On July 1, 2015, MALY posted Boosting Disability Self-Identification Response Rates, linking to a report titled, Do Ask, Do Tell – Encouraging Employees with Disabilities to Self-Identify.  With the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) now monitoring the percentage of employees with disabilities in Federal contractor workforces, identifying strategies for improving self-identification response rates is an important component in maintaining OFCCP compliance.

A next step for Federal contractors who are hiring and identifying employees with disabilities is to develop accommodations that make it possible for variously disabled employees to do the jobs they are hired to do.  The Office of Disability Employment Programs’ (ODEP) Job Accommodation Network (JAN) recently added Accommodation Information by Limitation A-Z to its Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR).  Tacked onto the end of SOAR’s list of ailments that may cause disabilities is a list of specific limitations within disabilities. While SOAR’s disabilities list addresses ailments (arthritis, learning disabilities, cancer, etc.), the limitations list provides accommodation ideas for specific impediments an employer may face in the daily workplace (memory deficits, difficulty maintaining consistent attendance, difficulty interacting with others, etc.)

For your convenience, we have added the Searchable Online Accommodation Resource to the Resource Center on the MALY website.  The limitations section is at the end of the SOAR listing. Take a moment to scroll through SOAR’s ideas for accommodating disabilities and limitations.  You might find a reasonable accommodation to enable or enhance employee performance and save time and money in the long term.

As always, the MALY staff is available to answer questions about disability hiring compliance or any other facet of OFCCP Federal contractor compliance.