Getting People Ready For Work

Jackie found himself overwhelmed in high school. His mother worked as a hotel maid. His father, on disability, drank more than just casually. Neither Jackie, his siblings, nor his parents graduated high school. Jackie rolled from job to job in his younger days, but suddenly in his 50s he finds himself in a pickle. He cannot find work to pay his bills, his medical needs, or his wife's needs.

Not exactly a shocking story today. I did not write about Jackie for shock. Jackie is just another in the millions of unemployed. So, what makes Jackie unemployed? Why write about Jackie?

Jackie is indeed like millions. Unemployed, uneducated, and in need of medical care. Jobs are there and while many would say "do something," Jackie's medical needs unmet does not allow his flexibility or mobility to perform most low wage jobs. Before we lose focus on the jobs issue, how should we approach Jackie's situation?

Many would say training. Before jumping on that wagon, remind yourself Jackie is uneducated. Well, then educate him. Is it that easy? Just educate them then train them? How long will this take? At what cost?

Now that we described a married man with baggage and his maintenance needs, let us turn away from Jackie. I am not sure we can solve Jackie's problem today. We can however, position ourselves to avoid the many Jackies to follow. What about the Susans out there in the same predicament, only single and with children.

Susan, is out of work and like Jackie, uneducated, untrained, and even if in perfect health is not "employable." We have time to develop Susan. We have time to educate and then train Susan. It does take more than just saying "get a job."

More than just a job, Susan needs support. We can hobble our tax dollars, or employers can adopt families. Churches can adopt adults. I am not speaking in legal terms, but in assistance terms. It must be done. Tax dollars are not available today. As painful as it might be, it is far less costly and certainly more loyal to society and the return will be more through this adoption as opposed to taxation.

Gifting

I refuse to get into the competitive urination over holidays and Christmas. We all bring different dishes to the table and we all have different tastes. Build a bridge and "GET OVER IT."

We need not argue about sharing with others on ANY day, regardless of religion or following. The thought we need to wait until some specific day to share is stupid. We only need to see the need. We NEED to get over when and get to the what.

If you are inclined to give this time of year, give something people can share for many years. Give people promise, tools, and skills. Give people more than cash, food, and comfort. They need all that too, but give them something to carry them through.

A dinner, a blanket, and things of that nature will get them through the day. Nothing wrong with that before someone decides to shred my train of thought.

Look long term. Think possibilities. Think living. Think of others. Think of what you might need were you in their shoes.

Tons of emotion flow this time of year. Stop long enough to use those emotions to make a difference.

Handicapped Thinking

So, you are fortunate enough to see increased business and you need another employee. Let us say this position does not require continuous walking, heavy lifting, and honestly, it requires someone more in the administrative field. You post the job in several favorite places and you wait for responses.

Because the skill level is unique, you receive few resumes. The position requires a graduate degree in instructional design. Your first candidate seems like a good skill match from reading her resume. A phone call from your HR representative identifies the candidate as a female. The meeting is set for the next day, Tuesday.

Tuesday morning your potential candidate arrives and the receptionist escorts her to the interview room. As she walks in the door, you notice this female African-American applicant staggers as if disoriented or drunk. If we follow Malcolm Gladwell’s advice in “blink”, we formed an opinion that may be the end of interview. The stagger, caused for whatever reason, throw red flags up in the air. It is now solely the responses and responsibility of the applicant to hire. Your mind is now fogged with immediate information imbalancing your mental vision and expectations.

As you continue the interview, you notice the mismatch of her “stagger” and her responses. She is intelligent, lucid, and well qualified, except for that mysterious stagger, which oh by the way is now nonvisible as she sits at the table. As the interview continues she divulges she has MS (Multiple sclerosis) causing her stagger and imbalance. While this information clears initial questions, does it raise more red flags? Medical risks, office environment risks, insurance risks, or cost for office realignment to host her hiring. What are your thoughts?

If you pass the idea on red flags and look beyond your office, you discover she can work from home and still provide services you need. It takes thinking beyond your conventional means at times to assure America’s handicapped gain employment.

I recall lore while I attended Navy technical training in Great Lakes, Illinois. Highway tollbooth-operator turnover ran high and state employment could barely stay even with hiring and exiting. What caused this high turnover rate?

Exit interviews nearly all read the same. Exiting employees claimed boredom and confinement inside tollbooths caused stress and little relief sitting throughout their shift. Hiring personnel failed to predict these issues when hiring. New hires were not aware of the pending confinement to a chair inside a 3x4 foot “shack.” So now the dilemma, what improvements should we make workers to improve conditions.

Enlarging the shacks failed the practicality test. They tried breaks that are more frequent for operators yet that only solved a small portion of turnover

Without dragging out the process, a volunteer with a handicap organization offered hiring her personnel as a test. This action resulted in a win-win for all. More handicapped employment, less turnover for state jobs, and better attendance and on-the-job performance.

Lore or not, it is not only believable but both possible and plausible. Without blame or shame, we need to rethink many of our positions, our opinions, and our needs on diversity and inclusion. Neither diversity nor inclusion revolves around just race, religion, or culture.