Purpose

The purpose of this exploration and discovery/intervention development study is to conduct an in-depth analysis of how a large corporation implements a demand side approach to improve the Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) outcomes of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Dominion Energy will partner with VCU in this research. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy with 21,000 employees in 18 states. Our partnership with Dominion Energy is an opportunity to research a demand side approach from the ground floor implementation. Dominion has a wide variety of jobs which can lead to long term careers.

Overview

This will be a mixed method study in Dominion's Richmond offices with 18 locations and 4124 employees. The study will be longitudinal and there will be three components: 1) The Business Perspective; 2) Workers with IDD Perspective; and 3) Knowledge Translation (KT).

This study includes exploration and discovery and intervention development stages of research. We will describe practices and policies that Dominion Energy uses to hire and support workers with IDD. We will describe how CIE outcomes are facilitation in a large corporation for individuals with IDD. We will determine the active components of the demand side interventions and test a measure developed by our current Employer Practices project.