Customized Employment

Defining Customized Employment

Customized employment (CE) is a process for achieving competitive integrated employment (CIE) or self-employment through an employee and employer relationship that is personalized to meet the needs of both. It is a universal strategy that benefits many people, including people with disabilities who might not have found success through other employment strategies. In 2014, CE was included in Title IV of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) as a strategy under the definition of supported employment.

ODEP’s Role in Advancing Customized Employment

In 2001, ODEP began implementation of a five-year CE initiative through American Job Centers (AJCs) in targeted states. Today, ODEP supports CE through education, outreach and collaborations that promote the benefits of using CE as a workplace flexibility policy.

Strengthening the Workforce System through Customized Employment

ODEP has helped AJCs incorporate CE into their menu of services. The resources below demonstrate the effectiveness of this process:

• CE Funding: Strategies and Solutions – In this webinar, Beth Keeton and Doug Crandell discuss best approaches for funding CE efforts. They explore available CE funding sources and the necessary financial considerations for providers incorporating CE into their service offerings. The webinar concludes with a participant discussion on how to provide tangible steps for increasing access to CE funding. As part of the webinar, Beth and Doug developed an infographic illustrating the history of CE.
• CE Works for Veterans: A Win-Win Strategy – This video describes CE from the veteran, service provider and employer points of view.
• CE Works for Veterans: A Job that I Love – This video describes the importance of discovery in the CE process and the positive impacts a customized job has for a veteran.
• CE Works for Veterans Brief [PDF] – This brief describes five wounded warriors who obtained employment by using discovery and customized employment.
• Solutions for Youth with Disabilities – This video describes how to support youth transition to CIE using CE.
• Solutions for Employers – This video describes how CE benefits the employer and their overall business operation.
• Creating Opportunities and Solutions – This video describes how CE is a win-win strategy for employers and disabled job seekers. A Spanish version of this video is also available.

A Compendium of Federal, State and Local Implementation of Customized Employment

Formal adoption and implementation of CE policies and practices is growing among state and local agencies, especially to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities and other significant barriers to employment. This living collection will grow to document new adoptions and implementations of CE strategies, with real-life examples of policies, staff and provider manuals, Medicaid waiver language, fee structures and other capacity building techniques as they become available.

• CE Services May Offer Youth with Disabilities a Path to CIE and Independence – a National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)-funded randomized study looks into what impact CE services might have in helping youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to obtain CIE.
• National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities (LEAD) – Fully funded by ODEP, the LEAD Center promotes equal opportunity within the broader workforce system for youth and adults with disabilities. Their website features an up-to-date collection of CE resources.
• Defining CE as an Evidence-based Practice: The Results of a Focus Group Study [PDF] – CE efforts have generated support at the national, state and individual participant levels. This qualitative research study developed a research-based description that agencies can replicate to implement CE when supporting people with significant disabilities.
• CE Competency Model [PDF] – This guide outlines the competencies needed by employment specialists and CE support teams to successfully provide services to job seekers.
• Essential Elements of CE [PDF] – This manual is aimed to help increase the number of people who obtain CIE by making CE training content more consistent.
• Perspective of Employers on CE [PDF] – This information brief provides the results of six focus groups conducted in 2015 under ODEP’s Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program (EFSLMP). The purpose of the focus groups was to garner the perspective of employers of various sizes, sectors and locations who had hired people with disabilities into customized jobs.
• Information on Self-Employment & Entrepreneurship as a CE Option – Self-employment has long been an option for people seeking a new or better career. Today, many disabled people are turning to the flexibility self-employment offers in helping them to meet professional and financial goals.

Discovery

Discovery is the foundation for securing CE. It is a qualitative process aimed to better understand job seekers by understanding their strengths (potential contributions to employers), their needs (the features that need to be in place for success) and their interests (providing a direction to the type of work that the individual wants to do). ODEP worked with national subject matter experts to develop a series of resources focused on discovery targeted to specific groups.

• Guided Group Discovery: Participant Workbook and Facilitator Guide – The purpose of guided group discovery is to lay a foundation for CIE through a universal approach that can benefit all job seekers. For some people, guided group discovery leads to CE. For everyone, the process can help to identify opportunities that might be a good fit for them and potential employers.
• New Approaches to Customized Employment: Enhancing Cross-system Partnership [PDF] – This paper explores approaches to bringing guided group discovery to scale through cross-system partnerships, leveraging Pre-Employment Transition Services and funding to improve employment outcomes for youths.
• Guided Group Discovery – Youth Version – Facilitator Guide and Supplemental Slide Deck – This guide trains people to facilitate guided group discovery sessions with youth and adults with disabilities and others who experience barriers to employment.
• Guided Group Discovery – Veterans Edition – This facilitator guide trains people to lead guided group discovery sessions with Veterans and others who experience barriers to employment.
• Self-Guided Discovery Facilitator's Guide [PDF] – Self-guided discovery is a set of strategies that can benefit any job seeker who faces barriers to employment. This guide reports best practices and lessons learned from three state teams that implemented self-guided discovery strategies to help job seekers with disabilities take the next step forward in their careers.