Help in Hiring the Disabled

EXECUTIVE MEMO

Help in Hiring the Disabled

new GSA program rolling out nationwide this month promises to streamline the hiring of temporary administrative support personnel at agencies while creating jobs for blind and severely disabled workers.

The program, called The Road Ahead, got its start at the General Services Administration's General Products Center in Fort Worth, Texas, where price/cost analyst Sherry Rogers was happy with the disabled temps the center had hired, but frustrated by the 45-day purchase orders needed to bring the workers in. "If you need someone to come type, you need them today," says Rogers.

So Rogers created a program that streamlines hiring of blind and disabled temporary workers and provides incentives for agencies to do so.

Here's how it works: The Road Ahead supplies a list of nonprofits, usually branches of Goodwill or the Lighthouse for the Blind, that act as placement organizations for the program. Agencies contact participating nonprofits in their area, tell them what kind of temporary help they need and the nonprofits work to fill their requests.

The incentives include:

n Money. On average, the hourly wages of temporary workers hired through The Road Ahead are 17 percent to 27 percent lower than wages paid to temps hired through private sector companies. While the worker is paid commensurate with federal employee wages, Goodwill and the Lighthouse for the Blind charge a commission for placement services that is below market rate. In fact, the 10 percent commission the nonprofits charge often doesn't even cover their overhead. (FSS earns a 1 percent commission to administer the program.)

• Time. Nonprofit organizations are designated "directed sources," so agencies can hire through them without a lengthy procurement.
• Choice. When agencies hire temps through The Road Ahead, they get to select workers themselves.