Employer Support

Employer Support Overview

Building a strong relationship with a participant’s employer is imperative to support their short and long-term success at work.

We want to be friendly faces for Great Work as well as thoughtful advocates for our participants.

Important Information: Try to connect with your participant’s employer at least once a month!

Tips to Share With Employers

It may be an employer’s first time employing someone receiving Great Work services.

We want to be mindful, and respectful but still offer corrections for ongoing issues.

Sometimes modeling appropriate behavior is the best way for employers to learn.

E.g. If an employer is directing the conversation at you, direct the questions back to the individual. “What do you think about that?”

Tips for building relationships with employers

  • Be a familiar face and a friendly colleague they’d be eager to reach out to.

  • Ask them specific questions about how our participant is doing.

  • Remind them often about what we can do for them and with our participants.
    *Remember that many employers still will have no experience working with an agency like ours!

  • Be respectful of their time and their many other responsibilities.

    • Do not interrupt them if they are busy.

    • Communicate with them via their preferred communication method.
      * If they prefer email for exchanges about worker performance, still drop by the worksite and give them a wave and a hello.

    • Offer to schedule conversations with them and don’t expect them to be available to meet with you anytime you drop by the worksite.

    • Be resourceful! Getting the correct answer is most important, but don’t ask them the same questions over and over again, and make extra efforts to retain information about the workplace and the job. Be familiar with and use the tools and resources available to all employees to get answers to common questions before directly asking your employer contact.

Specific Questions to Ask Employers:

  • How are things going with ________________________ (worker name)?
    *This should not be the only question we ask but is a great opener! It gives the employer the opportunity to bring up anything they’d like to share. Often we will need to ask more specific question to get the best information from employers, however.

  • How is their attendance?

  • Are they arriving on time?

  • Are there any areas where you’d like to see improvement?

  • Are there any areas where they could use more training?

  • Are there any skills we should be practicing outside of work?

  • Are they fitting in well with coworkers?

  • How are their interactions with customers?

  • How are they doing with ___________________________ (specific responsibility of the job)?
    *Example: How are they doing with the mixing the frosting dye? That’s an area we’ve been working on outside of work.

  • Any concerns with their transportation to/from work?

  • Any concerns around time off or breaks?

    These questions should be asked conversationally and we should use our judgment about which questions to ask when. They should not all be emailed to the employer contact in every inquiry about performance. We don’t want the employer to feel like they’re completing a worksheet for us, but rather our aim should be to elicit detailed and accurate information about how our participant is doing at work.

Benefits we offer to employers

  • Support learning and retention during training and when new skills are need.

  • Identify and share strategies to improve worker performance in challenging areas.

  • Provide counseling and support around workplace soft-skills and culture.

  • Develop and practice skills outside of work to enhance work performance.

  • Provide assistance with workplace logistics like arranging transportation, requesting time off, and using employee platforms and applications.

Benefits we offer to employers

  • Knowledge of worker performance when we aren’t present.

  • Early notification of problem areas we can work on improving.

  • Successes and strengths that we can share with the worker.

  • Opportunities for other Great Work participants.

    *The job hinges on the employer’s assessment of the worker’s performance, therefore, facilitating great communication with the employers is critical!

Employer Support Resources:

  • Employer FAQ

    This FAQ has a list of frequently asked questions that you can hand directly to employers! It is also located on the “Businesses” section of the website.

    Click Here

  • Employer Support Guide

    The Employer Support Guide has tips for building relationships and working collaboratively with a participant's employer.

    Click Here

  • Great Work's "Businesses" Page

    Direct employers here for information about services, how they can help, and how they can benefit!

    Click Here

The E1MN Framework

The Employment First Minnesota Framework (E1MN) is designed to help make sure that Great Work helps our participants explore employment, plan for employment, find a job, and keep a job that is a perfect fit for them! Click below to learn more about each phase: