Quality Supported 
Employment Services 8 
Q UALITY SERVICES 
Several public laws passed in the early 
1990's recognize the absolute right of persons 
with significant disabilities to live and work as 
integral and valued members of society. The 
Americans with Disabilities Act (P.L. 101-336) 
sets as public policy the principle of full integration 
of persons with disabilities. No longer 
can individuals with disabilities be excluded 
from the education, employment, and cultural 
opportunities that exist in all communities 
across the country. The 1992 Reauthorization 
of the Rehabilitation Act (P.L. 102-569) and 
the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act (P.L. 101-476) provide persons 
with disabilities the rights of access to education, 
rehabilitation, and related services and 
supports critical to their achieving the quality 
of life envisioned by the ADA. 
These significant pieces of legislation 
put the abilities and choices of persons with 
disabilities first in the planning and the 
delivery of services. Legislation has challenged 
rehabili-tation professionals to assist 
individuals with disabilities as they work 
toward making meaningful and informed 
choices in estab-lishing plans of services that 
emphasize community integrated employment 
and related outcomes. This challenge to 
rehabilitation professionals coincides with the 
tremendous national growth in supported 
employment over the last decade. 
People with significant disabilities are 
now seeking to achieve the promise of ADA 
and to utilize the services and supports 
established in public legislation. Yet, they are 
expressing concerns about the quality of 
services provided by local and state disability 
and rehabilitation agencies and the difficulties 
in achieving a clear sense of informed choice 
in the selection of services. 
Defining Informed Choice 
Webster's dictionary defines choice as 
"the act of choosing; selection; the right, 
power, or chance to choose; option; choice 
implies the chance, right, or power to choose, 
usually by free exercise of one's judgment." If 
the definition is explored further, the following 
information can be found: 
1) Option suggests the privilege of choosing 
as granted by a person or group in authority 
that normally exercises power. 
2) Alternative in the strict usage, limits a 
choice to one of two possibilities. 
3) Selection implies a wide choice and the 
exercise of careful discrimination. 
231
While this may seem a matter of 
semantics, it is interesting to think about these 
definitions in relationship to the services provided 
by supported employment programs. 
Are programs giving their customers the 
"privilege" of choosing based on professional 
authority? Do employment specialists simply 
provide two alternatives and force their 
customers to choose the one which may be the 
lesser of two evils? Or, are customers truly 
provided a selection of choices and assisted in 
carefully discriminating between their choices? 
Fortunately, the ideas and suggestions 
of people with significant disabilities are beginning 
to impact the field of rehabilitation, 
including supported employment. Many programs 
are now using a customer-driven approach 
to supported employment, which is 
shaping service delivery practices. Supported 
employment customers are entering into partnerships 
with their rehabilitation counselors, 
supported employment service providers, employment 
specialists, and employers to define 
quality service indicators. Perhaps the best 
way to illustrate the importance of these 
partnerships is through the eyes of John, a 
supported employment customer, who is 
attempting to obtain employment. 
John's Case Study 
John is a young man who experiences a 
dual sensory disability and moderate difficulties 
in learning new skills as a result of a 
brain injury. He has expressed an interest in 
obtaining employment in his community. 
John’s sister assisted him in applying for state 
vocational rehabilitation services, and he subsequently 
was determined eligible to receive 
services with a recommendation for supported 
employment. In an initial meeting, John’s rehabilitation 
counselor discussed the rehabilitation 
services that he would need to obtain employment. 
The counselor concluded the meeting 
by telling John the name of a local supported 
employment program that would provide him 
the necessary supports to obtain and maintain 
employment. 
Following the meeting, a friend of 
John’s told him the name of another supported 
employment provider that had been very successful 
in assisting several people with dual 
sensory disabilities to get and keep a job. At 
church, a woman gave John the name of a 
third supported employment agency where she 
knew the president and was willing to put in a 
good word for him. With the names of three 
sup-ported employment organizations, John 
was more confused than ever. He didn’t know 
which service provider would be the best 
agency to assist him in finding a job. 
Remembering how his sister found a 
college, John called his rehabilitation counselor 
and asked if she could arrange for him to visit 
the supported employment providers that she 
identified, as well as the other two organizations 
that friends had recommended. After the 
rehabilitation counselor assisted John with 
setting up three interviews, the two of them 
developed a list of questions that would assist 
him in making an informed choice. During 
each of the three informal meetings, John asked 
the following six questions. 
232
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 
1. How many job coaches do you employ, 
and how many customers do you assist 
in finding jobs each year? 
2. What types of jobs are being developed 
by your agency? 
3. What is the average weekly wage for 
your customers? 
4. What is the ratio of supported employment 
staff to customers ? 
5. How long do your customers keep their 
jobs? 
6. What long term supports do you offer 
customers? 
The answers to these questions gave 
John and his rehabilitation counselor information 
that was helpful in making informed decisions 
regarding appropriate and cost effective 
services. However, there were several missed 
opportunities for John to have greater control 
over his rehabilitation process. Specifically, 
John's counselor initially made many decisions 
for him rather than with him. 
Practicing a customer-driven approach 
to assuring quality services requires proactive 
practices. This means that counselors and other 
professionals who work with supported employment 
customers provide a full and detailed 
presentation of all available options as 
well as information about the performance 
and outcomes of each option. John's example 
focuses on the customer-counselor partnership. 
He acted as a self-advocate by taking the initiative 
to use a customer-driven approach in 
selecting a service provider. The counselor reacted 
positively to his initiative; however, 
many quality steps were omitted, because a 
customer-counselor partnership was not 
established initially. 
The partnership begins when the customer 
enters the rehabilitation service system. 
John's counselor identified that he would need 
supported employment services and preselected 
a specific provider agency without 
informing him of the full array of community 
options. She should have begun the relationship 
by describing supported employment and 
the services that are available with this approach. 
Then, the counselor and John could 
identify which supports would be necessary to 
meet John's career goals. Next, the counselor 
should have identified the supported employment 
programs in the community who could 
provide those needed services and the track 
records of each organization. Finally, John 
could interview each service provider using his 
list of informal questions in order to select a 
provider. 
The information in this chapter will 
address the importance of assessing quality and 
the purpose of quality indicators. In addition, 
a proactive process that can guide customer 
relationships will be presented to include: 
# the customer--counselor relationship, 
# the customer--service provider 
relationship, 
# the customer--employment specialist 
relationship, and 
# the customer--employer relationship. 
All members involved in supported 
employment services must be committed to 
creating and maintaining an information base 
and cooperative partnership which supports a 
customer-driven approach to service delivery. 
233
A SSESSING QUALITY 
Traditionally, supported employment 
programs develop standards, objectives, and 
processes in an effort to build and promote 
quality supported employment services. Program 
managers and staff design standards and 
indicators to assist in gauging the success of 
their program services. The typical areas for 
assessment include: philosophy, mission, 
administration, fiscal management, image, 
community resources, personnel, job or career 
development, job training and support, longterm 
supports, and employee relations. 
Most supported employment organizations 
recognize the need for assessing quality 
and are committed to providing excellent services. 
Yet, many supported employment personnel 
report that collecting and analyzing data 
on quality indicators is an unrealistic expectation. 
For this reason, some programs have 
stopped assessing the overall quality of their 
service organization. Typically, the primary 
reason for organizational assessment is to meet 
an agency need for supported employment provider 
certification. This certification is required 
to become a local vendor for supported employment 
and to qualify for state or local 
funding. 
Collecting and analyzing data on supported 
employment service outcomes does not 
have to be difficult or time consuming. In fact, 
the quality of a supported employment 
program can be measured by addressing four 
simple features, as described in the following 
table. 
SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT 
FEATURES 
1. Serving Persons with Significant 
Disabilities 
2. Customer-Driven 
3. Meaningful Employment 
4. Maximizing Integration and Community 
Participation 
Persons with Significant Disabilities 
The 1992 reauthorization of the Rehabilitation 
Act (P.L. 102-569) clearly describes 
the intended recipients of supported employment 
services. Supported employment was 
never intended to serve the typical vocational 
rehabilitation customer. Rather, this service 
option was created for those persons with significant 
disabilities who traditionally were not 
able to obtain competitive employment through 
vocational rehabilitation services. P.L. 102-569 
further describes customers of supported employment 
as those individuals who have 
obtained intermittent employment but have not 
been successful in maintaining competitive 
employment and who need long term supports 
to achieve competitive employment success. 
Supported employment service providers 
need to work with potential customers 
and rehabilitation counselors to ensure that the 
organization is marketing their services to the 
appropriate customers. Employment service 
organizations can analyze this quality indicator 
by determining who is accessing their services. 
What are the customers' primary and secondary 
disabilities, functional capabilities, and prior 
234
work histories? In addition, organizations 
should compare their supported employment 
customers with those customer’s receiving 
general or transitional rehabilitation services. 
This will provide a clear indicator as to 
whether the program is serving individuals 
with the most severe disabilities. The 
following table presents a checklist of several 
different questions that supported employment 
service providers can ask when determining if 
their organizations are serving persons with the 
most severe disabilities. 
PERSONS WITH THE MOST 
SEVERE DISABILITIES 
1. What are customers’ primary and 
secondary disabilities? 
2. What are customers’ functional capabilities? 
3. What are customers’ prior work or 
service histories? 
4. What other characteristics make the 
customer more or less employable? 
5. How do supported employment customers 
compare with those of other 
services? 
Customer-Driven 
A critical factor in assessing the overall 
quality of a supported employment program is 
analyzing outcome data to determine if services 
are truly customer-driven. Those organizations 
that are customer-driven shape their 
service delivery practices by the wants and 
needs of their customers. Therefore, the customers 
are in a position to control their 
rehabilitation outcomes. 
Reading this manual will provide 
programs with different ideas on how to 
analyze this feature of supported employment. 
However, service providers can ask themselves 
a few basic questions to determine if their services 
are customer-driven. The following table 
presents these questions. 
CUSTOMER-DRIVEN 
1. Who selected the service provider? 
3. Who selected the job coach? 
4. Who selected the job? 
5. Does the customer like the job? 
6. Is the customer satisfied with the 
services? 
7. Is the customer able and willing to 
retain the job? 
8. Will the customer be assisted in 
finding new employment in the event 
of a job separation? 
Meaningful Employment 
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 the organization's customers. 
Key to determining if customers are obtaining 
meaningful employment outcomes is determining 
if the jobs that customers are accepting 
are career-oriented. 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 where they can grow 
235
with a company. 
Supported employment programs can 
analyze several different areas to determine if 
they are assisting their customers in obtaining 
meaningful employment. For instance, individuals 
with disabilities need a decent wage, 
company benefits, and a work schedule that 
matches with their community interests and 
supports. The following table presents several 
questions that supported employment organizations 
can ask themselves to determine if the 
services that they are providing related to this 
component are high quality. 
MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT 
1. What are the customers’ earnings? 
2. What are the customers’ work hours? 
3. What are the customer’s current fringe 
benefits and future fringe benefits? 
4. Is the job career-oriented? 
Maximizing Integration and 
Community Participation 
Integration and community participation 
are important outcome measures of quality 
services. The idea that persons with severe 
disabilities can, and should, work in regular 
business environments is the guiding philosophy 
behind supported employment. Work is a 
highly valued activity in the American culture 
and offers wage earners numerous benefits. 
Having a job and paying taxes can enhance an 
individual’s status in the community while 
offering the employee an opportunity to interact 
with co-workers and to develop a host of 
relationships at work and in the community. 
There are multiple factors that can be 
examined when determining if a particular job 
or employee are integrated in the workplace 
and participating in the community. Analyzing 
a business site to determine if the company 
offers an opportunity for integration is important. 
In addition, the employee work area, 
work hours, and satisfaction level plays an important 
role in assessing a customer's integration 
and community participation. A 
negative answer to any of the following 
questions could be an indicator that intervention 
is necessary to improve the overall 
quality of the employment situation and consequently, 
the organization’s services. 
MAXIMIZING INTEGRATION AND 
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION 
1. Does the company offer opportunities 
for physical and social integration? 
2. Does the employee's work area facilitate 
physical and social interactions? 
3. To what extent is the customer 
integrated? 
4. In what activities does the customer 
engage in the community? 
5. Is the customer satisfied with work and 
community integration? 
Evaluation Tools 
Development of effective evaluation 
tools for determining quality supported employment 
services is an important area where 
much work remains. The evaluation tools that 
are used by supported employment provider 
agencies should present a clear picture on how 
to assess success and quality of services. Examples 
of different evaluation tools range from 
simple checklists to formal audits and program 
236
reviews. In addition, customer interviews and 
surveys are providing another important source 
of data in the program evaluation process. 
There are a number of points that appear 
to be very important in the creation and 
implementation of a viable evaluation tool. 
The following list presents some points to 
remember when supported employment personnel 
begin to work on developing an instrument 
that is not bureaucratic, cumbersome, or 
an extravagant use of paper (Kregel, 1992). 
GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING 
AN EVALUATION TOOL 
1. The instrument must be clear and easy 
to read. 
2. The instrument must be easy to administer, 
score, and interpret. 
3. The items must be directly related to 
objectives presented in this chapter and 
throughout this handbook. 
4. The items on the survey must be able 
to discriminate between effective services 
and quality services. 
5. The items must be sensitive to detect 
program improvement. 
Impact of Program Quality 
The quality of a program’s services can 
mean success or failure for both the customer 
and provider. Organizations which are truly 
concerned about the quality of their services 
and want to continue growing, need to conduct 
follow-up marketing assessments measuring 
the satisfaction among customers. It is through 
these assessments that supported employment 
customers are invited into the process to identify 
the areas which are working, areas needing 
improvement, and/or areas that need to be 
created and made available to the customerbase. 
Quality programs will want to identify 
the customer’s aspirations and needs and to 
create the necessary services. This must be 
done on an on-going basis rather than developing 
service options solely based upon the 
professional judgements in isolation from the 
customer-base. As the private sector is beginning 
to notice and consider persons with 
disabilities as a significant marketing segment 
of our society, so must disability organizations, 
rehabilitation agencies, and supported employment 
service providers. Vital to the success of 
supported employment will be the ability of 
provider organizations to change from an elite 
centralized form of decision making to an 
information-sharing, mutually supportive, 
customer-driven approach to service delivery. 
Customer Control 
Supported employment customers can 
avoid having a process “done to them” by exercising 
their power and using it to select the 
type and conditions of services. These new 
customers of supported employment are becoming 
active participants in making decisions 
about their future. As the 1992 Rehabilitation 
Amendments outlined: individuals with severe 
disabilities are presumed capable of working 
and must be given the opportunity to make 
choices as they seek meaningful careers in 
integrated community settings. 
As with any business seeking to expand 
its customer-base, supported employment must 
offer quality goods and services. If supported 
employment providers and rehabilitation agen- 
237
cies want to be successful, they need to continue 
their program reviews and evaluations of 
customer satisfaction. In addition, provider 
organizations must plan and implement programs 
and services which reflect excellence. 
URPOSE OF QUALITY 
INDICATORS P 
The 1992 Rehabilitation Act Amendments 
call for rehabilitation agencies to compile 
information about available services and 
service providers in the community. Supported 
employment and rehabilitation agencies must 
provide this information to their customers to 
assist them in making informed choices about 
potential providers of supported employment 
and other related services. Customers, rehabilitation 
counselors, and service providers, must 
work together to ensure that customers are 
directing their careers by choosing an organization, 
type of supports, and how those supports 
will be provided. 
This information should be shared with 
supported employment customers as employment 
plans are being developed and decisions 
are being made. One way to accomplish this 
task would be for rehabilitation counselors to 
develop a chart with data contrasting all the 
local supported employment service providers. 
Using this information, a customer would be 
able to narrow down his or her provider options. 
The customer may also choose to interview 
supported employment agencies as John 
did when he was choosing between service providers. 
Additionally, the customer may want 
to ask for the service provider’s marketing materials, 
such as a brochure written by customers 
regarding their satisfaction with the organization. 
The counselor and customer could 
analyze all the data and information in the 
program areas of importance (i.e., disability experience, 
career development experience, longevity 
of employment, etc.) and make a decision 
about which program has the supports and 
services desired and needed by the customer. 
This type of information is not only 
valuable to customers as they make service 
delivery decisions, but it is equally important to 
rehabilitation counselors who are concerned 
about the cost, quality, and outcomes of services. 
With constant pressure for quality outcomes, 
counselors must know more about each 
supported employment provider. They should 
conduct evaluations of the supported employment 
agencies that their customers use and 
determine such things as: 
# What range of services are offered? 
# Does the organization conduct situational 
assessments? 
# Are the employment specialists 
skilled in systematic instruction? 
# Do they collect program data? 
# Is data used to make decisions? 
# Do customers receive twice 
monthly follow-up visits, as well as 
other long term supports? 
P ARTNERSHIPS & QUALITY 
A customer-driven approach to supported 
employment practices and outcomes 
will require all key participants to rethink the 
quality indicators of supported employment. If 
people with significant disabilities cannot 
access employment, or if they have negative 
supported employment experiences such as 
238
underemployment, neglect of career interest, 
and/or isolation from their friends and coworkers, 
then the quality of the supported 
employment program will be extremely low. 
There are many different techniques 
and resources for evaluating the quality of a 
sup-ported employment organization. Some of 
the preferred sources include: 
1. Interviews with supported employment 
customers. 
2. Observation notes from meetings. 
3. Written agreements with local 
businesses. 
4. Staff development plans. 
5. Staff interviews. 
6. Minutes from organizational and board 
meetings. 
7. Fact sheets and other promotional 
materials. 
8. Employer contact sheets. 
9. Letters from co-workers. 
10. Annual reports. 
11. Review of business files. 
12. Copies of satisfaction survey results. 
Yet, these sources will only provide 
part of the picture. As stated earlier, the 
provision of quality services will depend upon 
four key partnerships. Therefore, clearly 
defining the indicators of a successful 
partnership will provide a thorough picture of 
a high quality customer-driven approach to 
supported em-ployment. The customercounselor, 
customer-service provider, 
customer-employment spec-ialist and the 
customer-employer partnerships are each 
highly interdependent upon the out-comes of 
the other partnerships. Each part-nership plays 
an unique role in a customer-driven 
relationship in the supported employ-ment 
process. The following are the quality 
indicators for customer-driven relationships 
with the rehabilitation counselor, the service 
provider, the employment specialist and the 
employer as they support the customer in five 
major areas: 1) Individual Written Rehabilitation 
Program (IWRP), 2) Organizational 
Marketing, 3) Customer Profile, 4) Job Development, 
5) Job Site Training, and 6) Long 
Term Supports. 
NDICATORS FOR SUCCESSFUL 
PARTNERSHIPS I 
Partnership for the IWRP 
The Individual Written Rehabilitation 
Program known to most employment specialists 
and supported employment customers as 
the IWRP, is the beginning point for the development 
of strong partnerships. The process for 
making an excellent employment outcome will 
require incorporating customer-driven values 
and strategies into the IWRP or another similar 
plan (if rehabilitation services are not obtained 
through the State Vocational Rehabilitation 
[VR] Program). Even the best written plan can 
fail if it is not correctly put into place. Going 
through this process the rehabilitation 
counselor, supported employment service provider, 
and the employment specialist should 
assist the customer, as necessary, in carefully 
considering the opportunities and ramifications 
of available service options, supports, and 
career areas. Each partner will play an important 
role in the development and implementation 
of the IWRP. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. The counselor 
should assist the customer in determining 
his or her employment goals. In addition, a 
strong counselor-customer relationship would 
include the counselor supporting the customer 
in analyzing information regarding supported 
239
employment service provider selection. The 
partnership requires the counselor to listen to 
the customer’s wants and needs and to respect 
the customer’s right to make changes in the 
IWRP. It will be important for the counselor to 
encourage independent thinking among all customers 
and to focus on the customers’ abilities. 
Supported Employment Service Provider. 
The supported employment service provider 
furnishes organizational information to 
VR and potential customers related to such 
organizational outcomes as business relationship, 
average wage of customers, and number 
of employment specialists. In addition, the 
service provider can present opportunities for 
the customer to tour and ask questions about 
the organization. A critical feature in this relationship 
will be the service provider agreeing 
to participate in vocational planning meetings 
with customers and rehabilitation counselors. 
Employment Specialist. The employment 
specialist will need to meet with 
customers and rehabilitation counselors to 
review the IWRP. Additionally, the employment 
specialist should agree to participant in 
informational interviewing sessions that are 
directed by the customer. The customer and 
counselor will be interested in obtaining 
information related to the employment specialist’s 
experiences with disability service issues, 
supported employment, and the business 
community. 
Partnerships in Organizational 
Marketing 
A good market-based plan will actually 
identify the scope and range of activities performed 
during job development or the job hunt 
process. Each partner in the employment process 
will have unique information and a 
specific area of expertise that the customer will 
need to access. Therefore, it is critical for all 
partners to play an active role during organizational 
marketing. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. Prior to disseminating 
VR marketing materials to the local 
business community, the counselor will want 
the customer to review all materials and to 
approve their content. In addition, it will be 
important for the customer to participate in 
meetings to develop the VR marketing plan and 
to establish value statements. The counselor 
and customer will need to work together to improve 
business involvement in disabilityrelated 
issues. Regular interaction between the 
counselor and customer will provide an opportunity 
for the customer and the VR counselor to 
evaluate marketing efforts. 
Supported Employment Service Provider. 
Service providers must include their 
customers when conducting planning meetings 
for organizational marketing. The service provider 
will want to encourage customers to 
attend civic functions, business meetings, and 
parent groups to make community presentations 
with and without supported employment 
personnel. Customers who are active in 
organi-zational marketing efforts will be 
informed members of the organization’s 
evaluation team as data is regularly analyzed 
and marketing plans are developed. 
Employment Specialist. When conducting 
organizational marketing, the employment 
specialist will want to recruit customers 
to make presentations with them in the community. 
In addition, the employment specialist 
will want to request that satisfied customers 
talk about services to other potential customers. 
240
Customers can be a tremendous resource for 
identifying new customer markets and community 
business for the employment specialist 
and the organization. 
Employer. Employers can begin to 
play a role in the customer-driven relationship 
during organizational marketing by agreeing to 
attend focus group meetings. In addition, employers 
and business employees can make 
community presentations. These presentations 
can cover such issues as ADA, business 
accom-modations, and supported employment 
sup-ports and services. Finally, employers can 
be an enormous resource for assisting in the 
development of organizational marketing 
materials. 
Partnerships for Customer Profile 
In most cases, it is possible to decide 
whether an individual should be referred for 
supported employment services based upon the 
information obtained during the referral and 
application process to vocational rehabilitation 
(VR) services. Yet, in many cases additional 
information may be needed to ensure choice 
and a customer-driven approach to service delivery. 
The following describes the individual 
roles for partners in the customer profile 
component of supported employment. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. The customer 
must be given opportunities by the counselor 
to explore interests and strengths in a 
variety of work and community sites. The 
counselor can assist in this process by identifying 
potential situational assessment sites in 
the community, and providing information to 
the customer and service provider. It will be 
important for the counselor and customer to 
spend time together during this process in order 
to establish a relationship. 
Service Provider. Service providers 
will want to work with the customer, VR, and 
the businesses community to identify nontraditional 
business work sites for situational 
assessment opportunities. In addition, service 
providers must adopt a philosophy that views 
the customer as the person directing the process 
as an accurate customer profile is developed. 
It will be important to ensure that data is 
recorded and shared with the customer, as well 
as the VR counselor. 
ment specialist must be committed to working 
with the customer and together identify possible 
employment opportunities in the business 
community. This will require the employment 
specialist and customer to spend time together 
ascertaining the customer’s real desires, concerns, 
and personal strengths. Additionally, the 
employment specialist will need to work with 
the customer and counselor to identify appropriate 
business sites for community situational 
assessments. 
enormous amount of support to all partners 
when they agree to participate as community 
situational assessment work sites. In addition, 
employers can serve as a resource by assisting 
service providers and VR in identifying new 
community employment assessment work sites. 
Developing a strong partnership with employers 
will help ensure that a complete customer 
profile is obtained. 
Partnerships for Job Development 
Employment Specialist. The employ- 
Employers. Employers can provide an 
When job development or the job 
search is customer-driven and mirrors the 
241
organizational marketing plan, increased satisfaction 
will be felt by all partners. Supported 
employment service providers and the employment 
specialist will want to ensure that the 
employer’s business needs are being met as the 
supported employment customer seeks to 
obtain the job of his or her choice. Each of the 
following partners will have an unique set of 
expertise for job development support. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. The customer 
and the VR counselor should agree on a 
plan for contacting employers. Responsibilities 
should be divided between the customer, 
counselor, family, and employment specialist. 
In many cases, a customer will want to make 
the initial contact with a potential employer. 
The customer can then provide feedback to the 
counselor and employment specialist for a 
follow-up visit. The counselor can provide 
assistance to the customer in developing a 
functional resume to use when applying for a 
job. Joint meetings with counselor, customer, 
and service provider should be regularly scheduled 
to review roles and progress. 
Service Provider. Service providers 
will need to develop plans for business networking, 
with input from the customer. These 
plans will assist partners in building relationships 
and increasing contacts in the community. 
A customer-driven service provider 
will encourage customers to take an active part 
in employer development activities by identifying 
people who may be aware of employment 
openings. It will be important for the service 
providers to meet regularly with the VR counselors 
and customers and to continually provide 
the customer with options about career 
possibilities that are available in the local 
community. 
Employment Specialist. An employment 
specialist and customer will want to work 
together to identify potential business interview 
sites. Customers and employment specialists 
should practice interviewing and talking with 
businesses in the community. In addition, the 
employment specialist, customer, and VR 
counselor should review contacts and share job 
leads. Choice can be an active process, when 
the employment specialist prepares a list of 
positive, as well as negative points regarding 
potential job openings to guide the customer in 
job or career decisions. 
Employers. A quality employer partnership 
will lead to the business community 
taking leadership positions on advisory committees 
for VR services and supported employment 
organizations. In addition, employers can 
make time for customers to visit employment 
sites in order to analyze work sites and occupations. 
Employers can be a valuable resource in 
exploring other community businesses needing 
workers. 
Partnerships for Job Site 
Training and Support 
The job site training component of supported 
employment is an active time for all 
partners in a customer-driven relationship. It is 
during this phase of supported employment that 
the customer, employer, and employment specialist 
will have their greatest amount of contact. 
While the rehabilitation counselor is not 
directly involved, he or she needs to be aware 
of the training process to monitor and to 
facilitate successful employment outcomes. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. The counselor 
can assist the customer by identifying 
242
potential supports and technology resources. In 
addition, the counselor, customer, and service 
provider should agree on a plan which 
includes: review of progress, up-date on service 
informa-tion, collection and reporting of data, 
and joint visits with the customer and 
employer. The counselor must begin to assess 
the customer’s satisfaction with the 
employment position, the employment 
specialist and the service provider. 
Service Provider. The supported employment 
service provider should agree to track 
progress with customers and to regularly update 
the VR counselor. Service providers can 
encourage the involvement of customers in the 
development of job analyses, task analyses, job 
modifications, and instructional programs. In 
some cases it will be important for the service 
provider to work with VR, the customer, and 
community to assist in identifying possible 
technology resources. Service providers, customers, 
employers, and counselors will need to 
work together to explore community and 
workplace supports. 
Employment Specialist. Together, the 
employment specialist and customer will identify 
necessary training and support needs for 
employment success. The employment specialist 
committed to a customer-driven approach 
will assist the customer in developing relationships 
with co-workers from the first day of 
employment. In addition, the employment 
specialist and customer will agree on a fading 
schedule for employment specialist support. 
All partners will agree to review satisfaction of 
job training and work progress. 
Employer. Many employers will agree 
to participate with the new employee and the 
employment specialist to explore the development 
of a co-worker or mentor relationship at 
the worksite. Employers, customers, and employment 
specialists will meet to review progress 
and satisfaction. The community employer 
will be a valuable resource with the 
identification of possible work site modifications 
and technology supports. 
Partnerships for Long Term Supports 
An overriding goal of the long term 
supports component of supported employment 
is ensuring that the customer’s evolving 
interest and career advancement opportunities 
are being considered. When this becomes the 
goal, then all partners support steady 
employment rather than staying in any one job. 
The employment specialist will continue to 
make twice monthly visits to the customer. 
Together all partners assist in analyzing, 
identifying and imple-menting long term 
supports. 
Rehabilitation Counselor. The counselor 
will work with the service provider and 
customer to prepare a long term support plan. 
This plan will include potential supports and 
possible funding options. Counselors and customers 
will need to meet to explore customer 
satisfaction with the job and the supported 
employment service. The rehabilitation counselor 
should share with the customer and 
service provider the availability of postemployment 
services, if required by the 
customer. 
Service Provider. The service provider 
should assist customers with identifying long 
term support services and funding for each 
available option. The service provider can pro- 
243
vide supports to the customer by assisting with 
complicated processes, such as funding supports 
that are available through the Social 
Security Administration. 
Employment Specialist. The employment 
specialist and customer will want to regularly 
assess employment stability and satisfaction. 
Together, this partnership can explore 
potential career growth opportunities and options. 
The employment specialist, customer, 
and counselor will need to develop a plan for 
on-going supports which includes: type of supports, 
provider of supports, and funding for 
supports. The employment specialist and 
customer must agree on the support schedule 
and techniques for delivering support services. 
Employer. The employer, customer, 
and employment specialist will need to meet to 
determine job satisfaction and long term supports. 
During such a meeting options for 
follow-up and supports through co-workers 
would be discussed. 
S UMMARY 
This chapter has attempted to describe 
the challenge inherent in attempting to identify 
quality supported employment services. While 
the handbook has focused on how to develop 
and deliver a customer-driven employment 
service, Chapter 8 has described the specific 
features of a quality service organization. 
Specifically, these features include: 1) organizational 
services developed for persons with 
significant disabilities, 2) development of a 
customer-driven approach to services, 3) 
assisting customers in accessing meaningful 
employment outcomes, and 4) maximizing the 
integration and community participation for 
customers. However, it will be those supported 
employment service organizations that are able 
to address these four features while building 
successful partnerships that will have truly 
succeeded in achieving a high measure of 
quality supported employment services. 
244
R EFERENCES 
Americans with Disabilites Act of 1990 (ADA), PL 101-336. (July 26, 1990). Title 42l 
U.S.C. 12101 et seq: U.S. Statutes at Large, 104, 327-378. 
Individual with Disabilites Education Act of 1990 (IDEA), PL 101-476. (October 30, 1990). 
Title 20, U.S.C. 1400 et seq: U.S. Statutes at Large, 104, 1103-1151. 
Rehabilitation Act Admendments of 1992, PL 102-569. (October 29, 19920. Title 29, U.S.C. 
701 Section 101 [c]. Et seq: U.S. Statutes at Large, 100, 4344-4488. 
Kregel, J. (1992). The subtle and salient points of program evaluation: An illustration from 
supported employment. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. 2 (2) 53-61. 
245