The Role of Accessible Technology in Attracting and Retaining Talent • Josh Christianson – Project Director, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) • Joiwind Ronen – Strategic Consultant, PEAT
Dec 13, 2015
The Role of Accessible Technology in Attracting and Retaining Talent• Josh Christianson – Project Director, Partnership on
Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)• Joiwind Ronen – Strategic Consultant, PEAT
What is PEAT?
• Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology
• Cooperative agreement funded by Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
• Initiative to advance the employment and retention of people with disabilities through the development, adoption, and promotion of accessible technology
Employer Resources
• TechCheck– An interactive resource on
PEATworks.org developed to help organizations evaluate the current state of their accessible technology programs, and identify tools they can use to make organizational improvements
– TechCheck walkthrough at 12:00 to 35:00 (https://youtu.be/QRGZ-TgZpcI)
Developer Resources
• U.S. Web Design Standards– Designed to set a new
bar for simplicity and consistency across government services, while providing you with plug-and-play design and code.
– View on GitHub: http://bit.ly/1VHMxwa
Online Job Seeking
• PEAT focused on accessibility during job seeking: – Search– Application– Pre-employment
Testing
Interview Findings: Top Issues
• Awareness • Compliance vs. usability mindset• Technology, logistics, and cost • Complexity • Customization • Inadequate testing
Survey Results: Job Search and Social Media
• Increasing use of social media during job search– 50% of survey respondents used social media as
part of their job search process– 37% said they experienced accessibility or
usability issues when using social media
Survey Results: Job Application Experience
• Over 40% of respondents experienced difficulties or were unable to complete the application
Survey Results: Pre-Employment Testing
• Almost 70% of respondents were asked to complete pre-employment testing
• Almost 40% of those said they experienced difficulties or were unable to complete pre-employment testing
Pain Points
• Talent Sourcing– Inaccessible social media• Inaccessible images
– Make sure all images are [tagged]• Confusing job postings and hashtags
– Use plain language job descriptions– Simplify hashtags; use “camel case”
• Lack of user support – Make contact info available on social media page– Provide content through multiple channels
Talent Sourcing Accessibility
– Inaccessible eRecruiting videos• Videos need synchronized captions• Provide a transcript as well• Use audio descriptions
– Inaccessible live recruiting events• Be descriptive• Use good lighting• Offer real-time captioning• Be sure that all materials you give candidate are also
available online
Poll
1. What else should employers do to make their social media more accessible?
2. Are there other talent sourcing tools that should be made accessible? – Go to www.govote.at and enter the code 735858
to tell us
Online Application Accessibility
– Inaccessible applications• Use clear links• Use coded headings on website and in documents• Watch your color contrast• Make sure important images have ALT text• Make sure your forms have labels programmatically
associated with their input• Give people extra time before timing out• Tabular data needs to be coded properly• Don’t use CAPTCHAS
Post-Application Accessibility
• Pre-employment Testing– Testing (waiting on content from Dan Farro)• TBD
• Interviews– Inaccessible digital interviews• Be aware of connectivity and lack of access to
broadband• Ensure good lighting• Provide real-time captioning• Offer accommodations
Poll
3. What else should employers do to make their eRecruiting processes more accessible?– Go to www.govote.at and enter the code 735858
to tell us
What’s Next?
• Employment Lifecycle1. eRecruiting2. Hiring and Onboarding3. Work Immersion and Productivity4. Retention and Career Advancement5. Employment and Retirement
Poll
4. What are we missing? What are the major issues where we can have the most impact?
5. Who else should we talk to? What other resources should we be aware of?– Go to www.govote.at and enter the code 735858
to tell us
Get Involved
• www.PEATworks.org