A Job Accommodation

By Val Duffy

As a Human Resources Representative with Bull HN Information Systems Limited, part of my role is to assist managers with their recruitment and hiring efforts. For Kurt Gengenbach’s manager, my role also included facilitating the accommodation of Kurt’s disability: high lesion quadriplegia.

Kurt, a University of Waterloo accounting student, was looking for a co-op work term which would give him some practical work experience to the knowledge he gained in the classroom. After two successful interviews, it quickly became evident that we could capitalize on Kurt’s keen abilities in the areas of systems and accounting, while at the same time fulfil Bull’s need to bring someone on board to assist with the implementation of a new company-wide customer account tracking system.

Having established the match between Kurt’s abilities and the company’s requirements, there were still a number of items with respect to accommodating Kurt’s disability, in particular the extremely limited use of his arms and hands, which needed to be addresses.

1. EMPLOYEE AWARENESS. Tom Proszowski of CCRW’s Toronto office came into the workplace and gave an hour-long presentation to employees and managers in which he introduced the concepts of and dispelled some of the myths around employment equity, job accommodation, and spinal cord injury. Tom successfully raised both the awareness and comfort levels of Bull employees, as well as assisted us in creating an environment which would be welcoming of our newest employee.

2. BUILDING FACILITIES. Access to the Bull Corporate Centre is gained through the use of a computerized ’smart card,’ which requires hand dexterity for its operation. We simply issued a duplicate employee pass to Kurt’s parents. Because they drive him to and from work, they use their pass to escort Kurt in and out of the building. The building itself is completely wheelchair accessible; Kurt uses his mouth stick to operate the elevator.

3. OFFICE SET-UP. Items such as desk height, reading stands, and the placement of telephone equipment were all taken into consideration when Kurt’s work station was designed.

4. SYSTEMS. Kurt brought in his own voice-activated computer system, DragonDictate, which was compatible with Bull’s internal systems. Kurt interacts with the system through the use of voice commands, as well as the keyboard which he operates with his mouth stick.

5. EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURES. A ’buddy system’ was developed which ensures that there are always a few people in the building whose responsibility it is to make sure Kurt is not in any danger should an emergency arise. A radio communication system was installed onto Kurt’s chair which allows him to communicate with the building staff during an emergency.

6. PERSONAL ASSISTANCE. Kurt needed someone to provide paid personal assistance services to him during his lunch hour. An employee of the building management company assists him to eat his lunch in the company cafeteria.
7. JOB TASKS. Finally, with respect to the actual job tasks, everyone who works with Kurt knows that when you’re giving him any written documentation, you need to three-hole-punch it, and slide it into one of the binders on his reading stand. The nature of his work is such that Kurt is able to perform virtually all of the tasks associated with his job completely independently.

Kurt is a productive and eager employee with a bright future in his chosen field of accounting. No doubt when his co-op assignment comes to an end, his valuable input into the Accounting and Customer Service departments at Bull will be missed.

My advice to those of you faced with accommodation challenges in your workplace: use all of the resources available to you, and make sure that common sense is at the top of your list!

THE JOB ACCOMMODATION NETWORK IN CANADA:
1-800-526-2262 (Voice & TTY)
Hours of operation: 8 am to 8 pm Eastern time

(The services of JANCANA are promoted by the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work. To assist you in alerting your associates, clients and/or employees to JANCANA, we have developed brochures and business cards which can be ordered in bulk and article and display advertisements which are suitable for printing in magazines/newsletters. All of these materials are available free of charge. We will be pleased to send them to you. Contact us at: The Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, 410 - 167 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3B 0T6, Tel: (204) 942-4862; TTY: (204) 944-0341; Fax: (204) 944-0753.)

(Val Duffy is a HR Representative with Bull HN Information Systems Limited.)