Out of Work... Comes an Idea

By Lisa Bendall

It wasn’t so long ago that when Tom Proszowski applied for a job, employers wouldn’t even consider him for the position once they discovered he had a disability.

Times are changing, larger employers are now looking at the abilities of applicants, not their disabilities, and these days Proszowski can look back on his employment history and cite successes. He has held significant jobs with agencies such as the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, Access Connections, JobsOntario and the Canadian Paraplegic Association. He’s also worked in his own businesses. Today, Proszowski is Bank of Montreal’s National Manager of Initiatives for People with Disabilities in the Department of Workplace Equality. He has been in this national position for over two years.

But Proszowski still remembers long periods of unemployment, when he questioned his abilities and why employers didn’t seem to want him on their team.

One of the drives behind Proszowski these days is a desire to help young people with disabilities shorten or avoid similar periods in their lives.

His ambition has caught the attention of employers who are trying to hire from this population.

Cablenet is an example. As a division of Cogeco Cable Canada Inc., it is part of the fourth-largest cable company in Canada, with locations across the country. Like many large companies, Cablenet has advanced over the years from having no human resources department at all to making a real effort to hire and accommodate employees with disabilities.

"You really can’t progress unless you look at internal policies and make sure they’re consistent [with the times]," says Frances Wales, Cablenet’s Human Resources Manager, from her office in Burlington, Ontario.

Cablenet has developed a formal modified work program to accommodate any injuries employees may sustain at home or at work. Their employee benefits package addresses disability as well. "We try very hard to accommodate," says Wales. "Accommodation doesn’t always cost a lot."

Accommodation may be easy, but what has been much more difficult is reaching capable people with disabilities when a position comes open. That difficulty, says Wales, spurred her to become involved with an idea proposed by her colleague at Bank of Montreal, Tom Proszowski.

Proszowski first began to conceive of a link between employers and students with disabilities when he noticed in his own workplace that the banking industry is becoming more complex and competitive. Customers can now use bank machines instead of tellers for simple tasks such as paying bills, depositing cheques, and withdrawing money. This leaves the tellers to act as what Proszowski terms "full-service financial officers," who fulfil the customer’s financial needs. So the requirements for entry-level employees are becoming more demanding. The banks need people who are "highly skilled, educated, and willing to learn," says Proszowski.

But recruiting them wasn’t necessarily easy. Equal-opportunity employers with ever-mounting requirements were having difficulty finding applicants with disabilities who had post-secondary education.

Proszowski decided to connect with the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), the only consumer-driven group in Canada that deals directly with post-secondary students with disabilities. Proszowski felt that if the relationship between employers and NEADS was strengthened, it would benefit both sides. Students with disabilities would have access to a network of employers waiting to interview them. And employers would be provided with a pool of graduates with disabilities who were qualified for entry-level positions.

Thus was born the Employer Advisory Council (EAC) to NEADS. The mission statement of this group of employers is "to act as advisors to NEADS in order to facilitate employment opportunities for students and graduates with disabilities."

Wales attended one of the first few meetings of the EAC and became part of a core group of members who continue to meet on a monthly basis. Wales saw that the EAC could inform students about opportunities within different organizations, encourage them to send resumes, and thereby create an applicant pool from which the employers could access applicants when positions become available.

Tom, the Chair of the EAC, is also the first non-student to be elected to the NEADS board of directors. He represents employers on the board and says this fortifies the relationship between NEADS and employers.

Still in its infancy, the EAC currently has 16 paid members. One of its early activities was to help sponsor the Annual General Meeting of NEADS last November. During this meeting, EAC members conducted a workshop to share views and needs with the students.

Wales says it was especially clear to her at this conference that there were many "skilled, qualified individuals who obviously want a job, and employers obviously want the workers, but it was like travelling on two different wavelengths -- the link was not there."

Wales knew it was important for a bridge to be formed between the two groups. "There’s a whole lot of potential there that we just haven’t been able to tap into," Wales adds. "We’d be foolish as employers not to tap into it -- it can only benefit us. But everyone was just hitting brick walls trying. You could see the frustration on both sides."

One of the suggestions that came out of the NEADS conference was to publish an information guide that profiles employers across Canada, lists the skills they are looking for -- both now and in the future -- and gives contact names for graduates looking for employment. This was an ideal project to work on with NEADS, which has published and distributed other research efforts in the past.

The EAC is now in the planning stages of producing its first major venture. Cablenet has been a major supporter of the resource guide. It provided the EAC with funding to get the ball rolling. Now the federal government’s Disabled Persons Participation Program has been approached and is seriously considering supporting the project. Their objective would be "to ensure that youths with disabilities have access to a wide range of career choices, information about labour market trends, and knowledge about the skills required to compete in today’s and tomorrow’s marketplace."

Proszowski points out that since many of us are now changing careers throughout our adult life, it wouldn’t be just youths who can use such a resource. Older adults can benefit, too. And so can younger people with disabilities who are not yet in post-secondary education. More and more, NEADS is targeting high school students with a critical "stay-in-school" message: Employer requirements are becoming more demanding, and planning ahead for employment means planning for post-secondary school.

A direct link between employers and applicants is proving to be more and more necessary in today’s work force. Cablenet is already working closely with the community and schools by providing training services and work placement experiences -- preparing, they feel, for the future, when they are ready to hire.

"In order to remain competitive," Wales says, "an organization must ensure that it obtains the broadest pool of applicants possible. This focus on ability and not disability will provide Cablenet with a diverse group of employees with a wealth of knowledge, ideas and approaches to the business challenges of our industry." Wales says that with modern developments such as fibreoptics and the information highway, "It will be critical to have innovative people working for you."

Proszowski agrees. With government cutbacks, universities and colleges are in turn cutting back on programs such as employment counselling -- to all students, not just students with disabilities. If employers are counting on contacting those career centres to get all the resources they need, "they’re sadly mistaken," he says. "We need to strengthen our relationship with the grassroots organizations which are already serving the community."

Wales’s own son currently attends university and is faced with decisions that will affect the rest of his life. Wales feels that he hasn’t been properly prepared -- "and he isn’t faced with barriers to education and employment typical of those faced by students with disabilities." She clearly sees the need for students, with and without disabilities, to be supported in making these major decisions.

Proszowski intends for employers to use NEADS to convey information to its members about how to attain career success. "Once you get into post-secondary education, you’re wondering what courses to take that will lead to employment and a comfortable lifestyle," says Proszowski. The EAC can "provide some of those answers" through NEADS.

"I believe people with disabilities don’t really have a lot of role models out there in the community," adds Proszowski. "I think they need some encouragement and support in terms of making decisions in continuing education."

Sean Miller, 20, is looking forward to the experience of post-secondary education. Miller plans to attend either college or university in September. His interests lie in journalism, which is his "career goal," he says.

Miller has a physical disability that affects his mobility and speech. He is already making plans to get involved with employment resources that can help boost the progress of his career. "I think that NEADS can help me find employment when the time comes," he says. "I think that creating some sort of link between students with disabilities and employers will help narrow the gap for students with disabilities looking for work."

The immediate goal of the EAC is to expand its employer membership. With 16 committed members, the EAC already represents 150,000 jobs across the country. But with 150 members, the opportunities could be even greater -- for both sides. Proszowski says that a few more interested employers are contemplating paying the membership fee, but are waiting to see "how this baby will grow up.

"I would encourage any employer interested in working with people with disabilities to join us," says Proszowski. "I believe this is the best way to reach our mutual goals."

Employer membership has an annual fee of $125, of which $25 goes directly to NEADS and pays for membership with that organization. The remaining $100 serves to sponsor other EAC projects such as the resource guide. The EAC membership fee for non-profit agencies is $25. For more information on the Employer Advisory Council to NEADS, contact Tom Proszowski, Chair, (416) 927-5556. Or you can fax him at (416) 927-5555.

(Lisa Bendall is an ABILITIES staff writer.)


EMPLOYER ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR DISABLED STUDENTS

CHAIR
Tom Proszowski
National Manager, Initiatives for People with Disabilities
BANK OF MONTREAL

VICE-CHAIR
Elaine Henley
Sr.Personnel & Staffing Officer
CANADIAN NATIONAL

TREASURER
Brenda Jean Lycett
Manager, Workplace Diversity
MOTOROLLA CANADA LTD.

SECRETARY
Kaye Bracegirdle
Mgr., Recruitment & Selection
CANADA TRUST

Frances Wales
Human Resources Manager
CABLENET

Fernan Carriere & Laura Healy
CANADA POST CORPORATION

Patricia Antonucci
Manager, Employment Equity
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORP.

Pat Reniger
National Coordinator
CANADIAN COUNCIL ON REHABILITATION AND WORK

Brian A. Flanagan
Manager, Employee Relations
CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION LTD.

James Richmond
Personnel & Admininstration Manager
COMINCO LTD.

Christine Martin Bevilacqua
Director, Human Resources
DELTA CHELSEA INN

Evelyn Gold
Outreach Coordinator
DISCOVERABILITY

Felicity Robertson
Employment Equity Advisor
IMPERIAL OIL LTD.

Janet Naidu
Manager, Employment Equity
LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD OF ONT.

Susan McIntyre & Heather Sherwood
THE PRUDENTIAL

Debbie J.B. Waters
Director
WORK ON TRACK