The Employment Specialist continues to provide supports once the consumer obtains a job placement and begins working. The Employment Specialist will accompany the consumer to work and help train him/her on a one-to-one basis to become competent and effective in performing the duties of the job. The Employment Specialist’s goal is to provide the consumer with various individualized systems which will help the consumer to perform his/her duties well (compensatory strategies) and introduce him/her to people at work who care about his/her success (natural supports) and are willing to help the individual to continue to grow in the job and maintain the job for as long as the consumer wants the job.
As the consumer’s skills are developed, less direct time is needed with the Employment Specialist on the job site, so the Employment Specialist will begin to spend less one-on-one time with the consumer at work. This process is called “fading” and will continue until the Employment Specialist is spending less than 20% of the work hours with the consumer. Once this occurs, the consumer is considered to be stable, and the goal would then be to help the person to maintain their stability on the job.