Need good employees? Consider hiring people with intellectual disabilities via Penn-Mar

If you are an employer looking to add to your staff in the new year, one local organization might be able to help.

Penn-Mar Human Services, a nonprofit program that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in securing assistance and jobs, is able to connect employers with a potential employee.

Penn-Mar helps people with disabilities build independence through employment, and it helps employers find dedicated work staff.

The organization has been operating for more than 40 years, partnering with area groups and businesses to support and hire people with disabilities.

Penn-mar helped him get a job

Eric Eberly is one of those.

Eberly, 48, worked at True Value Hardware in New Freedom for 12 years, but then the business closed. Fortunately, due to his experience in retail hardware, Penn-Mar's PA Customized Employment team was able to get him a job at Tractor Supply, also in New Freedom.

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Eberly stocks shelves and helps customers find items that they are looking for. He said his favorite part of the job is helping customers and working with nice people.

He was placed in this position by working with Penn-Mar's Customized Employment program.

Annually, Penn-Mar helps around 100 persons with disabilities to find customized employment. This is around a six-week process, according to Savannah Ashlin, a job developer with Penn-Mar, and it starts with the development of an employment plan based on an individualized determination of the strengths, needs and interests of the job candidate.

Once the candidate’s goals are established, one or more potential employers are identified. A preliminary proposal is developed by a Penn-Mar job developer and presented to the employer, who agrees to negotiate an individualized job that meets the employment needs of the applicant and real business needs of the employer. The job developer assists the job candidate throughout the process and provides follow-up services when appropriate.

"We strive to continue to keep community integration growing through employment. Individuals have special abilities that they boast that no one else has. They show up, they work hard, and they are determined to show people that they can do everything everyone else can," Ashlin said. "They prove through their work ethic that they are no different than you and I. The business benefit of employing someone with a disability is that it allows businesses to have reliable and confident employees on their team who are there for longevity."

The process is simple for employers

She added that there are very minimal steps to employing an individual with disabilities.

"Other than being open to customization and acceptance, any business can reach out to us if they are interested in hearing more about our program," she said.

According to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, around 6.2 million people in the U.S. have intellectual and developmental disabilities, but only 36 percent are employed.

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Penn-Mar works to ensure that all people hired from its program are paid fairly and given promotions and raises, just like any other employee.

"These people want what we all want − what we all deserve − to be accepted," Ashlin said. "That is something they all have a human right to."

Eberly's managers said they have received several benefits from working with him, according to Ashlin.

"They said he is very friendly, and managers and coworkers enjoy having him work with them. He is always in a great mood," he said.

Eberly said being employed and helping people makes him feel good, and he is happy to go to work every day.

Employers interested in hiring from Penn-Mar can contact them at 717-942-8338.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn-Mar helps people with disabilities find employment in York, Pa.