This week we have a very special guest blogger, Cassie Shropshire, with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS)! This year made the 33rd anniversary of The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The act is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday life activities. The ADA guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to enjoy employment opportunities, purchase goods and services, and participate in state and local government programs. Just four years after the ADA was signed into law, the Alabama Legislature created a state agency that would be
Supply and Demand. The first lesson of Economics, or at least I remember it that way. The most important lesson of economics as I remember it. Maybe I’m remembering it wrong, but I think the issues of the supply and demand of labor need to be reinforced when we think about anything and everything that is going on in our world. And one of those things is union activity. The issues at Starbuck, Amazon, UPS… the list goes on and on about union organization and in the media seems on the surface to be about wages, benefits, and the overall
School is starting back, and that means I’m collecting the latest news on union activity – good, bad, and ugly – for a college-level labor relations course I’m teaching. Each of us at Horizon Point has a unique perspective on the union landscape through our work with various clients and projects, which we’ll be sharing in a series over the next few weeks. I’m kicking us off with a look at union activity right here in our North Alabama region, featuring a snippet from the 2023 Wage & Benefit Survey. When asked if any employees are represented by a union,
Should you Change your Application Process to make it easier for Candidates? A couple of years ago, we worked with a client who was having difficulty filling positions. They were using all the right avenues to get the word out to potential candidates, but the pipeline was not working. After surveying several candidates, we discovered the issue was with their extensive application process. It was lengthy and ultimately deterred candidates from completing their application. Fortunately, we helped them streamline by removing some of the steps to apply. Recently, a close family member applied for a position online and had the
I recently attended the first Reentry Leader Conference held in Birmingham along with Mary Ila and Emily. It was a great opportunity to hear from leaders around the state on what employers can do to help those who are justice involved become gainfully employed. As part of the conference, we heard success stories from employers who had programs to employ those coming out of the system. As employers struggle to find talent due to the extremely low unemployment rate, as Governor Ivey stated last week, we need to move to focus attention on the labor participation rate and getting people