Ready Willing and Able RWA Ð Creating Employer Demand: Transcript
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Hello everyone. For all of you coming in, welcome
to our IDEA Social Innovation Lab Webinar Series.
Uh my name is Dan Samosh. I'm with the Department
at Queens called Employment Relations Studies
uh also part of the IDEA team. Uh before
we get started and into our presentation
I'll just share a little bit about the the
background of our webinar series and kind of

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the process of our series uh and then I'll turn
it over to Don Gallant, our speaker. So, captions
should be available if you need them. Um please
search for those along the bottom bar of Zoom. Uh
as well we have French language interpretation uh
that's also along the bottom bar, and if you want
to return to this presentation too it is being
recorded so we will be posting that online on the
IDEA website which is www.vraie-idea.ca, uh and
the slides and all of those kind of uh materials
alongside this will be shared there too. So, in
terms of the actual structure of the webinar, uh

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most of our time is going to be a mix between Don
sharing a presentation and then Q&A after that. Uh
I will moderate the Q&A within that process,
and if you have any feedback at any point uh
during the presentation please send us a message
in the chat. If you have a question for Don
for the Q&A period, please use the Q&A function
in Zoom. Uh and you can always email us as well
later on. We're always looking to make the webinar
series more accessible and to to adapt things to
make sure it's it's helpful for our audience. So
National Director of Ready, Willing, and Able. Uh
and the title of today's presentation is Ready

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Willing, and Able: Creating Employer
Demands. So, Don I'll turn it to you.
Thank you Dan. So I'm assuming people can hear
me, understanding it might be a different issue
but let's see what happens. Um before I begin
folks, I I have to small apology for the quality

of my voice I'm having some issues with... all my
speaking parts so uh hopefully bear with me if uh

if for some not understanding me well send a note
to Q&A and they'll uh they'll tell me to either
slow down or try to be more articulate. So anyway,
Dan thank you for the introduction. Good morning

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good afternoon, depending on what part of
the country you're from. And so as per Dan's
introduction my name is Don Gallant and I am
the National Director of the Ready, Willing
and Able (RWA) Project. I've been the National
Director of the Project since it first began in
2014. In fact, I've been involved with RWA since
about 2012 when we first developed the model
thought about the model, tried to articulate
the model, and piloted it in Toronto, Ontario
and that was a year- two years actually before we
received federal funding. So, let me begin by- let

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me begin by saying what a privilege it is to be
here today, to be part of the IDEA Speaker Series
and to have this opportunity to present to you on
RWA and some of the efforts and accomplishments
that we've been able to achieve over the past
10 years or so. So, for the next 25-30 minutes
depending on how fast I speak, um I'll provide you
with an introduction to RWA, who and what we are
how we do what we do, and some of the outcomes
we've been able to achieve with our employer
partners over the across the country over the
past 10 years. At the end of the, as Dan said

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at the end of the presentation we'll have time for
questions and if the questions are not too hard
not too difficult, we might even get a few
answers. So we'll see what- where that takes us.
Now see, if I can get- here we go, make sure I
can advance my my screen. So let's take a moment
to acknowledge the Indigenous Peoples of all the
lands that we are on today. So while we meet on
a virtual platform and are joining from different
places, we respectfully acknowledge that the land
we reside on and work in are the ancestral homes
of Indigenous Peoples. We do this to reaffirm

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our commitment and responsibility in moving
in- sorry, in improving relationships between
nations and to improve our own understanding
of local Indigenous Peoples and their cultures.
Okay let's begin at the beginning. RWA is a
national initiative of Inclusion Canada and
the Autism Alliance of Canada, and the Autism
Alliance was formerly known as the Canadian-
Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance,
and of course the member organizations of both
those organizations across the country. Um...
Inclusion Canada, excuse me, Inclusion Canada

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is an organization that works with and on behalf
of persons with an intellectual disability and
their families. The Autism Alliance in Canada is
an organization, again a national organization
dedicated to advancing the rights of autistic
individuals and their families, and increasing
their access to needed supports and services.
Both of these national organizations have made
employment one of their key strategic priorities,
and of course both recognize that persons with
disabilities have a right to employment and access
to the supports and services required for that to

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occur... They're funded by the Government of
Canada through the Opportunities Fund, um in
part of the uh Employment and Social Development
Canada (ESDC). The goal of RWA is to increase
the labor force participation of persons with an
intellectual disability or autism. Simply stated
our goal is to help employers hire more
people or job seekers with a disability
and in our case more jobseekers with
an intellectual disability or autism.
There we go. So, in terms of our structure,
we um we delivered- RWA is delivered by 20

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delivery partners of 14 provincial territorial
associations for community living and four
provincial autism organizations. The RWA team,
so the third box there, consists of 30 labor
market facilitators (LMFs for short) and four
autism outreach coordinators (AOCs for short)
who are in fact employees of the 20 delivery
partners. So they're part of the RWA team
and there's only one RWA team, but they're
actually employed by 20 different employers

across the country. Labor market facilitators
are the team members who reach out directly to

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employers in their community, who explain the
RWA program and hopefully get that employer to
commit to hiring RWA candidates. The position
is a link really between businesses, community
employment agencies, autism organizations,
community living members, and the community.
Building relationships with these relevant
stakeholders is a critical role of the position in
achieving the overall outcomes of the initiative
which is, by simply, to create meaningful and
equitable employment opportunities for job
seekers with either an intellectual disability

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or autism. The four AOC positions are located
in Halifax, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver
and the AOC positions are more focused on
the individual rather than employer. So
the LMF's function and focus as the employer, the
AOCs have a more of a connection to individuals
to job seekers, and people searching for services
within the community. So the position serves two
core functions: one of outreach and they engage
in a diversity of outreach efforts to connect with
autistic job seekers for the purpose of connecting
these individuals to the employment opportunities

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generated by RWA's labor market facilitators.
They also play a major role to the referral
for lack of a better word, in that they um inform
and connect autistic individuals to available
employment related supports and services within
their community. So someone calls or contacts
an AOC looking for particular support, this AOC
helps them navigate the system, connects them up
to relevant programs and services, and uh and
hopefully sets them on the employment journey.
The RWA national team consist of a National
Director, that would be me, an Assistant Director

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two Program Managers within operations,
a Program Manager that's responsible for
policy and resource development, and the National
Project Coordinator. One of the key features of
RWA is our partnership with more than 200 local
employment agencies across the country. In each
community where RWA is active, we would have
a local agency partner, in case- in most cases
we'd have more than one, we'd probably have, in
some big cities we have 10 or 12 or 15 partners.
Job opportunities generated by RWA are shared
with these agencies and they put forward the

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candidates for consideration. If a candidate of
theirs is hired, then they would identify the
type and extent of the job supports required for
that- for that candidate to be successful, that
employee at that point to be successful, and then
provide these supports, and they would provide the
supports with resources from RWA if that was
required. Partnership these local agencies is
critical, I can't over stress that, and has been
a significant reason for the success of RWA over
the years. Partnering with local existing agencies
meant that we didn't have to create new services

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but rather could build on what was already in
the community. It also meant- it also means
that RWA can complement and supplement these
existing services rather than trying to compete.
So, our our our vision is fairly straightforward
and simple, yet complex in its achievement I
guess, is that we have a vision where persons with
an intellectual disability or autism are employed
in the competitive labor market at the same
level as that of persons without disabilities
and I expect it'll come to no surprise
to anybody in the audience to say that

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uh we have much work to do before
that becomes a reality. For sure...
Cause we know, well I know I'm sure you
do as well, that far too many people are
still trapped in segregated, congregated
day programs and sheltered workshops
and are sitting at home basically doing nothing
because they've given up on trying to find
meaningful employment because they haven't been
able to find the supports or the agencies or or
support persons to help them find that job
that they can uh enjoy and be successful in.

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So, RWA is, in every respect, a truly national
project. We're active in every province and
territory and 30 primary communities. Our primary
communities include large cities like Toronto all
the way to small communities such as Iqaluit in
Nunavut. So we go from six million people to
you know, 15,000. We define, RWA defines
our primary communities to be a community
in which our team member is physically present
and conducts initiative outreach to employers
in that community. So, if our primary
community is Sas- is Saskatoon for example

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and the LMF would approach employers in that
community. But, I'll talk about this in a minute
but because we also have partnerships
with some significantly large employers
for example Costco, who have locations and
stores in- outside of primary communities
we're actually active in about 220 communities
across the country. So our reach and our scope
is is fairly significant um so we don't have
to be present in the community to be able to
respond to employer needs in that community.
And again in communities outside the primary

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communities we work in partnership with local
employment agencies in that particular community.
The Ready, Willing, and Able Project... oh
excuse me, was designed after a full year
almost 18 months, of consultation and discussion
with employers of all sizes across many many
sectors. Discussions with employers who wish
to increase the diversity of their workforce
but were not quite sure how to best accomplish it.
So we spent a lot of time talking to those groups.
Our discussions discovered several common things
across the, invariably every employer we spoke to.

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First, we found out, and again almost
without exception, that employers are very
very supportive of inclusion and diversity as
a concept. But these same employers told us
that they lacked the knowledge of and information
about inclusive employment and benefits. So that
was their first sort of barrier to to becoming
more active. They also indicated that they
really did not know how to reach job seekers with
a disability and/or how to attract a more diverse
workforce. So they knew they're out there, but
didn't know how to reach them. They pretty much

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knew their job advertisers weren't getting there
and they weren't getting responses. And finally
employers expressed concerns that if they were
in fact successful at attracting the employers
with disability, so if they're actually able to
hire people, they were not able to identify and
secure the needed supports, needed on-the-job
supports, and that they also lack knowledge
about and/or a connection to local community
employment agencies who they knew existed
didn't know where to find them, but knew that
these agencies be- would be able to help with

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supports and services. So, RWA's design and
role is a direct response, in many respects
to these four very simple comments that
we heard from employers way back when.
Oops. We, I and everyone associated with the
project believe that RWA brings much innovation
to the area of inclusive employment, or at the
very least some innovation to the approach used to
achieve that outcome. Most employment services
in this country, as you again are probably
well aware, are focused exclusively on the client,
the job seeker, which is fair enough. That is

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their mandate is to assist that individual
get ready for employment and then to approach
employers in an effort to get that job seeker
hired. All good. Now I will say, in some cases
that approach is, is still too charity-based
for me, but but they are trying to find Don
Gallant a job. RWA, on the other hand, is very
employer-focused. We're not- we're not approaching
employers to hire a particular individual, but
rather to help employers understand the value
and benefit to them as employers, and to their
company, of hiring job seekers with a disability

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and in the case of RWA, job seekers with
an intellectual disability or autism. So
I don't care if they hire Mary or John, all I
care about is that to hire someone who, who's
who has an intellectual disability or autism
that's supported by one of our agencies. That's
our concern. We create demand with employers based
on presentation, discussion of the business case
not charity. So, it's it's it's it's coming from
an approach of what doing this, what impact and
benefit will it have for your company and your
business. We approach employers to assist and to

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fill regularly occurring vacancies within
their company, within positions that are
at this moment part of the regular staff company.
We don't expect or require, or in fact want
employers to create special jobs for people
with a disability. We don't do placements.
We don't do job carving, and we don't use
wage subsidies. In our efforts to um ensure
that we create sustainable connections between
employers, RWA, and local employment agencies
we we do that to to not only ensure initial hires
are successful but also to ensure these hires are

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sustained into the future, that people can take
the job, remain in the job, and be successful. So
if you think about employment in terms of demand
and supply, then RWA focuses on the demand side
and we know that there are many,
many people, too many people in fact
who are seeking employment. That would be the
supply side. So our job is to connect those two.
So our model, excuse me, our model, the RWA model
consists of four um discrete um components or
parts: create demand, connect that demand to
local agencies, facilitate the hiring process

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and finally and perhaps most importantly, provide
supports that are needed on the job, uh well and
also supports to the employer that might
be needed. We create employer demand via
um employment- employer outreach and
engagement. This initial outreach and
engagement is an opportunity for our staff to make
the business case to employers to point at the
benefit and value of persons with an intellectual
disability or autism as a potential- as potential
employees to fill existing and anticipated
vacancies within the company. Multiple

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many um individualized follow-up se- sessions are
held with our interested employers specifically
focused on the employer's labor needs and
how inclusive hiring can assist him or her
to make their company more uh more viable.
Any and all questions the employer may have
we answer and explain and clarify. With employers
who've not yet hired a person with a disability
our efforts are directed at giving that employer
confidence enough to do so for the first time.
When working with an employer who has previous
experience hiring job seekers with a disability

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our intention is to interest that employer in
hiring a candidate with an intellectual disability
or autism. So many employers hire people with
disabilities but not necessarily those with an
intellectual disability or on the spectrum. In
both cases we also work with the employer to
ensure that the recruitment, selection, onboarding
processes are as inclusive as possible. We do
that to ensure that the practices that they use
within their HR process don't present as barriers
to persons with an intellectual disability or
autism when they're applying for and hoping to

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secure employment. So, we we review the process
to make sure nothing unintentionally is in place
that would prevent folks from applying for jobs.
Once an employer has made a commitment to hire
the RWA staff will collect as much information
about the job, the vacancy, as possible. This is
an important step, a really basic step, that the
more we know about the position being recruited
for like the bona fide requirements, the work
schedule, whether there's access to public
transportation, the context in which the job
occurs (is it a big environment, noisy, loud

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that kind of stuff), uh the better able we are to
put forward candidates that would be suitable and
well placed in that particular environment.
That employment opportunity, the demand that
we help create, is then shared with our local
employment agency partners. These agencies then
after discussion with the clients they represent,
forward candidates to the employer. One of the
real advantages to an employer of working with
RWA is that employers don't then have multiple
agencies knocking on the door seeking employment
for their clients. Instead, this is done in a much

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more coordinated way through one contact, being
RWA. We work to facilitate the hiring process by
ensuring a response that is both timely and
appropriate to the needs of the employer.
Suitable candidates are based- are forwarded
based on interest, experience, skill set
etc. Assistance is provided during the screening
and interview process, and post-hire to the extent
needed and as needed to both the employer and the
job seeker. It's also very important to remember
that we don't, RWA doesn't require or expect
our employers to hire a candidate simply because

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they've been referred by RWA or through RWA.
Every and all candidates go through the typical
recruitment and hiring process, now with due
accommodation as required to make it inclusive
but typical recruitment process be used by the
employer, and obviously the final decision to hire
or not rests with the employer, not with us. The
final element of the RWA model is that supports
are provided to the employer. Import- uh, supports
like um training, disability-awareness sessions
HR practices, help with making interviews as
inclusive as and plain-language as possible.

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And to the employer, we would provide supports
that would be needed by them um, for example
a job coach, maybe help with um transportation,
visual adaptive equipment, etc. All provided at no
cost to the employer. And when a- when a candidate
is hired and onboarding plan is identified and any
job supports, if necessary, are then identified
and provided. Um throughout and after that initial
process, we, regular contact is maintained by
both RWA staff and the agency with the employer
to address any issues that arise. To ensure that
these issues are addressed in a proactive, timely

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and appropriate manner. We want to make sure that
we do whatever is necessary with the employee and
the employer to make that job a success. Regular
contact, to be honest with you, is also maintained
to ensure that as future openings come available
with that company then we- we' be able to be
respond, we would be able to respond to that need,
and we also very much encourage the employer to
contact us if and when future openings occur.
Um success breeds success, so we've found that
once an employer hires someone through RWA and
that they're very impressed with the employee

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they've hired and etcetera, they're very likely
to hire again. Our national employment partners
uh that I'll talk about in a minute, obviously
hire across multiple sites. But, in addition
a large percentage of our local, small employers
also hire multiple times through RWA. So it's a
really good indication of of the success, of the
value that employers place on the folks that they
hire through RWA, and to the local agencies. In
fact, when we work with a new employer, sometimes
many times we'll connect that new employer to an
employer who was previously hired through RWA and

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let them talk about the experience. Employers
like to talk to other employers, they they
I think, believe them quicker than they are
inclined to believe staff. So, it's it's a it's
a important step in getting employers confident
enough to make the first step towards hiring.
RWA began in September 2014. I
was there when it started. Um
since its inception we've conducted initial
employer outreach to more than 21,000 employers

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undertaken engagement activities with more than
12,000 employers, and have helped facilitate
generate 5,300 employment outcomes. And we define
an outcome to include hires, full-time, part-time
seasonal, self-employment, and we also uh would
count supporting individuals, to a lesser degree
than our jobs, but supporting individuals to
um participate in post secondary education.
In any given year, we probably support 150-so
individuals to attend a university or college.

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October 31st marked the the end of what we refer
to as our Phase Two, and then as of November 1st
2022, we entered our Phase Three phase, and it's
funded until March 2027. The extension of um
of RWA into Phase Three is the result of a
$30 million investment by the Government of
Canada. Now, whether we we have a Phase Four
in our future remains to be seen. Uh that'll
be um impacted by a number of contextual issues,
but we remain both hopeful and optimistic that
we will in fact have a Phase Four that
will begin, you know, April 1st, 2027.

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I mentioned that RWA works with employers of
varying sizes and in various sectors across
the country. The majority of our hires are in
fact with small-to-medium-sized businesses
right across the country, just cause our country,
our economic climate- context is made up of
mostly small businesses that exist in various
communities. But we also attempt, and we've been
successful in creating partnerships with larger
companies that have organizations in multiple
provinces and territories. Now I would be remiss
in my job if I didn't share the names of these

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companies with you, these are what we call our
national partners, and they include PepsiCo
Sephora, DSV, Value Village, Costco, Auticon,
Bimbo, Canadian Life- I'm sorry Canada Life
Deloitte, Loblaw, DHL, IBM, oh I got PepsiCo
twice I must really like them look at that
Holloway Holdings, Home Depot, BNP Paribas
which is a financial institution, um BMO, BMO
Purolator, Sodexo, Wajax, NeuroPlus, and The
Brick... And, in addition to them we we we clearly
work with um over 2,000 employers across the
country of various sizes and various sectors. So

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if you're out shopping, give your business
to one of our national employer partners.
Remember when I talked about supply way back 10
minutes ago or whatever, there- well today in
Canada, there are approximately 500,000, half
a million, probably 602,000 working age adults
with an intellectual disab- with an intellectual
disability or autism, and only about one in four
25%, are actually employed in the, in the
labor force. And if you consider those who
have more significant employment challenges,
then the employment rate drops even further.

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That employment rate is much less than that
of- of individuals with other disabilities
and significantly less than the employment
rate of persons without disabilities. Again
a reality that we're trying to change. So, job
seekers with an intellectual disability or autism
certainly and really do represent an untapped
labor force. They're out there, they're looking
for employment, that's what we have to help them
get and that's the reality we have to change. To
change that reality though, to to move the dial,
to get more than one in four people employed

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we must get employers to start seeing job seekers
with an intellect disability or autism as viable
employees, and ensure that these job seekers
can access all the supports they need to ensure
they have success once they enter in- once they
enter the workforce, the labor market. No sorry
once they enter the workforce, when you're
hired you become part of the workforce. So
we have to provide the support necessary to
demonstrate to employers that perhaps people
they thought couldn't do the job in fact can and
they would be much more inclined to hire them

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hopefully, as the opportunities come up.
When we talk to job seekers with an intellectual
disability or autism, and/or autism, they told us
matter of fact continue to tell us, that
there are a couple of realities for them
in their search for employment. The first
thing they said to us was that there's
simply not enough employers who are willing
to hire people with intellectual disabilities
or autism. It's the first fact they have
to struggle with. That the application

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interview process for many employers is simply too
difficult to navigate, too complicated, too hard
to- to make an impact on. They also shared with us
that it's very difficult, well, it's difficult to
connect to and find agencies that will provide
help with support needs, and and, in fact
to provide the appropriate level of support.
And perhaps the most frequent comment, concern
voiced by people with intellectual disabilities
and autism was that, or is that, their unsure as
to when and if to disclose disability um
for fear that that disclosure made back

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come back to cause them not to be considered
for a job, or that it would lead to some degree
of discrimination by either accidentally
or or or intentionally by the employer.
So, let's talk for a minute about what RWA
does and how we do it. Our primary role
perhaps our exclusive role, is to support
employers. We provide, in that support
we provide information about the why and how of
inclusive employment. We do this to our RWA team
and by our network of partners that educates
businesses about inclusive recruitment and

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employment. We connect employers to candidates
who are supported by local employment agencies
and who have access to any and all require- no,
to any, not all, sometimes all is hard, to to any
required on-the-job supports that would be needed
in order to um achieve success... Excuse me...
Just a couple quick examples of the kind of
support that we provide. We are always asked
this by employers: Okay, what do you do? What
kind of support do you provide? The first is that
we provide coordinated access to a broad talent
pool of persons with an intellectual disability

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or ASD who are looking for employment. We provide
individual on-the-job supports, job coaching, job
coaches, equipment accessibility modifications,
assistive transportation, those kinds of things
very individualized. We provide, as requested
and as required, disability awareness training to
employers, to colleagues in the job, to the, you
know, the labor force in general, that we'll be
working with in a particular company. We provide
the employer and the HR team, if there is one
with screening, interviewing, and onboarding. We
provide that um employer with direct connection

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to an employment community, employment agency. We
ensure timely support even as issues arise. Now
that said, we try to maintain a high degree of
flexibility within RWA, uh so we don't have a
particular, finite menu of supports, and we don't
go through our list and say "Oops, that's not on
my list, you can't have it." It's not that way.
We- our supports are very individualized, for both
the employee and the employer, and to be quite
simple and to be very truthful, RWA will provide
whatever supports are required to ensure success.
That's our job and uh if the support has been

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demonstrated to be needed to ensure success then
you can be sure that we'll we'll provide it.
I want to talk to you a little bit, if I
can, about um the business case with hiring
employees with intellectual disabilities
or autism. The first thing I want to tell
you is that when we started this in RWA in
2000- sorry when we started RWA in 2014
the business case associated with hiring job
seekers with disabilities was was mostly based
on US research and US examples. We could
find precious little that spoke to the

00:33:07.840 --> 00:33:15.480
Canadian context. Since then though, based on
the efforts and outcomes achieved within RWA
and other places but RWA primarily from our
perspective, we've been able to create a
business case that is Canadian, that is relevant
to our economy, and that is up to date. So we've
moved the dollar in regard. Since 2014, we've
undertaken three major surveys of RWA employers.
And these surveys by the way were conducted
by independent consultants, not by RWA staff
so they they have a degree of uh acceptability.
The surveys reveal that RW employers, in general

00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:57.920
rated nin- between 95 to 99% of employees hired
by, hired through RWA as well as or better than
employees without disabilities... uh on a whole
attendance, sick day usage, turnover, attitude,
contribution to uh morale, getting along with
co-workers... They've um, oh excuse me,
they've helped us understand and and affirm
I guess if that's that right word, that inclusive
hiring can and generally does help businesses
address skills and labor shortages, that it builds
more productive, more innovative, more profitable
workplaces, that it improves the diversity of
skills and perspectives in the workforce that

00:34:44.640 --> 00:34:50.480
every business needs to thrive and and uh and
grow, and it builds stronger and more resilient
businesses that reflect the diversity of both
their clients and their customers and consumers...
So, some of the findings for lack of better words
um I'll display to you over the next two slides.
For example, 89% of businesses rated employees
hired through RWA as well as or better than
average on contributing to the firm's profit
margin. 97% rated RWA employees as well or
better on the, than average on turnover.

00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:33.640
Let's go to the other slide. Businesses
working with RWA reported that having a
diverse and inclusive workforce boosted morale,
enriched leadership and management skills among
their senior level staff. These findings
certainly reinforce and confirm the business
case associated with diverse and inclusive
hiring. But before I leave this this topic
there's one sort of issue I want to bring to you-
your attention about is is the is the retention
rate. The retention rate, we define retention
as the number, percentage of employees still

00:36:04.600 --> 00:36:11.240
working with the same for 12 months after hire,
okay. For RWA, that number is in the high 80s
88, 89, 90, depending on the the import- the
sector. It's an extremely high retention rate
made more significant when you consider that many
of our hires are in sectors in which the usual
turnover rate can be as high as 50%. So, we're
working in retail, fast food, that kind of stuff
and you know the turnover is constant. So, with
that kind of retention rate, you can see that um
it it ret- it it yields a significant return on
investment for employers. Now, that said though

00:36:44.600 --> 00:36:48.960
retention rates can be deceiving and can
give a false positive, right? We have to be
cautious when using retention rates because often
employees stay in the same position not by choice
but because they have no other option. So, I'm
now very hesitant or much more hesitant to see
high retention as a key part of the business
case because it may be true but for the wrong
reasons. That retention issue is also one of the
reasons why we begun to focus efforts within RWA
on career advancement and career progression.
I'll talk more about that in a couple of minutes.

00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:29.400
So, just a couple quick comments about about
um the business case and what we've been
finding. When we meet, when our staff meet with
employers in- through the engagement process
invariably they have lots of questions and
concerns. But the ones that are most often
brought up uh are about employers concerns about
productivity and performance, about what impact
it will have on corporate culture, what impact it
will have on their customers and consumers, would
it lead to increased safety issues and concerns,
and what about the cost of accommodation? Those

00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:06.200
are the concerns that they have to begin with.
Now many of the concerns are due to stereotypes
and misconceptions held by employers regarding
diversity and inclusion, and what the impact
of hiring someone with a disability will have on
their company. For many of our employers, hiring
through RWA represents the first time that they've
hired someone with a disability, so it's a... it's
not scary, but it's something they've not done yet
and there's a natural reaction to being afraid to
do it. During our employer engagement phase, our
staff spend all the time necessary to replace myth
with fact and to create an increased employer
confidence to hire. We do that because we know
and now we hope our employers know, that
inclusive hiring does in fact... uh woah...
It does in fact enhance productivity and
performance. It has a positive impact on
corporate and workplace culture. It enhances
customer loyalty. It lowers safety incident rates
actually. The research confirms that, so do
our surveys, and it involves very low and no

00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:20.240
cost accommodations. In the accommodations
that are required within an RWA project
we provide the resources to to make that
happen, but even in the other employer
sectors where there's no one that's helping,
research indicates that the accommodations-
90% of accommodations cost less than $500. So,
it's not a huge expense to uh to an employer.
While they may think it would cost them
thousands, the truth is it cost much less.
I'm going to end. I just give you a quick
introduction to some of the other things that

00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:57.720
we've been doing within RWA. So over the past
several years, last two and a half three years
we've undertaken efforts to move beyond, not away
from just beyond, our basic employer outreach
model of the RWA project. And two of our specific
efforts, and ones I'm really proud of thanks to
the work of the the team, have been directed at
engagement with Indigenous/racialized communities
uh and also efforts around career
advancement. In the area of community
engagement with Indigenous/racialized/BIPOC
communities, today we've helped deliver 16

00:40:30.600 --> 00:40:37.200
youth preemployment/employment projects in 12
communities. These projects are designed and
led by relevant community leaders, elders, and
associated community organizations. And involve
in most cases, the the conducting of a needs
assessment in each community to identify both the
strengths and challenges faced by youth employment
in that community - this is focused on youth - and
also to identify the barriers that are unique
to the cultural identity of that community. We
found, this told us that the curriculum and the
way they were getting youth ready for employment

00:41:07.160 --> 00:41:12.560
was very not relevant to the community or the
culture that they live within and that they
had to, that had to be changed. So, we've been
providing resources to make that change. So
the assessment of the unique features of of the
community and the barriers faced by youth, as
used to develop instead a culturally appropriate
and relevant pre-employment employment training
curriculum, and that curriculum is used to deliver
a pilot project for 15 to 20 youth and throughout
the delivery of that project, participants are
connected to employers and employment- employment

00:41:46.040 --> 00:41:53.120
at the end of the project is very much expected,
and in most cases achieved. Our career advancement
uh efforts focus has been directed towards helping
and motivating employment agencies to focus not
just on helping someone get a job, but rather
to help individuals create a career path. So
finding Don Gallant an initial entry level job
cannot be the only success. It can't be the end of
the job- the end of the journey, it has to be seen
as the beginning. So, we do this by by providing
resources to the agency to help them, working with
the employee obviously, to identify and provide

00:42:24.040 --> 00:42:28.280
additional resources to the employee so it's a
better position for them to take advantage of
promotional opportunities as they arise with their
employer or possibly with another employer, okay
to advance progress within their chosen path. And
today, with the assistance of selected agencies
we've had 65 individuals who've been- who've been
hired- 65 individuals who were previously hired
through RWA partners have created individual
professional development plans (IPDP) and
that document basically identifies the disability
supports and training that the employee needs to

00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:05.520
better position them to apply for a job they know
will come up with that company that they can't
apply for now because they're not qualified. So,
we help them increase their qualifications to give
them a a more equitable opportunity to apply, see
what happens. Remember, we're not- we don't define
success as guaranteeing promotions. What we're
guaranteeing is if we can provide the employee
with the necessary support, they will be better
positioned and have more equal access to promotion
opportunities as they arise. That's that's the
important thing. Now, that said, we have had, I

00:43:36.640 --> 00:43:41.600
think at the last count 10 individuals who've gone
through this process who actually did in fact get-
end up getting a job that they viewed as being
a promotion. So, there's success at both levels.
So, that is pretty much what I needed to say
or wanted to say. On the screen you see two
sites where you can- you can obtain more
information on RWA and access lots of
valuable strategies to advance inclusive
employment, particularly on the inclusive
workplace site. Information when you go to the
site, you'll see, is designed to speak to three

00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:18.720
particular audiences: employers, job seekers,
and employment agencies, and the documents
which are needed for these three are relevant for
those particular audiences. So, my time is up.
I expect I'm going over it,
but it's a different story.
Um, I just want to summarize very quickly of what
we've previously discussed over the last half hour
or so. We assist- RWA assists job seekers with
an intellectual disability or autism to secure
and retain employment within the competitive
labor market. We do not expect employers to

00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:54.040
hire RWA candidates simply because they've been
referred. Hiring is not based on pity or charity
no special jobs for special people. Partnership
enables employers to further diversify their
workforce by connecting to qualified job seekers
and to the supports necessary to make that effort
a success. We provide whatever needs- whatever
support is needed to both the employee and the
employer to ensure success, because very simply
employers across this country have a need for
employees, for good employees. All we simply do
is meet that need, help meet that need. Employers
get capable and committed employees. RWA meets
this need of employment for job seekers with

00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:35.440
an intellectual disability or autism. So, I'll
end on repeating myself that job seekers with an
intellect disability and autism, or autism,
are ready, willing, and able to go to work
to progress, to get career advancement. All the
things that we would assume to do ourselves.
So, if you want to complain about my speech,
my session, you can write me directly
by email at the address on the screen and
then visit two websites if you want. And
now I think, Dan do we have time for
questions? No answers, but questions.
Absolutely, yeah. Thank you so much Don for
your presentation. I remember the first time

00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:19.480
that I heard about RWA I'd been doing
research with like nonprofits uh and was
amazed at the employer networks that you had
built because I think that was probably one
of the most common complaints or or issues
you would hear from from service agencies
because we have the people, we don't have
the employers. Uh so I think it's really
impressive and it speaks to the kind
of systems view that RWA has and your
ability to play that national role with
these local organizations and potentially

00:46:41.080 --> 00:46:46.200
national or local employers too. It's really
impressive, thank you for for sharing with us.
It speaks, speaks to the strength of the
team, and it also speaks to the strength
and willingness of the local employment
agencies to support us collectively achieving
the goals that we're both trying to achieve
on behalf of people looking for employment
right. It's a very, when it works
a very nice thing to see happen
right, this collaboration and working
together towards the same outcome.

00:47:04.760 --> 00:47:09.920
Yeah absolutely, and so for everyone in
the audience too, uh several people have
actually typed into the Q&A so far which
is awesome. So I'll get to the questions
uh but for others who do have questions, please
use the Q&A function. Type your questions in
there and then I will get to the question and
ask them to Don. Uh so our first question-
Easy questions. No hard questions, easy questions.
Actually, for the audience, I promised Don
that I would only ask hard questions. So I'll

00:47:32.120 --> 00:47:38.680
skip through the easy ones just for you Don. No,
but our first one is about the qualifications
skills, or training that job coaches go through
when assisting employers and employees with
job placement. So can you speak to those
kinds of training, qualification, skills?
That's a really good question and one that
I've asked several times over my career
and the answer is it varies from province to
province, agency to agency. We've got some
agencies- actually we have some agencies in this
country who do no training, which is scary. We

00:48:05.520 --> 00:48:10.520
have other agencies that will bring people in to
do a one day training, and we've got, for example
some agencies who put potential staff or new staff
through a week, 10 days of training. So it varies
very much, and the content and curriculum, there's
no standardization of training for lack of a- but
I guess that's probably what I'm trying to say,
across the country. Now, you have to be careful
you don't go overboard with this, okay. Because
this is not- this, you're looking at a job coach
whose primary function is supposed to help the
person acquire jobs associated with- sorry

00:48:38.680 --> 00:48:45.800
skills with the job. So, their real talent has
to be identifying what the job has and needs and
being able to sort of share that information
with the employee over time. Yeah, but quick
answer is no standard training, no standard
minimum certification required at this point.
Thank you, and so in the spirit of easy questions
I'll next just share a comment. Uh someone
mentioned: huge thank you Don and amazing
team for all that you do. This person
is an employment support provider in O-
Ah nice.

00:49:11.560 --> 00:49:17.160
Partnered in saying thank you. Uh and now
to the hard question. Specific to Ontario
although I think for other provinces with uh
policy with legislation around accessibility
this could be applicable too. Uh what impacts do
you think the AODA has on your work in Ontario?
The act itself is is a positive document.
It it pushes folks and us collectively
the system collectively in the right direction.
That's, you know, it's all good. But the Act
and the regulation of the Act, don't always
match up what happens, what's happening at the
practice level, at the ground level. And we're
talking about Ontario, this past year or so
the changes that have been introduced at
the employ- supported employment level in
that province are very scary. We've got agencies
going under, closing. Agencies getting their cut

00:50:10.720 --> 00:50:17.040
their funding cut by 30, 40, 50%. So, it's not
a very healthy or positive environment, Ontario
at the moment. For sure. But that's not not the
fault of the Act, of the, you know, but it's the
fault of- I'm not sure whose fault it is, but
it's not a good thing occurring. The system in
Ontario is really hurting, they're struggling to
do the best they can, to keep up, but many can't.
Yeah, well this this next question builds on
that, right? Because we are seeing uh a trend
in society to kind of step back on a lot of
issues relating to DEI. There's this backlash

00:50:47.520 --> 00:50:52.520
that's coming around in North America, especially
especially South of the border but here too. Uh
and so the question asker wants to know, from
your perspective, how can we advocate for like
increased employment for the the folks
that you serve in this current climate?
I think take every opportunity to to tell your
elected officials that this actually make sense.
That policies and practices in provinces and
territories should endorse and support diversity
inclusion in the workforce. That individuals who
are seeking employment need to have access access

00:51:26.840 --> 00:51:31.040
to the proper supports and services they need
to be successful. I think those are the things.
At a very practical level, if you're using a
service or a business or whatever and um you
you notice that they've hired in a diverse way,
say something. Tell them, very- congratulations
very impressed that you've hired you know
a diversity that reflects our comm- our
community. You ought to be commended. I think
you need to say that to them, to their face.
Thank you, and so our next question uh is
more about one particular strategy which is

00:52:03.600 --> 00:52:09.520
a really interesting question here. Um they're
curious about peer mentorship and about whether
at RWA or otherwise there are efforts to connect
people seeking employment with others who perhaps
are like further along in the employment
journey uh but have similar experiences.
Yep. It's for sure, and we we work with and
and certainly encourage employers to use
those kinds of strategies: job shadowing, peer
mentoring, mentorship. Um got a couple of really
big employers, I won't mention who, but really
big employers who have a buddy system in place

00:52:38.560 --> 00:52:45.520
right? So, because, there's certainly value
and need for on-the-job job coaches okay
but it's hard to be included within the workforce
and inconspicuous if you got a job coach hanging
over your shoulder every day of of your shift,
right? So, if and as support needed, needed
support and require support can be delivered by
less intrusive means, that's a good thing. So
we've got some really great employers who spend
a lot of time um enabling peer-to-peer support
uh supporting mentorship, um helping our folks
job shadow, and putting in place buddy system. So

00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:27.240
if there's an issue they can run to and talk to
Don for five minutes and come back to the job. So
it's it's it's nice and it's something that we
would hope employers, and we try to motivate this
so do our agencies, to move to a more natural way
of delivering on-the-job support instead of by
outside job coaches. But no disrespect to job
coaches. They do a good job of what they do
but they're not, they're not always, no
they shouldn't always be the first or only
solution to the issue, right? There are other
alternatives that can be equally effective.

00:53:55.760 --> 00:54:01.680
Yeah. Well, it seems to me in a lot of ways this
is one of the uh parts of the formula at Ready
Willing, and Able that really helps
it work, is that you have so many of
these tools in your toolkit and you approach
kind of the most pragmatic one to solve the
problem rather than just doing the one
thing you always do, which is awesome.
And I will say though, in in defense of
or in explanation of employment agencies

00:54:18.560 --> 00:54:22.880
that might get criticized for not doing all
of that, they do what they're funded to do
right? And they've got resources that
are funded by the provincial/territorial
government to do job one, two, and three. Now,
they can want to do job four, five, and six
but if they don't have the resources or capacity
to do it, that's all they can do, right? So, part
of the change cycle here is getting governments,
right, to recognize that there are other pieces of
this supported employment system than what's, than
what's being funded now, and they need to step up

00:54:47.400 --> 00:54:53.160
and fund that. That's what, and we're trying to
prove that by being or trying to demonstrate that
doing things a little differently will have
as good as, and I'm hoping better, outcomes
than the traditional system that we've got in
place for the last 50 years in this country.
Yeah, and you know what you
mentioned it builds off of a really
really important next question. And
I want to mention just the audience
we have so many questions and we only have a
few minutes left so we're not going to get to

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:16.160
all of them. But I think Don shared his email.
I think Don you mentioned it's for complaints.
Give me an email. I got nothing to do over
the weekend but answer emails, so go ahead.
So please yeah, for Don's sake, send
an email and we can, we can, you know
continue the discussion that way. Um
but it's a really important question
because yeah in many of these cases when uh you
speak to, especially local service agency type
organizations, often hands are tied by funding,
uh and it's only getting worse as you mentioned.

00:55:39.960 --> 00:55:45.720
And so uh the question asker wants to know
uh what can we do to better champion the the
amazing and important work of local employment
providers who are so critical in this system?
It's it's it's about influencing government
policy, right? It's about, it's about effecting
you know, system change. You can influence
government policy shorter, quicker
through elections. You can just vote on a new
government. That's the one way you can change
right? System change is like water on a rock. It
takes a long time to actually see a noticeable

00:56:13.680 --> 00:56:21.040
outcome, but uh it's it's, I guess, it's whenever
and wherever you see something that's not good for
the system and not leading to good outcomes for
people with intellectual disabilities, autism
or disabilities in general, bring it to someone's
attention. The greatest enemy, I guess, of change
and positive advancement is silence, and if we're
silent, through our silence we're acknowledging
or or by default indicating acceptance,
and that's not what we want, right? So...
Yeah, thank you. And so our last question I think
we have time for is that you mentioned
this idea that success breeds success.

00:56:56.800 --> 00:57:00.760
That, you know, you're working, this was on
the employer side I believe, like uh you know
you you work with employers, they do well,
your employer champions tell other employers
and it grows and grows. Um the flip side of
that, uh I'm curious about when have you had
a moment of failure, you know something doesn't
go well with an employer, um but it still turned
into a success. The employer still came on
board later. Do you have a story like that?
We've had a couple of examples where
the employer was was, you know

00:57:29.680 --> 00:57:34.560
leading beyond somthing- actually one employer
called me and said, you know, "What can I do?
I'm getting ready to fire him. I don't want to
fire him, but what can I do?" And and the agency
we got the agency involved, and and our staff
and I think that young man is still working
today. That's, that's, that's a good example. But
we, now, everyone- the 5,300 people I mentioned
this job- they're not all still working, okay
guys. People quit, they they leave, they advance
they just leave the country. So, they're not,
they don't work in the same job forever. So

00:58:00.360 --> 00:58:10.640
people move and live just regular lives. But
we've had people quit, um we we to be honest
we've had some employment that's been terminated
because we weren't able to provide the support
weren't able to provide the real support the
person needed. It just just wasn't a good
connection, right? It was other parts of their
life that were affecting their performance on
the job. Sometimes mental health issues become
a real issue on the workplace, and that's very
difficult to support. So... I don't have a lot of
examples of where this where the thing broke down.

00:58:47.120 --> 00:58:51.640
Remember now, you know, we're involved with
an employer in an ideal way through the team
but more importantly through the agency on an
ongoing basis. So, we're we're supposed to be
aware of things happening before the proverbial
hits the fan, right? So, that's part of what we
can do to do the to uh, prevent people being
let go or fired or whatever the term is, yeah.
Yeah, it's really important. Just getting in
early, rather than finding out too late, this
kind of thing. Well we're we're at one o'clock,
uh at least Eastern Standard Time. So, we we're

00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:26.240
at the end of our time, um but Don I just really
want to thank you so much for sharing. I know that
busy and it's really great that our audience
gets to learn from you, so thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure Dan.
And then for those in the audience, uh
if you want to review this webinar again
we will be posting it online, on the
IDEA website. It takes a bit of time
but it will be there. Uh and if ever you have
suggestions for future speakers, if you like

00:59:46.720 --> 00:59:51.280
this one and you want to hear from someone else,
please send us an email let us know. And beyond
that just thank you so much to the IDEA team too,
there are lots of people who make this possible:
uh Eakam Grewal, Therese Salenieks,
Sabrina Chaudhry, Rebecca Gewurtz
Emile Tompa, and as well uh our French language
interpreter here today. Thank you all so much
and yeah I just hope everyone has a nice
Friday afternoon and nice weekend. Bye bye.