Bridges to Business

Bridges to Business is an ongoing initiative to help employers to effectively recruit, hire, train, and retain job-seekers with disabilities. The program also assists agencies that provide job training and placement services to jobseekers with disabilities work more effectively with businesses. See what our partners are saying about Bridges to Business.

Background

Employers frequently report difficulty accessing candidates with disabilities, and service providers often lack an understanding of business’ labor force needs. As a result, over 20 million working-aged Americans with disabilities lack employment or are underemployed. Bridges to Business is an effort to leverage NOD’s connection to corporate America to help effectively employ those jobseekers with disabilities.

Strategy

Bridges to Business takes a business-driven approach to employment for people with disabilities. With a focus on the needs, goals, and vision of employers, NOD will work with employers to:

Increase the number of employees with disabilities within employers’ facilities
Make the retention rate of people with disabilities within workplaces equal to or greater than non-disabled colleagues
Ensure that people with disabilities receive promotion and advancement at a rate comparable to their co-workers without disabilities

Reports

NOD regularly disseminates our findings to employers, researchers, human resource and diversity managers, recruiters, service providers, associations, research and technical assistance centers, and the community, in the form of updates on our progress with our corporate partners, presentations at conferences, highlighting the business leaders who are involved in our project, and white paper submissions to various publications, such as the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Other products include:

NOD Webinar: The Forgotten Diversity Segment: How Employees with Disabilities Rate their Experiences at Work

Recorded March 14, 2013, this webinar is presented by NOD's Bridges to Business program and Sirota Survey Intelligence. Many companies annually survey employees, but few measure gaps between employees with and without disabilities. Participants review results of recently released data from national surveys, and learn how to use the data to develop a strategy to create a culture of inclusion for employees with disabilities.

This activity has been submitted to the HR Certification Institute for review. Click here to view the recorded webinar

Evaluation of NOD’s Bridges to Business Program at Lowe’s, by Rutgers University

This two-page slick sheet highlights the critical success factors that supported Lowe’s effective disability employment program.

Recruiting Students with Disabilities

This document highlights best practices for companies seeking to recruit students with disabilities including tips for appealing to students with disabilities and making your company disability-friendly.

Identifying and Selecting a Community Rehabilitation Partner

This brief outlines steps for employers choosing a vendor to help source job candidates with disabilities.