EARN Newsletter: December 2024

EARN in Action

Planning for Inclusive Hiring in 2025

With January right around the corner, many employers are preparing to recruit and hire talent to meet their workforce needs over the coming year. EARN encourages employers to prioritize inclusive hiring practices in 2025, with a focus on people with disabilities. From accessible job descriptions and announcements to inclusive interviewing and onboarding, EARN’s resources can help organizations of all sizes start 2025 out right. Find actionable, easy-to-implement strategies and best practices to help make your hiring process more disability-inclusive. Visit EARN’s Inclusive Hiring webpage for resources, FAQs, and more.

Looking Back: EARN’s 2024 Small Business Highlights

In 2024, EARN focused on small businesses by providing essential resources and hosting insightful discussions with small business owners who have prioritized disability inclusion. Below are highlights of our efforts.

Small Business Toolkit

EARN launched a comprehensive toolkit designed to help small businesses recruit, hire, retain, and advance employees with disabilities. This resource provides strategies and key insights on digital accessibility, reasonable accommodations, financial incentives, and the many advantages of building diverse, disability-inclusive small business workforces.

Small Business Webinar Series

EARN also hosted a three-part webinar series to support small business inclusion efforts:

Advancing Disability Inclusion in Small Businesses Fireside Chat

Additionally, EARN was a featured guest in the “Advancing Disability Inclusion in Very Small Businesses” Fireside Chat on X, an event held in collaboration with ePolicyWorks’ “Advancing Disability Inclusion in Very Small Businesses” national online dialogue. This real-time, interactive discussion allowed EARN to share valuable insights, resources, and strategies to support small businesses in enhancing the inclusion of qualified workers with disabilities.

Disability Employment in the News

Guiding Employers in Hiring Better and Faster

Skills-first talent strategies focus on valuing workers' expertise regardless of how it was gained—whether through educational degrees, Registered Apprenticeships, certifications, self-teaching, or prior experience. The Good Jobs Initiative’s new Skills-First Hiring Starter Kit, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a short guide on hiring, promotion, and talent management built around worker skills.

Highlighting Inclusive Apprenticeship Milestones

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week last month, CAPE-Youth published a blog on Youth and Young Adult Apprenticeship Day highlighting major policy and program milestones in expanding inclusive apprenticeship programs over the last decade.

Exploring Disability Rights in a Global Context

The first-ever G7 Ministerial Meeting on Disability and Inclusion took place October 13-15, 2024, in Italy, and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy Taryn Williams was part of the U.S. delegation. Read more about her experiences and the historic event in this interview published on the U.S. Department of Labor’s blog.

Increasing Access to Good Jobs for All

In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October, the U.S. Department of Labor hosted “Good Jobs Change Lives: Helping Disabled Workers Get Ahead,” a virtual event during which leaders from the department and other federal agencies discussed how they are working together to increase access to good jobs for all.

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Employer Spotlight

Encouraging Self-Identification in the Workplace

Centene Corporation, driven by its mission of “helping people live healthier lives,” has made disability inclusion a cornerstone of its organizational culture. Several years ago, Centene launched the “I Count: Why I Self-Identify” campaign to encourage employees to voluntarily disclose their disability status, fostering a workplace that values and celebrates diversity. EARN’s new video case studies explore how Centene successfully created this cultural shift and highlight practical strategies other organizations can adopt to promote self-identification and inclusion.

The content in this newsletter does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.