Transcript

Jake Hart:  Four, three, two, one. VR Workforce Studio, podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation through the inspiring stories of people with disabilities who have gone to work.

Flora Frazier:  Working in a field that I understand.

Jake Hart:  As well as the professionals who have helped them.

James Hall:  A job and a career, you got to look at how life-changing this is.

Jake Hart:  And the businesses who have filled their talent pipelines with workers that happen to have disabilities.

Debby Hopkins:  To help expand registered apprenticeship.

Jake Hart:  These are their stories.

Anonymous:  Because there’s such a great story to tell about people with disabilities.

Jake Hart:  Now, here are the hosts of the VR Workforce Studio, Rick Sizemore and Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore (00:38):  Good morning. Good

Betsy Civilette (00:40):  Morning. CSAVR.

Rick Sizemore (00:42):  What does a room full of VR professionals like this say? Good morning? Or do they say something like … Good morning. Okay. One more time. Good morning. It is such a pleasure to be here with this special showcase episode of the VR Workforce Studio Podcast kicking off CSAVR’s 2026 spring conference. This is truly an honor. We’re so excited to be here live studio audience.

Betsy Civilette (01:13):  Right. And I also feel very honored to be sitting here amongst leaders in vocational rehabilitation and our business and community partners who’ve traveled across the country to be here and who are focused on one powerful idea this morning, connecting talent to the workforce through VR and business partnerships.

Rick Sizemore (01:35):  Yeah. This is such a rare opportunity for us to be face-to-face with our audience. As I look out, I see many people who have shared stories, vocational rehabilitation success stories on our podcast, who’ve followed us, who have emailed us. So it’s really great to be here with you. Heather Service on our podcast team from the National Clearinghouse is with us. So we hope that after the show we can actually spend a little time talking with you. We’re very excited about today. The VR Workforce Studio is recording this podcast for audio and for YouTube. We’d invite you to join us on YouTube at our channel at vrworkforcestudio@vrworkforcestudio.com. And here’s the shameless plug or wherever you consume your podcast. We’d be delighted to have you like and subscribe to our channel and get involved as we podcast the sparks at Ignite VR.

Betsy Civilette (02:34):  And today’s conversation, Talent That Works, The Voice of Business, is about what happens when VR and employers come together in meaningful, sustained relationships. And we’re going to hear more about that from our panel.

Rick Sizemore (02:48):

Yeah. It’s an all- star panel. We had a chance to brief them last night. Today is going to be a great show. To get right into this conversation though, we have someone who can help us frame the importance. She is nationally recognized in maintaining the relationship between business and VR. She directs the National Employment Team from CSAVR Kathy West-Evans.

Betsy Civilette (03:18):  And Kathy’s also been a leading force in shaping how VR and business connect across the country.

Rick Sizemore (03:26):  So Kathy, let’s jump right into it. From your national vantage point about VR and business, why is now the time to be talking about that relationship?

Kathy West-Evans (03:40):  Well, thank you, Rick and Betsy, and thank you all of you for being here and for supporting our National Employment Team. We don’t get the opportunity to work with business without leadership support, right, Bobbi? Thank you. So the discussion with business is key. And for those of you who may not know, I’ve been a VR counselor. I come from a family with several members that have been served by VR. And when we started connecting, it was very obvious to us that if we’re going to build a good individualized plan for employment, we have to begin with the end in mind. So what does that career look like? No one knows it more than business. And that’s where these partnerships are key. So we’ve got workforce demand. Dr. Austin talked about the changing workforce. We have a talent pool that a lot of people don’t know about and don’t understand.

(04:40):

We also have more requests for retention. I hate to break it to you. The workforce is aging and our glasses all look lovely. But we bring very valuable resources to business, and that’s the talent and engaging in a way that supports business because we’re working directly with business.

Betsy Civilette (05:02):  Well, Kathy, you’ve seen this work evolve over time. So what separates the partnerships that truly work from those that struggle to gain traction?

Kathy West-Evans (05:11):  It’s a great question, Betsy. When we started this, we sat down with 35 business customers and we said, “Help us do this differently.” Because we had started to really discuss that dual customer strategy and begin with the end in mind. What we heard from our business customers, and I’m looking here to verify too, is build the relationship, build the trust because if they don’t know what they don’t know and they’re afraid to ask, we’re not going to make movement. Listen to business. Don’t make assumptions because we need to build a plan and a strategy with our business customers, just like we build one with our individual customers. And we’ve got to deliver what we commit to. And often with our business customers, that’s multi-state when we’re working across their footprint. And so their ask of us was ask, listen and let’s work together because we need your talent pool and we need to keep that talent working.

Rick Sizemore (06:16):  Absolutely. And as you do your work, what encourages you most about what you’re seeing out in the business and VR community?

Kathy West-Evans (06:26): Well, another message that business said to us was, and I love this, I’m going to put it in quotes because it wasn’t mine, but we want to do more than post and pray. Okay? So more than just post a job, we want to hire the talent. And what’s exciting for me is to see the development that we have all driven because the work we’re doing with business was driven from the field. We’re connecting across the country. There’s been more than one occasion where we’ve had a business in one state who now wants to move to another state and we can connect easily. We understand the strategy, we’re on the same page, we make it easy for  business to connect. And that collaboration across states is really exciting. And businesses said, “Wow, you made it so easy.”

Rick Sizemore (07:22):  Right. And one place this is happening is Alabama.

Kathy West-Evans (07:26):  Absolutely.

Rick Sizemore (07:26):  Tell us about some of the folks who are here to describe that happening in Alabama.

Kathy West-Evans (07:34):  Well, when we first started this, Bobbi and I were talking about this last night. In 1988, now I’m dating myself, a group of us got together from 12 different states and Michigan hosted us, and I know the Michigan team is here. And we started having this dialogue saying, at that point I was working for Washington Division of Voc. Rehab. Dana’s here. And we started talking and Alabama was at the table. So this is where I first met Peggy Anderson. We also had people from Virginia. We had people, like I said, from Michigan, Texas, the 12 states. And we just said, “How do we start to build this? How do we drive it? ” And Alabama was there. And this is where we started talking with Dr. Chris Lewis about the dual customer strategy. I’m bringing up some memories here, Bobbi. And the thing I noticed about Alabama is the leadership right up front.

(08:36):

At that point, the director was Lubona Lucas, and then we had Steve Shivers, who ended up driving the employment committee, which is now Careers and Business Relations. And we moved right into Jane Elizabeth’s leadership because the leadership understood the importance of this and the importance of supporting the people that do the work. And I’ve always admired that, and that’s really what makes it work. And that’s why you have an Alabama team sitting here today. Now, okay, I’ll take the high road and say, “Congratulations, Tide.” But you’ll also notice I’m wearing a blue jacket, so go Seahawks.

Rick Sizemore (09:17): Be careful, Kathy.

Kathy West-Evans (09:21):  So I want to introduce you to Bobbi Stevenson, and it’s like I’m working with Peggy’s sister here. Bobbi is the director of the business relations program, and they have a statewide team, and you’re going to hear a lot about the importance of that relationship. And I really want to thank you all for being here, because that says a lot about your commitment and the goals here. And Bobbi, thank you. Thank you for your work in Alabama, and thank you for sharing it with other states. That’s what makes a difference when we work together. Thank you.

Rick Sizemore (09:57):  Welcome to the podcast, Bobbi Stevenson.

(09:59):  Yes. Well, Bobbi, you’re doing this work every day in Alabama, building relationships that connect individuals with disabilities to real career opportunities. Tell us about that. You just pass the mic.

Bobbi Stevenson (10:18):  Good morning. Yes, I’m on.

Betsy Civilette (10:27):  Just roll with

Rick Sizemore (10:27):  It.

Bobbi Stevenson (10:27):

Just roll with it. I can use it as a

Betsy Civilette (10:29):

Theme today.

Bobbi Stevenson (10:30): Roll

Betsy Civilette (10:31):  Tide.

Bobbi Stevenson (10:31): I want to thank you all for inviting Alabama and the business relations team and Phifer Incorporated and the Onin Group for coming to join us in this discussion, this very, very important discussion. And I could say ditto, ditto, ditto to everything that Kathy said. I’ve been raised in this program to believe that business is as important as our consumers or the individuals that we work with to help them reach their maximum potential, which Commissioner Burdeshaw, I’m nervous. Oh my gosh. So our Alabama team here-

Rick Sizemore (11:13): Give this great speaker a hand. Let her know she’s doing a good job. Take a deep breath. You got an important story to tell us.

Bobbi Stevenson (11:23):  So what I do want to focus on is how does the business relations team work in Alabama specifically? Because we’ve talked about the dual customer approach and we use that same model and the business relations team, we call ourselves BRCs. We work with that dual customer approach in mind. And we have a statewide team. And again, we are supported by leadership, which makes our jobs so much easier to be able to access and create different programs that the business is asking us to do. So with the business relations team focus, what we try to do is listen, and we’ve heard that already, but listen to what the business needs. That’s the first step. We have to understand what they’re looking for so that we can come back to our consumers and work with them to try to upskill or prepare for what the workforce is looking for.

(12:24):

And in Alabama, we work with the businesses, but we also have a caseload of individuals that we’re helping look for jobs. And so the consumer decides what they want to do, right? They decide what their job is going to be and where they want to look for a job. There’s a one-to-one kind of a ratio there looking for jobs for a specific consumer, although there’s also this bigger question of how do we widen the scope of the jobs that may be available in the community for our consumers? And how do we listen to the businesses, but also overcome that misperception of hiring individuals with disabilities? What does the business need to hear from us and how do we partner with them in order for them to understand who we are as well? And it’s through that partnership and that relationship that we help to build this rapport that goes back and forth.

(13:25):

And Phifer Incorporated and Onin are a perfect example of what we’ve done and what we’ve created over 25 years of partnership. And the depth that we work with these two companies is the partnership that we’re talking about. They don’t only hire our individuals, but they market the message to all of workforce about who we are and who the BRC team is. They work with the community resource partners to also to deliver to the whole community of who we represent. And they provide for our students in high schools, school tours to widen the range of what are the employment opportunities that are out there in the community, when individuals, when students finish high school. And so there’s so much to the relationship that’s so important for our agencies to tap into. And I do want to quantify one of the results that we do have. And in just fiscal year 25, 30 individuals went through a paid work experience and they’ll talk about the pipeline and how we work and structure our pipeline with them, but 25 went through it and 73% of them are now hired in competitive integrated employment with either Onin or with Pfeifer Incorporated.

Rick Sizemore (14:59):  That’s amazing.

Bobbi Stevenson (15:00): That’s

Betsy Civilette (15:01):  A good one.

Rick Sizemore (15:02):  That is amazing.

Bobbi Stevenson (15:05):  And honestly, only 40% of the funding was used. So they are good stewards of our initiatives to help more individuals reach their maximum potential.

Rick Sizemore (15:19):  Excellent. So you have a couple of folks with you from Alabama.

Betsy Civilette (15:25):  And we’re pleased to welcome. We’ve got Russell DeBose, Vice President of Human Resources at Phifer Incorporated and Heath Hendricks, no relation to Jimmy. Key account manager. He definitely

Rick Sizemore (15:37):  Tells you his last name is like Jimmy.

Betsy Civilette (15:39):  Oh, it is. Same spelling. So Heath comes to us from the key account manager with the Onin Group. So welcome to our podcast.

Rick Sizemore (15:49):  Yeah. Phifer based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has partnered with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services 25 years, 25?

Russell Dubose (15:59):  Yes, sir. 25 years.

Rick Sizemore (16:01):  That is absolutely awesome. Creating a talent pipeline. Before we get into that, tell us just a little about Phifer.

Russell Dubose (16:09):  Sure. Thank you. I’m Russell. I lead HR at Phifer. I have been at Phifer 25 years. We are headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, also the home of the University of Alabama.

Russell Dubose (16:23):  Roll, Tide. There you go. We knew that you met.

Bobbi Stevenson (16:27):  Awesome.

Russell Dubose (16:29):  So Phifer, we’re a mid-sized manufacturing company, and that’s our headquarters. We also have facilities. We have another facility in Alabama, and we also have subsidiaries or other facilities in California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and then we have overseas in China, India and Italy. And when we travel to Italy, we never have a shortage of people who want to sign up and go for the trip. Because it is beautiful. So yeah, so we’ve been in the business and what we do is we weave precision fabrics. Either it’s metal or it’s synthetic. So examples of that are outdoor furniture fabric that you would see in outdoor furniture, outdoor awnings, pool enclosures, window screen applications, interior and exterior solar control. And here’s my favorite. Who in here … have to show your hands. Who in here owns a clothes dryer?

Betsy Civilette (17:36): Dryer.

Russell Dubose (17:36): Look at all those hands. Now, what are you supposed to do before you start your dryer to dry your clothes? Move

Betsy Civilette (17:44):  The lint.

Russell Dubose (17:46):  You’re supposed to check the lint screen and clean it. So every time you do that, guess who makes that woven lint screen? You will always think of Phifer from now on.

Rick Sizemore (18:01):  Always.

Russell Dubose (18:01):  Always.

Rick Sizemore (18:02):  And I’m going to tell my daughter, who never checks the lint filter, that I’m at the man who makes this stuff. And he said, check the lint filter. It’s like a couch cushion when she takes it out. Anyway, it’s great to have you on the podcast. Tell us how this partnership evolved with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Service and what you do.

Russell Dubose (18:24):  Sure. So I’ve been with Phifer for 25 years. Prior to that, I worked for the Alabama Department of Labor for 10 years, and I was a career center manager. I had great relationship and partnerships with ADRS, and I saw the value as the BRCs worked with other employers. So when I was hired on at Phifer, I left my state employment and went to private industry. I started out as a recruiter and I knew where I could access some hidden talent. And so I engaged with our BRCs, with Tommy, and then Willie. Oh, they’re so fantastic. And then they come out and learn our positions, our jobs, and help me recruit and find talent. That helped us on the recruiting side. Then I learned about … Well, we call it ADRS. That’s our branding in Alabama for Voc Rehab, ADRS. The retention of valued employees. I would have employees that would become disabled during the course of their career for different reasons.

(19:33):

And then I learned I had different services that ADRS could provide to make sure they could stay employed with us. And I have dozens and dozens of cases and examples of how they’ve helped us be successful over the years. And then so that has become part of our culture at Phifer to have that reach back resource available at our fingertips. And then we’ve just been able to cultivate and build that relationship over the years.

Rick Sizemore (20:05):  Speaking of my daughter, she would call this a comment from Captain Obvious, but what’s the financial implication of being able to retain an experienced employee versus going out and starting all over?

Russell Dubose (20:18):  It’s a great question. It depends on what type of job we’re retaining. I have done professional shop floor production. Our average wage savings on retention, it generally costs us in between $9,000 to $24,000 if we have to replace that person. And to do that over 50 times in the last 15, 20 years, we’re talking millions of dollars of savings and not having to replace employees.

Rick Sizemore (20:48):  And what does ADRS charge you for that service of retention?

Russell Dubose (20:53):  So ADRS, our partner-

Rick Sizemore (20:56):  Again, a question from Captain Obvious.

Russell Dubose (20:58):  Yes. We don’t exchange money. We just exchange friendship and ideas.

Rick Sizemore (21:02): I Love It.

Betsy Civilette (21:02):  So that’s a good return on investment for you, it sounds like. Absolutely. So how else do you quantify this partnership from a business perspective? Help us understand some of the other benefits and values of hiring individuals with disabilities.

Russell Dubose (21:18):  Sure. So this is the concept of the business case. So this is where you have to bring the concept to the business and it has to come with numbers. So we’re going to have to generate an ROI, return on investment. We have to adopt the business, the senior leaders to get behind. We need to all be in this together. The CFO has to believe, the president has to believe, the CEO has to believe. It can’t be just HR. And we have to bring numbers to the argument to create that business case. Now ROI generally is short-lived. It’s about a year, maybe 18-month time span. We’re talking about how does it impact recruitment? How does it impact retention? How does it impact OLE, the operational labor efficiency in the workforce? So that’s how we have to quantify it. And we can do that, but for us, that’s not the true business impact.

(22:18):

We take it a step further, we actually quantify and qualify a return on value. A return on value, generally it’s a multi-year and it’s an investment. It does include the ROI without question. We need the ROI, but we really need the return on value to understand what is its true impact to the business. So for example, we talked about cost savings, but another ancillary benefit, even in my professional hires, I’ve got Gen Z. Come, bless their hearts. I’ve got Gen Z coming at us. And now our motto, I can look at my name tag. Our motto at our business is the golden rule. That’s what our company motto is. It’s important to Gen Z not to just say it. You have to demonstrate it. You have to do it. And so we have an inclusive workplace. And when we show the Gen Z, this is the type of organization you are joining, that’s when they raise their hands and I want to be a member of Phifer.

(23:26):

What’s the value? I have long-term investment in my employees. Guess what I don’t have? I don’t have turnover. Do you know what my professional turnover rate is? It’s 0.02. Wow. I don’t lose anybody because everyone’s vested in the mission and they believe because we demonstrate those values by being inclusive. Thank you.

Rick Sizemore (23:51):  Absolutely.

Betsy Civilette (23:52):  Yes. Absolutely.

Rick Sizemore (23:53):  Russell, we’re so excited to hear more about the ROI and the return on investment, return on value. But this group of people, almost everyone here is working for an agency that has some level of business development manager in Alabama, you call them business relations consultants. Talk about, if you would, how that works with Phifer and your BRCs down at ADRS. What a mouthful. You know what I mean though, right? Right. How

Russell Dubose (24:24): Do you work

Rick Sizemore (24:25):  With the BRCs? I’ve

Russell Dubose (24:26):  I talk strategy, but as employers, we don’t know what we don’t know. We like to think we do, but we don’t. We need experts. We need subject matter experts. We need tacticians. We can build strategy, but I need our business. To me, they’re actually, they’re business consultants. They’re consultants. They’re advising us and they’re tactically telling us the how. We know the what, we know the why, but what we don’t know is how. And then the BRCs come in and they can help us and they serve as an architect. They build our plans and they can say, together we understand what’s that desired end state? Where do we want to be on this path? We want to create a pathway, help us design it. That’s the expertise they bring to the conversation to help us be successful. So we rely on them to educate, coach. They can lean forward and see things and see things small before they escalate and become big problems.

(25:35):

They get in front, they lean forward, and that’s the value that they bring to the team.

Rick Sizemore (25:39):  Yeah. I know Betsy’s anxious to move on and over to Mr. Hendricks, the rock and roll star here, but quick real synopsis of a day in the life off. You talk about these wonderful things they do generally. Give us a day. They walk in to BRC says, “And today we’re working with John and we want to. ” What are some things that might happen?

Heath Hendrix (26:02):  Yeah. So hey, my name is Heath. I’ve got a chance here. So my role with Phifer and Onin. We partnered together 21, 22 years ago. And over time, I’ve become the kind of single point of contact for the BRCs, for the frontline leaders. And it’s really about effective and efficient communication. So it’s somebody, you don’t have to guess who to go to, you know who to call. We get a chance to build trust with the BRCs. The BRCs get to know the business and then the BRCs, and we can read the tea leaves and know what the business demands are going to be. So we might have three positions opening in the next two weeks. So they build the pipeline to where we can get those individuals in for interviews. And then as you were saying, sharing with other businesses, because we are limited and finite and so in our open positions, we preach the ADRS and VR gospel at all of these meetings to other employers saying, “If you need help, we’ll help you.

(27:07):

Here’s your BRC. Here’s Bobbi. Let us help you guide the way.” I know that’s not the answer to your question, but I get excited about this.

Rick Sizemore (27:14):  But it’s a great way to get us to the next question.

Betsy Civilette (27:17):  Well, first want to welcome you. Thank you, Heath, for being here. And just give us a quick summary of who Onin Staffing is.

Heath Hendrix (27:25): So Onin is one of the largest privately owned staffing agencies in North America. I can’t say headquarters. The home office is in Birmingham. We do everything from light industrial to clerical. We staff 28 states. I’m sure I got that wrong and I’ll hear about that when I get back. But we do have a large footprint. And like in Alabama, our footprint matches that of the ADRS offices. So we’ve actually gained a statewide partnership where we can help in any part of the state for any PWE programs and help employers connect those dots to get the individual with disabilities to work.

Betsy Civilette (28:09):  Well, you talked a little bit about the communication between Onin and working with Phifer and that the BRCs are crucial for success and hiring outcomes. So help the VR agencies here understand why this partnership works so well for Onin and why having a single point of contact is so important.

Heath Hendrix (28:28):  So I’ve tasked everybody in Alabama, all of the owning business managers and Bobby has tasked the BRCs. Go out and meet the employers. And if you don’t know the employers, we’ll go help you find employers. Have that conversation. We’ll foot the bill for some coffee, sit down, talk, figure out what are your plans, what are your current barriers? How can we help eliminate those barriers? And to get a single point of contact in each kind of area of the state. Now it’s good to have one, like I’m kind of the West Alabama one, but I can’t do it for the whole state. So you need a kind of regional points of contact, but somebody, you get to know them, you can trust them, they’re going to do what they say, they’re on time.

(29:19):

And it’s hard to explain, but their true interest is gainful employment for these individuals with disabilities. So some people view the PWE as, “Yeah, it’s just somebody I can put in and work for so many hours or months.” That’s the wrong approach. That’s not what you should be doing. If you are not in this for the long run of helping them gain employment, overcome barriers, if small things, “Hey, my steel toes don’t fit, we’ll take care of you. ” I mean, just from small accommodations to large ones to working with BRC teams, and what I love about ADRS I get a lot of the community service. What’s that acronym? Community service.

Betsy Civilette (30:06):  Too many acronyms. Community resource partners.

Heath Hendrix (30:09):  CRPs. CRPs. CRPs. So I deflect our CRPs to our BRCs and I let them … Because we’ve built such a great relationship and they know what we’re looking for. They can filter through and find out this program is valid. It’s going to be a great fit for Phifer for some of our local businesses. So that’s one reason I love our local BRC and ADRS team.

Rick Sizemore (30:32):  That’s wonderful. It sounds like you have two and a half decades of evolving a very integrated system between ADRS and the business community and how you’re supporting each other. I bet if we scan the audience and ask how long have BRCs or in Virginia, they’re called BDMs, business development managers. You’ll find a long history and a very varied pattern of how long it takes to get this in place. But now I want to talk about something really important to you. And I know this, both of you are excited to talk about some examples of how this works, some success stories that you want to unfold for us. Who wants to start?

Heath Hendrix (31:16):  Oh Lord, I can do two hours on this.

Rick Sizemore (31:19):  You don’t get two hours. I’ve been told we have a hard stop at 10:20.

Heath Hendrix (31:25):  Gotcha. So I’ve seen young men and women come in, unseen disabilities, seen disabilities, opioid recovery, individuals coming out that have been paroled out of prison. It’s a myriad of stories. And I love watching them just … They come in and they’re timid and they meet their frontline leaders. And it’s getting with the frontline leaders and the consumer and breaking down that stigma of things that they think the consumer thinks they can’t do. Yes, you can do this. And matching with the frontline leaders to help them coach almost each other between shifts, departments, and building a culture of how important it is to have this integrated space of individuals with disabilities working alongside those without. But I don’t want to call out individuals by name, but there’s- You can go

Rick Sizemore (32:20):  First names.

Heath Hendrix (32:21):  Okay. So one of my … I love Jonah.

Rick Sizemore (32:25):  Jonah.

Heath Hendrix (32:25):  The name’s Jonah.

Rick Sizemore (32:26):  Okay,

Heath Hendrix (32:26):  Cool. Very timid, wouldn’t speak to anyone. And in the span of year and a half, he went through PWE, went through Onin’s payroll, hired on by Phifer and is now, it’s called a number one fixer, but that’s a huge promotion and career progression. Did you

Rick Sizemore (32:46):  Say number one fixer?

Heath Hendrix (32:48):  Fixer. Okay.

Rick Sizemore (32:49):  Fixer.

Heath Hendrix (32:50):  Loom technician.

Rick Sizemore (32:52):  Loom tech. There you go.

Heath Hendrix (32:52):  Okay.

Rick Sizemore (32:53):  A fixer. I like that. It’s a fixer. Yeah.

Betsy Civilette (33:02):  Russell could explain.

Rick Sizemore (33:04):  Tell us about the fixer.

Russell Dubose (33:06):  Yeah.

Rick Sizemore (33:06):  We want to know

Russell Dubose (33:07):  About the stuff fixers are our loom technicians. They’re responsible for repair and troubleshooting. So it is an advanced position. And for Jonah to move from PWE to a number one, 10 years ago, it took about 15 years to make that journey. And he did it in short order. Just a brilliant young man.

Betsy Civilette (33:26):  What kind of certifications or

Russell Dubose (33:28):  Credentials? Yeah. So it is manufacturing based credentials. So they have to … Trainers come over from Germany and they have to go through some very difficult training. We’re excited for him. He’s a brilliant young man. That’s the recruiting side. A lot of success stories. I love also the success stories on the retention side. So two aspects. One, the employees themselves. Just two weeks ago, so I have a 30 plus year employee. She diagnosed with Parkinson’s. And so our internal team, it’s called our employee resource team. They are ADRS trained over the years and become really, really good. And then just over short order, they were able to redesign her entire job so she could remain employed and remain effective at what she does. And that kind of stuff happens all the time. But my favorite part of it is that over the years, because of our partnership, we were able to build this capability within the business that ADRS trained them.

(34:38):

And now they have reached back to ADRS all the time if we need ergonomic engineering support, all this advanced stuff. But it’s a true testament for the partnership that at first they were our training wheels. It took a while to take the training wheels off. And now we have a mature, responsive model, and they can sit back and say, “We did that. “

Rick Sizemore (35:02): It’s a real

Russell Dubose (35:02): Work. We created that. It’s a

Rick Sizemore (35:03): Real workforce ecosystem.

Russell Dubose (35:06): To

Rick Sizemore (35:06):  Create.

Russell Dubose (35:06): They live and breathe the interactive process. So they do that on behalf of our HR business partners for all of our new hires and retention. And so it’s become part of our culture. And because of that, the incumbent workforce, if there’s a concern to believe they have a disability, there’s not stigma, there’s not barriers. They’re able to come forth and talk to our ER team and find success, find those quick accommodations. It’s just become part of who we are now.

Betsy Civilette (35:38): You mentioned retention. And Bobbi, maybe you can address this. You guys have a program called RAVE in Alabama, and I’m sure there’s similar ones in other states, but can you tell us a little bit about RAVE and what that means?

Bobbi Stevenson (35:51):  Yeah. RAVE is retaining a valued employee. And we know that from our business partners, retention is very important. And so a program was developed many years ago. And what happens is that we streamline the need for that accommodation. And we try to work it from, so the BRC takes the communication with the employer and then a VR counselor is involved and then the rehab engineers are involved. And as a group, we kind of come in together to try to figure out what can a solution be and how do we help that in a streamlined, effective, quick manner so that we can get that person back to work.

Rick Sizemore (36:40): Just curious what your reaction is when you’re marketing your services and you run into business leaders, plant managers. This might be a good question for Onin. Plant managers to say, “I just can’t find the talent. I just can’t find the help I need. I just can’t find employees. We’re going to dry up because we don’t have a workforce.” What’s your message to them?

Heath Hendrix (37:04): Not appropriate for this company.

Rick Sizemore (37:08): That’s why we edit these Things.

Heath Hendrix (37:09): There are plenty of individuals. But you

Rick Sizemore (37:13): Run into that.

Heath Hendrix (37:14): Yes.

 (37:14):  Run into people who say, “We can’t find employees. Knee deep in a river dying of Thirst.”

Heath Hendrix (37:20):  And I preach the VR gospel. Yet again, it’s hold my hand, plant manager. I’m going to take you over to the ADRS building. You’re going to meet a lady named Vanessa Coleman. I don’t know. She’s a rockstar. And she is going to walk you through everything you need to know. She’s going to put you at ease. The team will come out. Bob will get involved. Hey, let’s have a brief meeting, a call. I’ll go with them if they want to. Just to see other individuals that can benefit from employment. So anytime a plant manager, we can’t find anybody. You’re not looking in the right place. Don’t look at LinkedIn or Facebook. Go to ADRS. They’ll recruit for you. They’ll find the best fit for

Bobbi Stevenson (38:06):  Can I jump in here? Please. That part of the partnership is what is so important and valuable to ADRS is that you’re able to be out there marketing to other businesses, talking to businesses and bringing VR and ADRS into that conversation. And it helps us build and spread the word that we’re out there trying to do on a regular basis already. But business to business is very effective and we appreciate that in you. Right.

Betsy Civilette (38:36):  Well, you stole my question, but yeah, that’s exactly what I was going to ask about. Help us understand how you guys communicate and market this partnership to other businesses. Maybe Russell?

Russell Dubose (38:49): And we’re starting to see this. My own HR director, she’s presenting in Chicago next month. The new themes we’re seeing in workforce, it’s all about it’s skills-based hiring and it’s the impact of AI into our daily task. And how do we incorporate both of those? We’re good where we are today, but we can’t sit very long because it’s changing so fast. But how is it going to change and what does it mean? And so we know it’s coming, we believe in it. Ourselves, we’re building AI agents. Our workers now on their devices, they have AI agents that has all of our equipment data in it, troubleshooting data. If they run into problems and they go through those steps on how to make corrections, if they can’t figure it out, that they can ask their AI agent, “Did you try this? Did you try that? ” So those types, it’s coming and it’s coming fast.

(39:46):

And so when you employ these techniques and you start talking about that with other employers, oh, do their antennas go up. We talk about the specific skills that are needed in the job and how you’re integrating AI into the workplace. It’s a great opportunity to engage with employers. But in our messaging, when you talk about what does your workforce look like? How do you recruit? How do you retain? How do you have such a great retention and low turnover? It’s like, well, let me tell you about actually how we truly staff. And once they ask that question, they’re receptive and open and you can start having that conversation. I’ve seen it just happen over and over and it works. But having somebody that knows us and knows our jobs and how we operate, so we can make those confident and trusted referrals, that’s where the message really resonates.

Rick Sizemore (40:41):  That’s wonderful. We’re going to include the contact information for Bobbi in the show notes at vrworkforcestudio.com and on our YouTube channel when this comes out in a week or so. This is a great tool for you to be able to share within the VR community a success story where this is really happening. And I’m going to put you on the spot just a little bit, Russell. Make the case for those people out in our listening audience or out in the business community, sort of in real terms, in that ROI and that return on investment, return on value. You’ve evolved this model and so what? What does it really mean to you in dollars and cents? So people that may not be familiar with this conversation can hear from you, a practical HR manager on what you have to deliver in a model that’s as integrated and as effective as this one.

Russell Dubose (41:38):  Yeah. So if you’re my HR peer in industry and business, if you have high turnover, you suffer from retention, it’s hard to find employees to fill your job needs, and your culture’s just not where you want it to be. Then the answer has been there in front of you the whole time. And what you can do is you can look at our model, you can come visit us. We do this all the time. We give tours. Even to other HR, if you want to come and see how we operate, you’re welcome to. But the true answer in Alabama is there’s business counselors, there’s BRCs available to walk you through this process. You don’t have to frame the answer without understanding the facts. You don’t have to assume this away. There’s someone that can help you build a model that works for you and it can minimize your risk and make a compelling argument so that your senior leadership will support you in this journey because after you complete it, everybody, all the stakeholders, everyone wins, especially the business, especially the new employee.

Rick Sizemore (42:49):  Well said. Well said.

Betsy Civilette (42:51):  Well, Heath, do you have a message to other businesses, other staffing agencies like yours? What do you tell Them?

Heath Hendrix (42:58): Well, I can say right now, I don’t know if the camera’s got the vantage. We got two employers leaning on the edge of our seats because they’re asking, what do employers need and want? That’s exciting. We’re willing to help in any way to open any doors that we can. It’s well worth it. And it’s not just for the good feeling inside. It’s honestly seeing these individuals thrive in their situations and gain and build wealth and gain a career. It’s one of the most exciting things to witness and to see. And all of you in this have some way to make that happen. So yeah, please reach out to employers. And if they’re not as excited as we are, they’re move to the next one.

Rick Sizemore (43:46): It’s talent. It is talent that works definitely.

Rick Sizemore (43:49): Any sort of concluding comments to wrap up this segment before we move on? Bobbi, Kathy, final reflections.

Bobbi Stevenson (43:58):  I do want to say that the way that Phifer and Onin both give back to our agency is what we all hope for in every business relationship. Heath has served two terms on the State Rehab Council, SRC. Russell has served one term. Pfeiffer Incorporated won the large employer of the year award this year with the governor’s award ceremony. And so the fact that we can sit and just have open and honest conversations is really what it’s all about. And that’s what we’re trying to create with all of the businesses and to try to move the needle in the direction, in the positive direction of more individuals being hired, but also more of the engagement of the workforce, what we have to get accomplished with workforce today is not easy. And I, as a BRC, as the director of the program, have to continue to encourage the BRC statewide to keep putting our name out there, keep going even when you’re talking to businesses that don’t understand what we do.

(45:09):

It’s okay. Like Heath said, move on. There’s plenty of other ones who will. And so yeah, I just want to thank you both so much for your partnership. It’s amazing and we’ve changed so many people’s lives that it’s hard to quantify at this point.

Betsy Civilette (45:23):  Well, thank you all for sharing your experiences with us, especially Russell and Heath and working with Alabama DRS. So we’re going to next segment, move on and talk to Grace Miller with Britt Crampsie Communications and Kathy West-Evans.

Rick Sizemore (45:45):  Yeah. Most everyone in the room has seen the hundred stories, 100 days. Dacia was involved in that. Kathy, Grace Miller led that amazing, amazing impact from that message house. And now we have something new on the horizon, talent that works. Tell us what’s happening with talent that works. Grace Miller from Britt Crampsie Communications.

Grace Miller (46:08): Well, thank you for having me and thank you guys for coming all this way. I definitely traveled the least far to be on this panel, so I appreciate you guys making the trip out here. And I apologize for how I sound. The cherry blossoms are beautiful, but the pollen is not.

Betsy Civilette (46:24):  I know that.

Grace Miller (46:25):  I’m not doing well. But Talent That Works is a new campaign with CSAVR that Kathy and I have been developing after we wrapped up 100 stories in 100 days, which by the way, as Decia mentioned, we actually received almost 200 stories and we ended up kind of changing that. If you go to the CSAVR website, it’s not now called VR at Work and it’s on the website and we’ve got the new stories listed and we’re still posting them on social media. So you’re always welcome to check those out. But Talent That Works is kind of us trying to capitalize on the success of 100 Stories. And it’s a social media campaign where we are looking to our state agencies and our net partners, our communications professionals to help us find and create 30 second videos from businesses. We’re looking to highlight the voice of business.

(47:19):  We’re looking for these guys to share their story and share how much they love VR and how it works for them and for us to use the CSAVR platform to amplify that. So that’s talent that works.

Betsy Civilette (47:33):  All right. Kathy?

Grace Miller (47:35):  You do owe me a video. That’s true. I’m waiting. She’s

Kathy West-Evans (47:37):  Already signing you up.

Grace Miller (47:39):  I can’t wait to see it.

Kathy West-Evans (47:41):  But I think this is key and really leads back to where we started the dialogue. If you’re going to build careers for individuals, begin with the end in mind. They understand the workforce. They understand how we build effective plans with individuals for careers, not just first job, any job. We’re not posting and praying. We have partners. Their voice is very strong.

Betsy Civilette (48:10):  Absolutely. And Grace, you can attest to this. It’s about storytelling. So tell us about how storytelling really plays a role in expanding these partnerships, understanding the value of these workplace partnerships and business partnerships.

Grace Miller (48:26):  Yeah. I like to say that storytelling is what I do for a living as a communications professional. I tell stories from my clients and I help them develop the narrative. And when you tell a story, you control a narrative. And having a collection of these stories helps us move the system. And when we are able to share those stories on our platforms, whether that’s a website or social media, then we have somewhere to point to with future partnerships or possibly congressional staffers who are interested in what VR does for businesses. We have somewhere to say, “Well, don’t take it from us. Take it from these guys. They have great stories.” And honestly, it also helps build trust with other businesses. It’s great to hear from us and say, “VR is great. It helps businesses. It’s wonderful.” But if another business says to a business, “You know what?

(49:25):

This is a secret that I use and it helps me retain my employees,” they’re going to listen to that. And if I had a secret that helped me get less than 1% of turnover rate, I would want to shout that from the rooftops.

Rick Sizemore (49:40):  Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, our first podcast was back in 2015. We’ve been doing this 11 years now, and it is absolutely thrilling and exciting to hear folks like Dr. Austin talk about innovation and to hear about CSAVR’s strategic initiatives around communication and using social media and what I call modern communication strategies, they’re really coming into play. And we want everyone to be involved in sharing these stories. Grace, tell us how they do that. When talent that works comes out, will be a toolkit, there’s information. How do we learn more about talent that works?

Grace Miller (50:21):  So I would consider today the official launch of Talent That Works. We’re announcing it to this wonderful group of people. So this is our launch, and this week we will be sending out materials to everyone about how to get involved. But what that has looked like so far is if we have communications professionals in the room, they may join the CSAVR Communications Professional Network calls. And via that, we have created a communications professional network talent that works task force who has been helping us to develop how people are getting involved with this campaign. And we’ve also been encouraging people to connect with their net points of contact. And that’s really vital. And honestly, Kathy, if you want to talk about how that relationship is so important to this, take it away.

Kathy West-Evans (51:13):  Well, the example of sitting right here. Yeah, that’s true. Bobbi and Jill, I don’t know if Jill is here, the communications person for Alabama, but they’ve worked very closely and the story’s out in Alabama, awards, governor’s recognition, we’ve got the links. We want to make that happen everywhere across the country. We want all of you to have the opportunity to connect your communications team with your net point of contact and your business team. So they’re sharing our story in a way that’s very powerful and thank you.

Grace Miller (51:48):  Yeah, thank you. If you don’t know who your net point of contact is, you got to find out today. You’re going to get points for that maybe. I don’t know.

Kathy West-Evans (51:57):  We’ve got it. We’ve got you covered.

Betsy Civilette (52:00): What we’ve heard today is very clear though, but that when VR and businesses align, the opportunities expand and it’s unstoppable what you can do. I know in Virginia, we’re doing the same thing. We’ve got a robust team of business development managers and it’s wonderful to see. And I’m the communications person there, so I love telling the stories and spreading the word.

Rick Sizemore (52:23):  These things don’t happen by accident. Intentional, forward, consistent work has been done in Alabama. I’d like to thank you all for being on our podcast today. Certainly a model is set that people can follow. Thank you for being involved in today’s show.

Kathy West-Evans and guests (52:41):

Thank you. Thank you.