Quality Indicator #1: Meaningful Competitive Employment in Integrated Work Settings

An individual in supported employment works in a competitive job in an integrated work setting. What in fact characterizes the true quality of competitive work in an integrated setting? The preamble to the 1997 Vocational Rehabilitation regulatory announcement frames paid employment in integrated settings in the context of the parity principle by asking the question: Is the experience of the person with a disability at parity with the experiences of the non disabled co-worker (Federal Register, February 11, 1997)?
The importance of this parity principle is supported by the research by Mank and his associates on the positive relations of typical employment features and coworker involvement with higher wage and integration outcomes for individuals in supported employment (Mank, Cioffi, & Yovanoff, 1997, 1999, 2000). Consideration of the parity of experiences between the worker with a disability and the non-disabled co-worker leads directly to the following questions as functional indicators of the quality of the paid employment outcome:

- How is the person with a disability hired? Is s/he hired by the business where the work is being performed or is s/he an employee of an employment services organization?

- How is the person with a disability supervised? Is s/he supervised by an employee of the business where the work is being performed or by an employee of an employment service organization?

- Is the individual with a disability paid comparable wages and benefits to co-workers who are not disabled?

- Does the employee with a disability have the same career advancement opportunities within the worksite as co-workers who are not disabled, as well as having equal access to resources at the work place such as Employee Assistance Programs?

- Is there full social access to co-workers who are not disabled and is there an absence of a congregation of persons with disabilities within the work site?

The goal of supported employment was never to simply find jobs for persons with significant disabilities. Rather, the focus of quality supported employment dictates that services result in meaningful employment outcomes for customers. A meaningful employment outcome is a job with career possibilities. A worker at a job site who is actually the employee of an outside service provider has limited career opportunities. Most people with disabilities are not interested in dead-end positions.

As with other members of the labor force, people with disabilities are interested in jobs where they can build their resumes and/or employment positions and potentially grow with a company. Meaningful employment outcomes for individuals in supported employment are jobs that have full parity with other jobs within the workplace in terms of how people are hired, supervised and compensated; the opportunities they have to interact with co-workers; and the access they have to job advancement and career opportunities.