News

October is National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month, with a simple, yet powerful message: “Expectation + Opportunity  = Full Participation.”  Advancing employment for citizens with disabilities, seems like a rather straightforward proposition, but one in which our labor markets come up woefully short.

At Lifetime Assistance we are committed to breaking down barriers to employing individuals with developmental disabilities. LAICO Industries is a division of Lifetime Assistance that works with prospective employees and employers to secure jobs. With a modern on-site vocational work center and a highly qualified workforce, LAICO is a resource to area businesses in completing contract work, confidential scanning and document destruction services, and preparing and placing workers with local employers. Partnering with area businesses to achieve mutual success is central to our work.

We are seeing that workforce diversity is increasingly becoming a management priority for many Rochester area employers.  A diverse workforce positions companies with a competitive advantage, enabling them to better meet the needs of customers, successfully compete in the global marketplace, and hire from an expanded labor pool.

Diversity can be defined as all of the ways in which we differ. Some of these dimensions include race, gender, age, language, physical characteristics, disability, religion, sexual orientation and other differences that are irrelevant to one’s capacity to perform a job. Managing diversity requires an open, supportive and responsive organization where diversity is acknowledged and valued.   

America’s future is strengthened by the promise of equal opportunity in employment for all.  As we recognize National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month, please join me in saluting employers who have opened their doors with inclusive hiring practices and who, more and more, are discovering the value of hiring competent, capable and committed employees with developmental disabilities.  

James Branciforte
President & CEO
Lifetime Assistance, Inc.
www.lifetimeassistance.org