations. The last piece that we are looking at doing is helping businesses from a marketing side, if they are interested in tapping into the disability community as a customer market."
APSE: What are the benefits of HR Connect to Businesses?
James Emmett: " The #1 benefit of HR Connect to businesses is helping them in their bottom line strategy.
2) Increasing Diversity. Diversity is such a buzz word in the corporate community and most research has shown that the disability community has more spending power and more members than most of those other groups that people talk about.
3) With some of the businesses, there is a PR (community relations) component in which the disability community in every community plays a large part. There are a growing number of disability support groups and parent support groups, and one of the things we are helping businesses do is to tap into these groups and develop collaboration with these groups."
APSE: What are the benefits of HR Connect to APSE Members?
James Emmett: "I think APSE members will see the increase in available jobs and an increase in opportunities. We are opening up opportunities for supported employment by what we are doing in HR Connect. Every time we get a HR Connect customer what that will mean is that more and more jobs will be recruited in the disability community and wanting to find qualified candidates with disabilities. The bottom line to APSE members who are either supported employees or the organization that serves supported employees is we are going to be opening up many opportunities with large, brand name corporations."
APSE: How can chapters become involved in HR Connect?
James Emmett: "HR Connect can help chapters target companies and help them develop strategies or sales pitches to approach companies in their state and to sell them on having a Disability Outreach. HR Connect can partner with a chapter on approaching a company to do that or working with some of the chapter leaders on doing some training for the business community or a mini-conference."
APSE: What are the businesses currently involved with HR Connect? Tell us about HR Connect's current project with TIAA CREF?
James Emmett: "TIAA CREFF and Best Buy are our two primary clients that we are involved with right now. Both clients are very new and young. TIAA CREF is a large investment house that owns a variety of businesses across the world. We are starting with some of the specific agricultural companies they own and setting up supported employment opportunities within those companies. We are helping the agricultural businesses recruit workers with disabilities as a new labor source. With Best Buy, we are piloting a project out of a grant with a community rehab provider that we have in Illinois. We are looking for Best Buy to further their strategy in recruiting from the disability community."
APSE: How do you see HR Connect's role in the APSE Mission of advancing equitable employment for people with disabilities?
James Emmett: "I think for so long in the supported employment and vocational rehab world, we have not done enough to offer our services which are incredibly valuable through supported employment to the business community. I can see HR Connect having a huge impact as the model on how we help businesses demonstrate the bottom line value of supported employment. That will open up many jobs and turn many companies in actively recruiting people in the disability community where in the past they might have shut their doors to people with significant disabilities."
APSE: What in your background prepared you for this work?
James Emmett: "I have a physical disability, and my two daughters have disabilities as well. I have a masters degree in rehabilitation counseling and I am working on my Ph.D. in rehabilitation counselor education, but primarily I have spent the last 10 years as a supported employment consultant focusing on consulting within the corporate community. I have worked with companies including UPS, LaSalle Bank which is now Bank of America and on a disability outreach project with the Brookfield Zoo, one of the largest zoos in the world, in the Chicago area. My largest role was as the disability program manager for Walgreen's where I spent time as a full time consultant planning and setting up what is now the Disability Outreach for the Walgreen's Corporation."
APSE: How can APSE members become involved in HR Connect?
James Emmett: "APSE members can contact me, if they want to become involved in HR Connect and talk about specific interests and working together to strategically approach any type of business."
APSE: What's the best way for APSE members to refer businesses to you?
James Emmett: "APSE members can email me at james@apse.org or give me a call at 574-808-9779."
