Community employment providers and Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) work together to support job seekers with disabilities. Two of the strategies they use are supported employment and customized employment.
What's the difference?
- Customized employment refers to an arrangement between a worker with a disability and employer that benefits both and that focuses on the strengths of the employee. Examples include adjusted schedules and work-from-home agreements. Supported employment and self-employment are forms of customized employment.
- Supported employment uses a variety of ongoing support services to help workers with the most significant disabilities maintain employment. Examples include having a co-worker pick up and drop off a fellow employee from the bus stop, or creating a safe space in the workplace where an employee can go to take a needed break or de-stress.
Both customized and supported employment strategies enable employees with disabilities to contribute their abilities, ideas, and talents to the workforce while participaing in a workplace setting with their co-workers.
Customized and supported employment strategies enable employers, in turn, to tap into the skills of workers who might not otherwise access employment through traditional means (i.e., a job search with an open application process).