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State of the Science Conference
September 15-16, 2005
Conference
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Workplace Personal Assistance Services (PAS)
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Slides 32-43
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- State Vocational Rehabilitation Program
- States Whose Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies Reported Highest PAS Usage in 2004 (R911)
- Center findings: JAN transactions tracking
- Center findings: Phone Interviews
- Phone Interviews
- Phone Interviews
- Requests for PAS
- Requesting WPPAS
- Responses to employee request
- Responses to employee request
- CCentralized or decentralized
-
Maintaining PAS
- Arranging different types of PAS
- Arrangement Examples
- Employee Strategies for Arranging Personal Care
- Employee Strategies for Arranging Personal Care
State Vocational Rehabilitation Program
Individuals during JAN project interviews have reported that some state vocational
rehabilitation programs have been providing PAS in the workplace by building these
services into the agencies’ annual budget.
States Whose Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies Reported Highest PAS Usage
in 2004 (R911)
- Utah
- Texas
- Colorado
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Oregon
- North Carolina
- Alabama
- Nebraska
- Kentucky
- California
- Illinois
- South Carolina
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- Pennsylvania
- Maryland
Center findings: JAN transactions tracking
Added codes for PAS to JAN service data
6,000 downloads of IDEA document explaining WPPAS
300 inquiries from employers (123), people with disabilities (79), rehab
professionals (33) and others
Increase from fall ‘03quarter of 65 calls to 128 calls in spring
of ‘05.
Will track throughout the project
Center findings: Phone Interviews
21 Employers
9 for-profit, 6 government, 6 non-profit
15 had >1,000 employees
Represented 9 industries; no more than 4 interviewees were in any one
industry
9 had between 1 and 10% disabled employees, 7 more did not know how many
Phone Interviews
19 Employment Organizations
3 for-profit, 4 government, 12 non-profit
14 serve only people with a disability
15 served regional employers, 13 served local employers, 13 served national
employers
14 served employers with >1,000 employees, 13 served employers with
101-999 employees, 14 served employers with 16- 99 employees, 10 served employers
with 1-15 employees
Phone Interviews
20 PAS users
11 males, 9 females
7 were age 18-45, 12 age 46-64, 1 over 65
11 live alone, 9 do not
10 receive PAS payments from multiple sources, 8 receive from employer,
8 pay themselves
Requests for PAS
- New Hire
- Return to work --worker’s comp
- Life-changing non-work related event
Requesting WPPAS
Request from employee
Employers are limited in the ability to ask about need for accommodation
as a part of interviewing or reviewing.
Responses to employee request
- Centralized processes
- Human resource office
- “Diversity consultant”
- Decentralized processes
- Employee’s immediate supervisor
- Other manager
- “Affinity Groups” of employees with common interests or
needs.
Responses to employee request
An organizational “diversity consultant” described the process:
“An employee comes to me for an accommodation. I acquire what is needed.
For example, in one case I billed VR. In other cases, I asked the tool shop
to create the needed accommodation. In the case of people needing JAWS screen-reading
software, I purchased it.”
Centralized or decentralized
- Decentralized (e.g., work with the immediate supervisor)
- More informal, more immediate, but may be intimidating, may cause barriers
to requests.
- Centralized (e.g., work with HR dept.)
- More formal, but removes cost disincentive for supervisor rated on budget
goals.
Maintaining PAS
- Attitudes and processes can inhibit accommodation requests
- “If (my) needs change I go back to HR. I would feel uncomfortable
to go to co-workers continually if my situation got worse.”
- One person whose needs changed said of her new PA, “I’m not
about to ask them (the employer) to pay her. I pay her $50/week out of my
pocket extra.”
- Flexibility is important
Arranging different types of PAS
- Task-related assistance - companies are very familiar with this;
arrangements generally follow ADA
- Personal care - companies not aware of these needs and they generally
do not arrange at all, leaving employee to arrange
Arrangement Examples
- PAS negotiated in employment contracts
- Arranged in return to work negotiation
- Arranged for PAS when agreed to telecommuting
- Arranged for 2 hours/day (but not flexible enough to connect with
task needs)
- Conference call with employer, ILC, VR
Employee Strategies for Arranging Personal Care
- Personal assistants that multi-task: e.g. Full time assistant who
does personal care plus work tasks (filing, setting up materials)
- Personal care only when traveling
- Personal care only as informal co-worker support
Employee Strategies for Arranging Personal Care
Family member (sister) provides care and secretarial work (arranged with
employer)
Works at home and husband provides accommodations (unpaid)
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