Dive Brief:

• Employers looking to improve accessibility for job seekers with disabilities applying for jobs via the web have a great new option, and the price is right, according to SHRM. The U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) recently unveiled free online resources and toolkits to help employers improve accessibility.
• The site, called TalentWorks, was created by the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT), a government-funded initiative promoting the employment, retention and career advancement of people with disabilities through the development of accessible technology, SHRM reports.
• SHRM reports that common difficulties job seekers with disabilities experience include: complex navigation and timeout restrictions, poor screen contrast, and applications that rely on color, graphics or text embedded with graphics to convey directions or important information.

Dive Insight:

The need for TalentWorks is obvious. In 2015, PEAT surveyed 427 people with disabilities and found that employers and technology providers underestimate the need for accessible online job applications. They also found:

• Employers fail to look beyond the job application form itself when thinking of accessibility, including processes related to job sourcing, pre-employment testing and digital interviews.
• Built-in accessibility features sometimes are lost when vendors customize and install recruiting software.
• Employers believe that if a website complies with regulatory guidelines, then it meets the needs of users. In other words, they believe that accessibility is about compliance, not usability.

“One of the great things about PEAT’s TalentWorks is the simple and often free or low-cost accessibility accommodations it recommends,” Gabby Nagle, community marketing specialist for GettingHired, an employment resource for people with disabilities, told SHRM. She added that employers typically lack awareness regarding accessibility, including how cost-effective such changes can be.

Deputy Labor Secretary Chris Lu told SHRM that the goal behind TalentWorks is to help employers "build a diverse, more inclusive workforce by ensuring their organization’s virtual door is open to everyone."