Josh of the Utah Department of Workforce Services business relations team described services the team offers to employers who hire people with disabilities: HR coordination, training on accommodations and advocacy, networking with business partners and referrals to employer affinity or resource groups.

Josh emphasized two principles. First, employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the job. Second, the accommodation process is collaborative: employers and employees should work “back and forth” to identify reasonable accommodations and to evaluate undue-hardship claims. He said his team supports 1-on-1 employer meetings, hosts business-to-business peer connections and can facilitate introductions to companies with successful supported-employment practices.

Events and resources: Josh listed recurring and upcoming offerings: a biannual employer workshop in March, a WorkAbility career fair in April and mentoring events (including a February–March mentoring event). He encouraged employers to join the department’s listserv (pwdnetjobsutah.gov) for job leads and to contact staff for local employer workshops or job fairs.

Contacts and follow-up: Josh provided contact names on the business relations team—Leah Lovato, Ben Baldonado and Rebecca (work-based learning employment specialist)—and said the recording and slides will be shared with registrants. Leah Lovato added that services and events are statewide (citing Moab, Northern Utah/Logan, Tooele) and the team can host smaller local events on request.

The session concluded with an invitation to complete the presentation survey and to reach out to the business relations team for further employer connections.