Employer Resources

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What is a Job Coach?

Job coaches are known by a number of professional titles, including job trainer, career coach, and employee support specialist. Regardless of the title, the primary function of the job coach is to provide onsite workplace assistance and/or other job supports to help people obtain and maintain employment. Job coaches typically work for organizations that provide employment-related services to people with disabilities, and these organizations assume all insurance liability for the job coach.

Job coaching is also considered a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and many people with disabilities use job coaches as a reasonable accommodation in the workplace.

Benefits to Business: Saving Money and Time

Business owners report that recruitment, training, and retention of new employees are both expensive and time consuming. Job coaching has been shown to help businesses save both money and time. Walgreens is an example of a company that brings together job coaches and store managers to place successful candidates in retail positions. Lowe’s identified the use of job coaching as key to the successful employment of people with disabilities in its distribution centers. 

Services job coaches provide that benefit both the employee and your business:

· Provide temporary support for the new employee to achieve long-term independent employment.

· Discreetly provide hands-on training, observation, and evaluation onsite. Job coaches provide services without disrupting daily business operations. 

· Help the new hire adjust to the workplace culture by reinforcing performance expectations and procedures. 

· Analyze job tasks and the work environment to identify accommodations/supports the employee can use to be successful, which may include cost-effective assistive technology/other aids to help them perform their job.

· Work to ensure the new employee communicates effectively with supervisors and coworkers. Job coaches foster the relationship between employee and manager rather than act as a temporary supervisor.

· Reduce the time it takes businesses to locate talent by providing access to a pool of qualified candidates. 

· Serve as a resource for ADA compliance information and Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).

For more information, please contact Marianne Senvisky at 330-221-3001 or marianne@pathfinderjobs.org.