Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Chelsea Gheesling and Courtney Taylor of ‘Bundled’ On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability

An Interview With Eric Pines

Keep up the hard work even when you don’t feel you’re reaping an instant reward. Nos turn to yesses by being brave and bold. Consistency is the ultimate key to success.

As we all know, over the past several years there has been a great deal of discussion about inclusion and diversity in the workplace. One aspect of inclusion that is not discussed enough, is how businesses can be inclusive of people with disabilities. We know that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. What exactly does this look like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Are Disabled “.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Courtney Taylor and Chelsea Gheesling.

Courtney Taylor and Chelsea Gheesling are both working moms who started Bundled, a premier online gifting company based in Michigan, with one simple mission: to be authentic in everything they do and to build connections through gifts you will actually use. At Bundled, Taylor and Gheesling partner with more than 50 small business owners across the state of Michigan to wrap, personalize and ship both personal and corporate gifts. Bundled is 100% women owned and has been certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?

We have been friends since middle school and lived together in a cute little condo after college. Our journey began one evening, over a glass of wine, when we discussed starting a blog called “Chick in the Mitt,” which was all about discovering Michigan. We ate, drank, and shopped and got to try some really amazing products made in our home state. A few years into the blog, we decided it might be a great opportunity to start a gifting company that bundled all the amazing Michigan products into gift packages.

And just like that, Bundled was born.

What started as a little personal gifting company side hustle in 2015, has launched into a rapidly growing company. Now, we specialize in personal and corporate gifting, have built an automated app, and offer kitting and fulfillment services.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Integrity: Being honest, having core principles, laying a firm foundation, and using that as our guide for doing business and treating others with utmost respect

We’ve had the same foundational pillars in place for our business since day one. It is so important for us to stay true to the commitment we made during our humble beginnings: Do good, treat others well, spread kindness, and give everybody the opportunity to shine.

Delegation: Knowing when to pass something off, prioritizing a work-life balance, allowing for balance in our employee’s schedules, hiring experts in their respective field, and building a team full of hard-working, compassionate people

We started as a team of two. At the time, it was completely manageable for us to pack and ship bundles on our own (we quite literally began in Courtney’s basement). And then, it felt like we needed to scale our business overnight to match the rapid growth we were experiencing. We made it a priority to hire great employees who were also great people and experts in their field. It’s so important to know when your own cup is full so you can lean on another person to catch your overflow.

Communication: The means of sending and receiving information and messages

This one is something we still work at each and every day. Communication is key when it comes to voicing your own needs and advocating for the needs of your team. It makes for easier collaboration and creates a professional environment where every voice can be heard. When every voice is heard, new ideas and better processes can be put into place.

Can you share a story about one of your greatest work related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

One of our largest work-related struggles was learning how to grow the business to a point where we were both able to step away from our full-time jobs. For many years, we were both working Bundled as a side hustle (and starting a family — each of us having two little ones during those years) and putting every dollar back into the business. It was extremely challenging to find a work-life balance while keeping a growth mindset. We finally realized that to grow, we needed to bring on team members who had a passion for our mission, an eye on scaling and the patience to work for a startup. Once we were able to bring on team members who could take the day-to-day responsibilities off our plate, we were able to get to the place we are today. We still feel like we are just getting started and cannot wait to see where our current team of 15 will take us!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Right now we’re working on clearly defining all of our amazing offerings, as we are so much MORE than just a gifting company.

• Shop with Bundled (personal gifts you purchase directly from our website).
• Ship with Bundled (kitting, warehouse management, inventory housing).
• Corporate Gifting with Bundled (corporate orders, bulk orders, corporate gifting and events).
• Swag with Bundled (we design a website for you that manages the inventory, logistics, transaction, and shipping piece of selling your branded merchandise).

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about inclusion. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?

We’re proud to partner with Services To Enhance Potential (STEP), a non-profit organization that provides job opportunities and support to nearly 1,300 persons with disabilities and other mental health needs in the Wayne County, Michigan area. Its mission is to support these individuals in the pursuit of their chosen career path and financial goals. In turn, Bundled is fortunate to have team members that bring nothing but joy, sunshine and a positive attitude to our team every day.

This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?

Inclusive workspaces are important because every single person has a special talent that they can bring to the table, if only given the opportunity. Bundled has created an environment where great ideas can come to life because every team member is supported and encouraged equally no matter their ability level.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what this looks like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Can you please share a few examples?

None of our employees need physical ADA accommodations currently, however, we have procedures in place to enhance the overall work experience for our team members.

• Procedures: We have a job coach for our team members who we hire through Services to Enhance Potential (STEP) to ensure they are supported in their role.
• Physical Accommodations: Bathroom with handles for wheelchair accessibility, a ramp entrance to our warehouse for wheelchair accessibility; our business only possesses one floor (no stairs).

Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? If you can, please share a few examples.

• Repetitive tasks: Expectations are set, routines are in place, tools are provided, and our employees know what is expected of them every shift. This creates a comfortable working zone and familiar environment for them to come back to time and time again.
• Comfort-focused dress code: We encourage our employees to wear comfortable clothing that allows for full range of movement and mobility.

Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help promote disability inclusion? Can you share with us how the work culture was impacted as a result?

Our team members from STEP are actively involved in the packing process in our warehouse, working alongside all other Bundled employees on the exact same projects and accounts. To streamline our packing process, we made sure our inventory is clearly marked and organized and all of our shipping supplies are accessible and laid out for ease of use. Not only does this support the success of our STEP team members, but it has also made the fulfillment process for everybody else more efficient as well!

This is our signature question that we ask in many of our interviews. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started My Career”?

1) Start small
Bundled was not an overnight success. Our thriving business as we know it today started as a side hustle. We love to reflect on our company’s very humble beginnings to where we are now with a full team, warehouse, amazing clients, etc. It’s so rewarding to look back at how much we’ve grown.

2) Your pillars are your foundation
We’ve had the same mission since day one: Put women first, support small businesses, employ individuals with disabilities + foster an equal opportunity work environment, and remain family focused. These are the things that have kept us grounded in both good and uncertain times.

3) Stay consistent
Keep up the hard work even when you don’t feel you’re reaping an instant reward. Nos turn to yesses by being brave and bold. Consistency is the ultimate key to success.

4) How you treat your employees is how you’ll treat your customers
We’ve found that pouring into the wellbeing of our team members has had major, positive impacts on our overall business. While we love to push our employees to grow and excel, we also love to celebrate wins and call out accomplishments in the process. We hope to foster an environment that works hard and plays just as hard.

5) Chase your passion

When you’re chasing your true passion, work becomes something you get to do instead of having to do. We feel so lucky to be creating and pursuing the lives we envisioned for ourselves many years ago by staying true to ourselves doing good.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.”

For us, this highlights the idea that giving every single person a chance to excel allows our own team to shine brighter together. By utilizing local vendors, employing adults with disabilities, and putting women first, we prioritize creating a work environment where one seat at the table is just as important as the next.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

If we could inspire a movement, it would be “One selfless act of kindness per person per day”. Especially because we’re in the business of gifting and giving, we’re confident in the power of spreading joy through generosity.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Website: www.bundledmi.com

Email: info@bundledmi.com

Instagram: @bundledmi

Facebook: @bundledmi

LinkedIn: bundled.

Twitter: @bundledmi

TikTok: @gift_with_bundled

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.