Lesson 8: Employer Relations
Attention
The United States of America and much of the world practices capitalism as an economic reality. The basis for capitalism is that a product or service is offered and customers purchase it for a monetary amount less that it costs to produce. Employees of these business make the product or provide the service. When employees work efficiently, provide good customer service and maintain a sense of urgency usually the business thrives. When the cost of production increases to a sum larger than sales income a company goes under, fails ceases to exist. Employees are a key to a profitable business. People with disabilities can become excellent and productive employees when they do the work assigned within the established standards set by management. Understanding these standards and some variables that impact these standards is the core of this weeks lesson.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:
- Students will describe the employer perspective in terms of profit, production, human resource function and overall efficiency.
- Students will experience external influences in a business cycle and describe some of the barriers to these uncontrollable variables.
Teaching
Reading Assignments
- Review the free online course on Work Support.com called Disability Awareness HR Management Online Seminar (you will not be tested on the specific content of this online seminar. But you should gain an employer perspective that will increase your effectiveness in communicating with employers around hiring individuals with disabilities.)
- Play the Lemonade Game 5 times (5 days) at The Lemonade Game
- Record your observations as you experience uncontrollable factors like the weather or lack of customers. Keep in mind ways that these variables can be presented to a consumer to keep them functioning and provide the needed support.
There are many college degrees, books, and far more detailed explanations about business operations than this week's topic will present. The objective of this lesson is to provide some basic understanding of the world of business. Without some basic understanding of business you may have difficulty communicating with business owners about why they should hire individuals with disabilities and how it will benefit their product sales, service and customer satisfaction. This is a starting point. If you have some business experience this will remind you of some of the challenges, if you have no experience with business your understanding begins with this week’s topic. As you do this work you will gain insights about human resources, business operations and the overall concept that individuals with disabilities can and do benefit employers in many important ways.
Assessment
Lesson 8 Discussion
Summarize your results from playing the Lemonade game 5 times. What was your profit each time? How did you feel about the changing weather and the effect it had on business? Consider if you were the owner of your own business. What would it be like if your employees behavior changed like the weather or might? Sometimes our client's behaviors may undergo fluctuations like this...how can supported employement help both the employee and the employer work through these situations? Be sure to incorporate some of the information you leared from the Disability Awareness HR Management Online Seminar
Share any thoughts or experiences you may have about dealing with people with different personalities in the workplace. What was done well? What could have been done better?