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May 8, 2009   
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Customized Employment and Flexible Work Arrangements

In 2001, ODEP implemented a five-year Customized Employment initiative to build the capacity of workforce systems to serve all customers, including those with disabilities. ODEP continues to promote the strategies and research data on Customized Employment through education, outreach, and collaborations with other federal agencies and private organizations on how customized employment can be an additional workplace flexibility policy (also known as flexible work arrangements) and/or practice within the workforce.

ODEP recognizes that Customized Employment is one form of the growing movement of workplace flexibility or flexible work arrangements (FWAs))--flexibility around the job tasks rather than the location or the schedule. According to the National Council on Disability, “The movement for flexibility in the workplace brings people with disabilities to . . . the discussion in which the workplace needs of all employees are taken into account.” (National Council on Disability’s report: Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Challenges, Best Practices, and New Opportunities for Success (July 26, 2007.)

The Customized Employment Banner's title is DISCOVER CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT-A Universal Strategy.  Four pictures appear in puzzle formation with the words Exploration, Representation,  Individualization, Negotiation, and Accommodation around the photos. The four pictures show an African-American male who has a right arm prosthesis doing industrial labor with what appears to be machinery and a drill/heat gun at a work desk; a meeting in an office setting with three individuals?a female who is deaf, signing to a male interpreter voicing what is being said to a third male employee focusing on the female and listening to what is being said; a young female with Downs Syndrome in an office setting, working on a laptop computer and smiling; and an African- American female working at a computer outfitted with software for magnification of text. At the bottom of the banner are the words Practical Solutions for Employment Success, along with the words U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy with their respective logos.


WRP logo
Workforce Recruitment Program


business case logo
Business Case


business Sense logo
Business Sense


JAN logo
Job Accommodation Network


EARN works logo
EARN Works


ODEP Summit logo
ODEP Summit


Disability Info Logo
Disability Information Resource


ODEP Circle of Champions logo
Circle Of Champions


ODEP Alliance Logo
Alliance Initiative

Technical Assistance Centers:

Start-Up USA logo
Start-Up USA


NCWD logo
National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability


NCWD logo
National Technical Assistance and Research Center

Disability
Employment
Situation

April 2009


Percentage of people with disabilities in the labor force:

  22.8%

Unemployment rate of persons with a     disability:

    12.9%

 

Phone Numbers