Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Natalie McGill Of VensureHR On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have A Disability
An Interview With Eric Pines
Stand Up for Yourself. There is an art to standing up for yourself and being your own best advocate. I wish I had realized that companies would continue to ask for more, and especially with HR, they don’t understand the workload and will ask. It is easy to say yes, I can do that, and before you know it, you are overwhelmed and not succeeding.
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 Natalie McGill.
Natalie McGill has over 25 years of experience working in human resources, 15 of which have been spent working with Professional Employer Organizations (PEO). Natalie takes a very strategic approach to human resources and client management to drive value and retention for our clients. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Claremont McKenna College and currently holds the SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) certification from the Society for Human Resource Management.
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?
I started a little differently as an administrative assistant to a Regional VP of HR. The company was highly unionized and had an international footprint. With them, I moved to Denver as the HR Rep and in line with company objectives, I worked with the team to defeat an additional union organization effort. After two years, I returned to California and worked in air cargo handling and transportation (with a unique office that backed out onto the tarmac with the airplanes!) and from there becameI the HR manager at an asphalt shingle manufacturing plant.
Fast forward a bit and I found myself working for my first PEO in 2000. After six years, I went back to an internal function, serving in roles as HR Manager and then an HR Analyst, and I returned to PEO work in 2012.
In short, due to the nature of PEOs, I have worked with or for nearly every industry out there — at least in the national space.
I ended up at Vensure through their divisional partnership with Avitus Group. With Vensure’s high-growth business model, I have had the opportunity to grow my career rapidly. We are also unique in that my team supports our clients with their strategic human resources projects in conjunction with the client’s human resources business partner and account manager, which differs from our competition.
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?
I have had an excellent opportunity to work for and with some great leaders over the years. Without their support and guidance, I would not be the leader I am today. When I think about my three rules to live by, it comes down to treating others as you would like to be treated, supporting the issue/question at hand but looking for a root cause, and teaching others to use their resources.
I am a lifelong member of the Girl Scouts, and one of my favorite laws has been to show respect for myself and others. This principle has evolved over the years, and I now define that as treating others as you would like to be treated. This is also in line with the leadership mantra of meeting others where they are. Think not only about yourself but about your team and their favored forms of communication.
When looking for a root cause, you often have a situation where things were not executed perfectly. There may be a customer service concern, and you absolutely have to take care of the customer and resolve the situation. But you also have an obligation to both your internal and external customers to determine the derivative of the problem and if something systemic created the issue. If so, work to address the problem head-on, so it doesn’t occur again. Of equal importance is how you respond/answer the question being asked. So often, people aren’t using the correct industry terms because they don’t know what they don’t know.
Finally, it’s all too easy when someone comes to you with a question or challenge to just answer off the top of your head. But, does that teach the employee how to find the answer for themselves or help them to grow in their roles? It may seem easier to build yourself up as the subject matter expert, but this can quickly evolve into a portrayal that you have all the keys and can come across as bullying. We recently did a webinar that covered this exact topic.
Can you share a story about one of your greatest work related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?
One of my most challenging situations to date was with a client who had just signed the contract for our services. We had just completed the first payroll and were still getting everything set up on their account. This client implemented all our services, including payroll, workers’ compensation, change in 401(k) vendor, updated benefits, access to a fully outsourced HR solution, and more. They had about 100 worksite employees. I received a call from an employee about a harassment complaint against the organization’s CEO. My next step was to advise the Board of Directors so we could either move forward with the investigation or distinguish if they would handle it. The Board was only aware of our services at a very high level and didn’t have much of a relationship with us. Fortunately, the one contact we had on the Board understood the severity but needed for me to present it to the whole Board for a decision. I was put in a position to not only explain the nature of our services in a short, succinct way but also communicate the need for them to take prompt action on the complaint. I researched the company as much as possible and partnered with my sales team to gather what they knew. I created a concise presentation about who we were, the importance of addressing this quickly, and the complaint summary. Fortunately, the Board understood and took the necessary actions to resolve the situation and became a great client partner.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
We are excited about our client webinars. The process of creating interesting and relevant topics to share with our clients on a different level. These sessions are also open to the public and free to attend. Being able to provide these discussions as a free resource makes it even more rewarding so we can share our knowledge with business owners around the world. We are also working on re-invigorating our podcasts and should be launching those soon. Finally, engaging with our clients on their strategic needs in a way that differentiates us in the market.
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?
In my experience, supporting DE&I initiatives has manifested as an “enact incremental steps at a time” process rather than a large implementation of a large program. By working with clients, sometimes in very subtle ways, you help them move their program in the right direction, and it never “feels” painful or overwhelming. We all know that change is hard, but by taking the small steps, diversity and inclusion become part of the company’s holistic values rather than being a chapter that is often overlooked. These small steps can range from helping an organization find new recruitment sources to making placement ads, handbooks, and company policies gender-neutral. In management training and development, we began encouraging the managers to ask their employees about their stories; people are often more interesting than their resumes!
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?
A recent study shows that nearly 12.5% of US citizens have some form of disability. That is one in eight — a significant part of the population. Outside of just general compliance with the law, both the ADA/Americans with Disabilities Act and the laws prohibiting discrimination, we know that organizations that incorporate candidates with disabilities have experienced 28% higher revenue and 2-times higher net incomes, according to an Accenture white paper. Additionally, being disability-inclusive is not as cost-prohibitive as one may think. The majority of accommodations have no added cost, and about a third have a one-time charge of less than $500.
When you ask employees about their hiring and onboarding experience, they can often remember that first day in great detail. We don’t recall the same with the bulk of our work days at a company, but we remember how they made us feel. If a company is inclusive, strives to gather and act on employee feedback, and gives a positive experience, that feedback continues out into the general public. With employees staying at their companies for a shorter period and living more of their lives on social media, missteps can quickly become a PR nightmare.
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?
It can be as simple as having a new employee choose their mouse or keyboard, or it can be giving them options to have a footstool or riser for their monitor. It starts with ensuring your organization has a simplified process for handling and reviewing requests. Ask the employee what they need. Give the line managers some authority in making purchase decisions. As part of your company’s safety program, make it a point to evaluate employee workstations each year. Steps like these allow for a more natural way of asking what accommodations can we make.
A reasonable accommodation does not create an undue hardship, and it is something that is not cost-prohibitive. It must also be an interactive process — a conversation.
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.
The process of welcoming and including people with disabilities is similar to diversity and inclusion. It is a matter of looking at each strategy, policy, language, and messaging and determining if this is the most up-to-date language. Can we re-word this? Is each of these physical demands of the job genuinely essential?
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?
At Vensure, we’ve implemented a very agile, fast-moving process for any accommodation requests. If it is something that the manager can easily accommodate, and the employee is comfortable in sharing what is needed, it is implemented. For example, an hourly employee must take a more extended lunch once per week for a medical appointment, and their absence is not a strain on the team.
If it is something more in-depth, the employee e-mails the HR inbox and a member of the HR team contacts the employee within a business day to review. If it is something the company can easily do, it is implemented. If feedback is needed from the employee’s supervisor, we have a business day to respond. Unless the employee chooses to let the manager know any personal medical information, this information is held only with internal HR.
The employees know their information is kept as confidential as possible, and the company makes every effort to accommodate. This has cultivated a culture of mutual respect and trust, and as a result, we’re able to have more open communication about inclusion.
If it is something that relates to computer or IT equipment, the employee or manager puts in a request and it is fulfilled.
Some of the more common requests are for scheduling accommodations or work from home, to which we are more than flexible.
The process is simple and streamlined, giving employees confidence in the process and the knowledge that their requests will be handled quickly and fairly.
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”?
Stand Up for Yourself. There is an art to standing up for yourself and being your own best advocate. I wish I had realized that companies would continue to ask for more, and especially with HR, they don’t understand the workload and will ask. It is easy to say yes, I can do that, and before you know it, you are overwhelmed and not succeeding.
Set Boundaries. I wish I had learned more about saying, “yes, I can do that, and it takes X amount of time, so it is feasible for me to start on X date.” Early in my career, I thought that putting in numerous extra hours would make it obvious that I was doing a great job. It is only evident if you communicate regularly with your leader about your accomplishments and challenges and discuss how to improve.
Save. Put that extra money into your 401k/retirement/other savings account. I had thought you just put in the minimum amount to 401k for the company match, and now I wish I had done 10% rather than 6%. It is easier now as there are online calculators so you can tell how the contribution will affect your take-home pay. The extra $20 per paycheck would not have made much of a difference to my take-home and lifestyle but would have dramatically impacted my IRAs.
Drink Water. While everyone is different, I had done a challenge to drink eight glasses of water a day. I couldn’t believe how much better I felt. Particularly sitting at an office desk 8 hours a day, you may not particularly feel your thirst as much as if you were a bit more active, but your body still needs it just as much. I guess it goes to show that you don’t know what you don’t know!
Stay Active. As I began to focus more on work, it was easy to forget and not make time for the physical activity that was a significant part of my life growing up and those first few years after college. Movement keeps us healthy in so many ways. It isn’t just about shedding those extra pounds; it is about getting outside, breathing fresh air, and seeing others in the world around us. If we go to an office, come home and stay in our home, watch some TV — we aren’t pushing our bodies to offset all the sitting we do during work hours. As I look around at retired friends, those who regularly exercise are happier, healthier, more engaged, and more mentally agile. Get out and get those steps!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
I have two, and they are both cartoons from The Far Side by Gary Larson.
The first is two birds, one is in the nest, and the other is climbing down a rope to get to the ground. The caption is, “stupid bird.” It is so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind and forget to step back, look at the big picture and ask, “am I working harder or smarter?” “Is this the best way?”
The second is a picture of a person with a tree growing out of their head with the caption “careful what seeds you plant.” It has many lessons, but the interpretation that stuck with me the most is that people pay attention to what you say. It may take clients some time to incorporate your advice, but it does sink in. The positivity will come back around. On the other hand, if you plant negativity, that will grow in the same way. Be intentional with how you speak about yourself and others.
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. :-)
This is a two-part answer: live green and support the arts. I believe that each of us has an opportunity to reduce the amount of waste we produce and recycle and reuse what we can. I do think this makes a lasting impact on our natural resources and leaves things a bit better than when we found them.
Secondly, inspire and support the arts, which will encourage more creativity and programs for our youth. Find ways to exercise your creative muscles by enjoying plays and museums, literature, or films that genuinely inspire thought and feeling. It is so important to feed both the mind and the soul.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-j-mcgill-560b5a4/.
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.
Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.
Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.
