Policy Options The following policy options can be grouped into four thematic goals—leading by example as a model employer of people with disabilities, maximizing workforce development by engaging with employers, having both an internal and external focus on disability awareness, and optimizing agency services and resources.
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States are encouraged to be model employers of people with disabilities, enacting policies that increase disability inclusion in the civil-sector workforce and serving as an example for private-sector employers to follow.
Governors and state legislatures increasingly recognize the role state government can play in advancing the recruitment, hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities through their own employment policies. This policy framework highlights the human capital development and human resources management strategies that many states are adopting in their quest to become model employers of people with disabilities. The policies described below address public-sector strategies aimed at employing people with disabilities, emphasizing that the hiring, retention, advancement, professional development and training of others in the workplace are important to the state becoming and maintaining its status as a model employer.
A Use formal mechanisms to enact policies committing states to be model employers of people with disabilities. These may include executive orders, legislation or both.
EXAMPLES IN ACTION The State as a Model Employer WA
VT
MT
MN
ME MA
NY CT UT CA AZ
CO
NM
IL
DE
KS OK
Executive Orders Legislation AK
Both Executive Orders and Legislation
National Task Force on Workforce Development for People with Disabilities
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